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Tub  Student's  Modern  Europe 


A    HISTORY 


OP 


MODERN    EUROPE 


FROM  THE  CAPTURE  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE  BY  THE 
TURKS  TO  THE  TREATY  OF  BERLIN,  1878 


BT 


RICHARD  LODGE,  M.A. 

FILLOW    AND   TUTOR   OF  BRAZKN06K   COLUEQK,  OXFORD 


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PREFACE. 


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The  object  of  this  work  is  to  supply — what  undoubtedly 
does  not  exist  at  present — a  clear,  impartial,  and  at  the  same 
time,  a  concise  narrative  of  European  history  during  the 
last  four  centuries.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  go  into 
the  details  of  the  domestic  history  of  each  state,  a  task 
which  would  require  as  many  volumes  as  there  are  states. 
Especially  the  history  of  England  (which  has  been  admir- 
ably treated  in  Professor  Brewer's  recent  edition  of  "  The 
Student's  Hume  "  in  this  series)  has  been  omitted,  except 
so  far  as  it  is  directly  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
continental  states. 

One  of  the  great  difficulties  has  been  that  of  arrange- 
ment. The  Author  has  endeavoured  to  avoid  the  baldness 
of  a  chronological  summary,  and  to  group  the  history  of 
the  different  states  round  the  central  current  of  European 
affairs.  This  method  has  necessitated  frequent  repetitions, 
but  it  appeared  the  lesser  evil  of  the  two.  At  the  same 
time  a  full  chronological  table  has  been  inserted  at  the 
beginning  of  the  work. 

The  Author  had  prepared  a  number  of  genealogical 
tables  to  illustrate,  the  family  relationships  which  are  of 
such  importance  for  a  clear  understanding  of  European 
history.  But  they  became  so  numerous  and  bulky  as  the 
work  advanced,  that  it  has  seemed  better  to  omit  them,  and 
to  refer  the  reader  to  Mr.  George's  "  Genealogical  Tables  " 
(Second  Edition,  Oxford,  1875). 

No  single  work  has  been  taken  as  the  basis  of  this  book, 
and  it  would  be  impossible  to  refer  to  authorities  without 
writing  a  bibliography  of  modern  European  history.  The 
Author  has  spared  no  pains  in  consulting  the  best  authors 
on  each  period,  and  has  endeavoured  to  elicit  the  truth  by 
a  careful  comparison  of  their  statements.  The  amount 
of  his  success  must  be  left  to  his  readers  to  estimate. 


015 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction 1 

CHAPTER  I. 

ECBOPE   IN   THE    LATTER   HALF   OF   THE    FIFTEENTH    CENTURY       .  6 

CHAPTER  II. 
Wars  in  Italy,  1494-1519    .......       33 

CHAPTER  III. 
Rivalry  between  France  and  the  Haisijurgs — First  Period     45 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Reformation 53 

CHAPTER  V. 
Rivalry  between  France  and  the  Hapsburgs — Second  Period      73 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Charles  V.  and  the  German  Reformation.     Renewed  war 

with  France.     1532-1559 80 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Counter- Reformation 93 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Till.    KeIGN  OF     Pllll.ll>   II.,    AND    THE    REVOLT  OF    THE   NETHER- 
LANDS      101 

CHAPTER  IX. 
France  and  the  Wars  of  Religion,  1559-1610     .         .         .114 

CHAPTER  X. 
Germany  after  Charles  V.,  and  the  Thirty  Years'  War  .     129 

CHAPTER  XI. 
France  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin        .  .         .152 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Lesser  States  of  Eurot-e  in  toe  Seventeenth  Century    173 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIII.  saob 

The  Age  of  Louis  XIV.        . 215 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Peter  the  Great  and  Charles  XII 267 

CHAPTER  XV. 
France  after  the  Death  of  Louis  XIV.      ....     288 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Reign  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VI 304 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Prussia  before  the  Accession  of  Frederick  the  Great       .     323 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession.         .         .         .         .     335 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Seven  Years'  War 391 

CHAPTER  XX. 

EUROTE  AFTER  THE  PEACE  OF  HUBERTSBURG  ....   430 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  Reign  of  Louis  XVI 473 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
The  French  Revolution        .         , 490 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
The  French  Republic  and  the  European  Coalition     .         .     530 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Europe  during  the  Age  of  Napoleon.         ....     571 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
Europe  after  the  Great  War    .         .         .         .         .  635 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
Revolution  and  Reaction 681 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
The  Union  of  Italy  and  Germany       .         .         .         .         .     716 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
The  Eastern  Question,  1830-1878  .         .         .         .         .     740 

Index  .  ,  .  .  .  .  •  .  753 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


»0«      ■ 
A.D.  *AOE 

1453.  FJ1  of  Constantinople 29 

1456.  Siege  of  Belgrad.     Death  of  John  Huniades       19 

1457.  Death    of    Ladislaus    Postumus    of    Austria,    Hungary,   and 

Bohemia 19 

Fall  and  death  of  Francesco  Foscari,  doge  of  Venice         ..      ..  13 

1458.  Death  of  Alfonso  V.  of  Aragon,  Naples,  Sicily,  and  Sardinia    ..  8 
Election  of  Pope  Pius  II.  (iEneas  Sylvius)         9 

1459.  Congress  of  Mantua      10 

1461.  Death  of  Charles  VII.  of  France.     Accession  of  Louis  XI.  22 

Accession  of  Edward  IV.  of  England. 

1464.  Death  of  Pope  Pius  II 10 

Death  of  Cosimo  de  Medici 11 

1465.  War  of  the  Public  Weal  in  France       22 

1466.  Death  of  Francesco  Sforx*  of  Milan 7 

Treaty  of  Thorn  between  Poland  and  the  Teutonic  Knights  17 

1467.  Death  of  Philip  the  Good  of  Burgundy.    Accession  of  Charles 

the  Bold 23 

1468.  Treaty  of  Perronne  between  Louis  XI.  and  Charles  the  Bold    . .  23 

1469.  Marriage  of  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  to  Isabella  of  Castile    ..  27 
Accession  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  in  Florence 11 

1470.  Temporary  restoration  of  Henry  VI.  in  England. 

1471.  Election  of  Pope  Sixtus  IV 10 

Death  of  George  Podiebrad  of  Bohemia      19 

Battles  of  Barnet  and  Tewkesbury.     Death  of  Henry  VI. 

1472.  Death  of  Charles  of  Guienne,  brother  of  Louis  XI 23 

1473.  Charles  the  Bold  annexes  Guelders 23 

1474.  Charles  the  Bold  besieges  Neuss 23 

Accession  of  Isabella  in  Castile 27 

1475.  Treaty  of  Pecquigny  between  Louis  XL  and  Edward  IV 24 

1476.  Battles  of  Granson  and  Morat 24 

1477.  Death  of  Charles  the  Bold 24 

-Marriage  of  Maximilian  to  Mary  of  Burgundy 18,  24 

•  For  the  convenience  of  tbe  reader,  some  of  the  chief  dates  in  English  History  have 
been  inserted,  even-when  no  special  reference  has  been  made  to  tbcm  in  this  book. 


Vlll  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1478.  Pazzi  Conspiracy  in  Florence       11 

1479.  Treaty  of  Constantinople  between  Venice  and  the  Turks  ..       ..  14 

Lodovico  Sforza  becomes  regent  in  Milan g 

Accession  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  in  Aragon          26 

1480.  Capture  of  Otranto  by  the  Turks        12,31 

1481.  Death  of  Mohammed  II 31 

1482.  Treaty  of  Arras  between  Louis  XI.  and  Maximilian  ..  ..  24 
Outbreak  of  the  War  of  Ferrara  in  Italy 14 

1483.  Death  of  Louis  XI.     Accession  of  Charles  VIII 24 

Regency  of  Anne  of  Beaujeu  in  France 25 

Death  of  Edward  IV.    Accession  of  Edward  V.  and  Richard  III. 

1484.  The  War  of  Ferrara  ended  by  the  treaty  of  Bagnolo  . .  . .  14 
Death  of  Pope  Sixtus  IV 14 

1485.  Battle  of  Bosworth.  Accession  of  Henry  VII.  in  England  . .  25 
Barons'  War  in  Naples . .      . .  33 

1492.  Fall  of  Granada 27 

Death  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici         12 

Electi  n  of  Pope  Alexander  VI 10 

Discovery  of  America  by  Columbus. 

1493.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Frederl  k  III.  Accession  of  Maximilian  20 
Treaty  of  Senlis  between  Charles  VIII.  and  Maximilian  . .  ..  25 
Treaty  of  Barcelona  between  Charles  VIII.  and  Ferdinand  of 

Aragon      25 

1494.  Charles  VIII.  enters  Italy 34 

Lodovico  Sforza  becomes  duke  of  Milan      34 

1495.  Expulsion  of  the  Medici  from  Florence        35 

Charles  VIII.  conquers  Naples 36 

Diet  of  Worms      20 

Battle  of  Fornovo         37 

1496.  Expulsion  of  the  French  from  Naples         37 

1498.  Death  of  Charles  VIII.     Accession  of  Louis  XII 38 

Death  of  Savonarola 43 

1499.  Louis  XII.  conquers  Milan 39 

1500.  Treaty  of  Granada  between  Louis  XII.  and  Ferdinand  ..  ..  39 
Conquest  of  Romagna  by  Caesar  Borgia      40 

1503.  Death  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.     Election  of  Julius  II 40 

1504.  The  Spaniards  drive  the  French  from  Naples 39 

Death  of  Isabella  of  Castile 28 

1506.  Death  of  the  archduke  Philip.     Ferdinand  resumes  the  govern- 
ment of  Castile         ..      28 

1508.  League  of  Cambray       41 

1509.  The  Venetians  defeated  at  Agnadello 41 

Accession  of  Henry  VIII.  in  England. 

1511.  The  Holy  League  formed  against  Louis  XII 4 

1512.  The  French  driven  from  Italy 42 

Ferdinand  annexes  Navarre         26,28,42 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  IX 

1512.  Death  of  Bajazet  II.     Accession  of  Selim  1 31 

Restoration  of  the  Medici  in  Florence         43 

1513.  Death  of  Julius  II.     Election  of  Leo  X 42 

1515.  Death  of  Louis  XII.     Accession  of  Francis  1 43 

Death  of  Ferdinand.     Accession  of  Charles  I.  of  Spain     ..      ..  28 

Battle  of  Marignano.     The  French  recover  Milan 43 

1516.  Treaty  of  Noyon  between  Charles  and  Francis 44 

1517.  Luther  attacks  indulgences          55 

1519.  Death  of  Maximilian  L         21 

Election  of  Charles  V.  in  the  Empire         46 

1520.  Outbreak  of  war  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  1 47 

Death  of  Selim  I.     Accession  of  Solyman  the  Magnificent       ..  32 

Luther  burns  the  Pope's  bull       57 

1521.  The  Diet  of  Worms       57 

The  French  dri ren  from  Lombard y 47 

Death  of  Leo  X.     Election  of  Adrian  VI 47 

1523.  The  Knights' war  in  Germany 59 

Death  of  Adrian  VI.     Election  of  Clement  VIL         47 

Treachery  of  the  Constable  of  Bourbon      48 

Gustavus  Vasa  obtains  the  crown  of  Sweden 08 

1524.  Peasant  Rising  in  Germany          60 

1525.  Battle  of  P;i via.     Francis  I.  a  prisoner       49 

End  of  the  Peasants' war  in  Germany        61 

Albert  of  Brandenburg  forms  duchy  of  Prussia  under  Polish 

suzerainty         63 

1526.  Treaty  of  Madrid  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  1 49 

Formation  of  League  against  the  Emperor         50 

Diet  of  Speier  in  Germany 62 

Battle  of  Mohacz.    Death  of  Lewis  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia  52, 199 

1527.  Sack  of  Rome  by  the  imperial  army 50 

Expulsion  of  the  Medici  from  Florence       50 

Ferdinand  of  Austria   obtains   the   crowns  of  Hungary  and 

Bohemia 52 

Diet  of  Westers*.     Reformation  in  Sweden        69 

1529.  Treaty  of  Barcelona  between  Charlea  V.  and  Clement  VII.     ..  51 

Treaty  of  Cam  bray  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  1 51 

Protest  of  Speier 63 

First  siege  of  Vienna 199 

Fall  of  Wolsey  in  England. 

1530.  The  Medici  restored  in  Florence 51 

Confession  of  Augsburg        63 

Formation  of  the  League  of  Schmalkalde 63 

1531.  Death  of  Zwingli.     Treaty  of  Cappel          65 

1532.  Treaty  of  Nuremberg  between  Charles  V.  and  German  Protes- 

tants    64 

1534.  Death  of  Clement  VII.     Election  of  Pa a\  III 74 


X  CHKONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1535.  Charles  V.'s  expedition  to  Tunis 73 

1536.  Renewal  of  war  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  1 74 

Calvin  in  Geneva          ..      70 

1537.  Death  of  Alessandro  de  Medici.     Accession  of  Cosimo  (the  first 

grand-duke  of  Tuscany) ..       ..  76 

1538.  Truce  of  Nice.     Interview  at  Aigues-Mortes     ..      ..      ..      ..  75 

1539.  Charles  V.  suppresses  the  liberties  of  Castile     ..      ..      ..-     ..  76 

1540.  Paul  III.  constitutes  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits ..  94 

1541.  Disastrous  expedition  of  Charles  V.  to  Algiers  . .      ..      ..      ..  77 

Diet  of  Ratisbon.     Attempted  religious  compromise         ..      ..  82 

Christian  III.  of  Denmark  recognises  the  independence  of  Sweden  185 

1 542.  Francis  I.  renews  the  war  against  Charles  V 77 

1544.  Treaty  of  Ci-espy  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.         . .      . .  78 

1545.  First  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent    ..      ..      ..      ..      ..       84,96 

1546.  Death  of  Luther , ..  83 

Outbreak  of  the  Schmalkaldic  War -      ..      .-.-     ..  83 

1547.  Death  of  Francis  I.     Accession  of  Henry  II 78 

Defeat  of  the  German  Protestants  at  Muhlberg        84 

Accession  of  Edward  VI.  in  England. 

1548.  Charles  V.  issues  the  Interim 85 

1549.  Death  of  Paul  III.     Election  of  Julius  III ..  68 

1551.  Second  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent       87,96 

1552.  Treaty  of  Friedewalde  between  Henry  II.  and  the  German  Princes    86 
The  French  obtain  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun . .    ..      ..      ....  87 

Maurice  of  Saxony  attacks  Charles  V 86 

Treaty  of  Passau 86 

1553.  Death  of  Maurice  of  Saxony  at  Sievershausen ..  88 

Accession  of  Mary  Tudor  in  England. 

1555.  Religious  Peace  of  Augsburg       89 

Death  of  Julius  II.    Election  of  Paul  IV 90 

Charles  V.  resigns  the  Netherlands  and  Italian  provinces        ..  90 

1556.  Abdication  of  Charles  V 90 

Philip  II.,  king  of  Spain.     Ferdinand  I.,  Emperor 90 

1557.  Battle  of  St.  Quentin. ..      ..  91 

1558.  The  duke  of  Guise  captures  Calais      ,.      ..  91 

1559.  Accession  of  Elizabeth  in  England      92 

Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis         « 92 

Death  of  Paul  IV.     Election  of  Pius  IV 97 

1560.  Death  of  Henry  II.     Accession  of  Francis  II.  of  France    ..      ..  115 
Death   of  Francis    II.     Accession    of   Charles    IX.     Regency 

of  Catharine  de  Medici 117 

1562.  Third  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent 97 

Massacre  of  Vassy.     Outbreak  of  religious  wars  in  France      ..  118 

1563.  Murder  of  the  duke  of  Guise.     Peace  of  Amboise 118 

Close  of  the  Council  of  Trent      98 

1564.  Granvella  recalled  from  the  Netherlands ..  107 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  XI 

A.D.  PAOB 

1564    Death  of  Ferdinand  I.     Maximilian  II.,  Emperor      130 

1565.  Conference   at    Bayonne    between   Catharine    de    Medici    and 

Alva           ..       .'.       119 

Death  of  Pope  Pius  IV 98 

1566.  Death  of  Solyman  the  Magnificent.     Accession  of  Selim  II.    ..  200 
Election  of  Pope  Pius  V 99 

1567.  Second  religious  war  in  France 119 

Alva  sent  to  the  Netherlands      108 

1568.  Treaty  of  Longjumeau 119 

Death  of  Egmont  and  Horn 109 

Outbreak  of  third  religious  war          120 

1**69.  Battles  of  Jarnac  and  Moncontour 120 

1570.  Treaty  of  St.  Germain 120 

1572.  Revolt  of  the  Netherlands  begins        110 

Election  of  Pope  Gregory  XIII 99 

Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 121 

Battle  of  Lepanto 99,201 

Death  of  Sigismund  Augustus  of  Poland.     Election  of  Henry 

of  Anjou 186 

1573.  Fourth  religious  war  ended  by  Edict  of  Jaly 122 

Recall  of  Alva  from  the  Netherlands 110 

Cyprus  surrendered  to  the  Turks       201 

1574.  Siege  of  Leyden 110 

Death  of  Charles  IX.     Accession  of  Henry  III 122 

1576.  Pacification  of  Ghent     Don  John  in  the  Netherlands     ..      ..  Ill 
Death  of  Maximilian  II.     Rudolf  II.,  Emperor          132 

1577.  Edict  of  Bergerac  in  France        122 

1578.  Death  of  Don  John  of  Austria Ill 

1579.  The  Union  of  Utrecht 112 

1580.  Annexation  of  Portugal  to  Spain        105 

1581.  Gebhard  Truchsess  turns  Protestant,  and  is  driven  from  the 

archbishopric  of  Cologne         133 

1582.  Disputes  in  the  German  Diet  about  the  rights  of  Protestant 

members 132 

1584.  Assassination  of  William  the  Silent 113 

The  death  of  Francis  of  Anjou  makes  Henry  of  Navarre  heir  to 

the  French  crown 123 

Formation  of  the  Catholic  League  in  France      123 

Death  of  Iwan  the  Terrible  of  Russia         189 

1585.  Election  of  Pope  Sixtus  V 99 

1587.  Accession  of  Sigismund  III.  in  Poland        185,186 

Execution  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots. 

1588.  Assassination  of  duke  Henry  of  Guise        124 

Accession  of  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark      185 

Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada 112 

1589.  Death  of  Catharine  de  Medici      124 


Xll  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1589.  Assassination  of  Henry  III.     Extinction  of  the  line  of  Valois. 

Accession  of  Henry  IV 125 

1590.  Philip  II.  suppresses  the  liberties  of  Aragon      103 

1592.  Death  of  John  III.  of  Sweden.     Accession  of  his  son,  Sigismund 

III.  of  Poland 185 

Election  of  Pope  Clement  IX 181 

1593.  Henry  IV.  becomes  a  Roman  Catholic        126 

1597.  Clement  IX.  annexes  Ferrara  to  Papal  States   ..      ..      ..      ..  181 

1598.  Treaty  of  Vervins  between  France  and  Spain 126 

Henry  IV.  issues  the  Edict  of  Nantes 126 

Death  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain.     Accession  of  Philip  III 113 

Battle  of  Stangebro 188 

1598-1613.  Great  Interregnum  in  Russia 189 

1603.  Accession  of  James  I.  in  England. 

1604.  Sigismund   III.  of  Poland   deposed   in  Sweden.     Accession  of 

Charles  IX.  in  Sweden 188 

1605.  Election  of  Pope  Paul  V 181 

1609.  Truce  between  Spain  and  Holland      113,175 

Formation  of  the  Protestant  Union  in  Germany        134 

Disputed  succession  in  Julich  and  Cleve 134 

Expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes  from  Spain       175 

1610.  Assassination  of  Henry  IV.     Accession  of  Louis  XIII.     Regency 

of  Mary  de  Medici , 128,152 

1611.  Death    of  Charles   IX.   of   Sweden.     Accession   of   Gustavus 

Adolphus 189 

1612.  Death  of  Rudolf  II.     Matthias,  Emperor  135 

.1613.  Michael  Romanof  becomes  Czar  of  Russia 190 

1617.  Ferdinand  of  Styria  recognised  as  Matthias'  heir  in  Bohemia..    136 

1618.  Rising  in  Bohemia.     Outbreak  of  the  Thirty  Years' War        ..    136 

1619.  The  death  of  Matthias.     Ferdinand  II.,  Emperor      137 

The   crown   of  Bohemia   accepted   by   the   Elector   Palatine, 

Frederick  V 137 

1620.  Battle  of  the  White  Hill.     Frederick  V.  driven  from  Bohemia     137 

1621.  Death  of  Philip  III.  of  Spain.     Accession  of  Philip  IV 176 

1623.  Frederick  V.  deprived  of  his  electorate,  which,  is  transferred 

to  Maximilian  of  Bavaria       138 

Election  of  Pope  Urban  VIII 182 

1624.  Richelieu  becomes  chief  minister  of  France        138,154 

1625.  Accession  of  Charles  I.     His  marriage  with  Henrietta  Maria . .  155 

1626.  Intervention  of  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark  in  Germany    . .      . .  139 

Wallenstein  enters  the  Emperor's  service 140 

Battle  of  Lutter 140 

1627.  Richelieu  lays  siege  to  La  Rochelle 155 

Disputed  succession  in  Mantua 142 

1628.  Wallenstein  besieges  Stralsund 141 

1629.  Christian  IV.  retires  from  the  war 141 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE.  xiii 

A.D.  .  PAGK 

1629.  Ferdinand  II.  issues  the  Edict  of  Restitution 142 

Treaty  of  Alais  with  the  Huguenots 155 

1630.  Wallenstein  deprived  of  his  command         143 

Landing  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Germany       143 

1631.  Settlement  of  Mantuan  succession  by  treaty  of  Cherasco..       ..  143 

Gustavus  Adolphus  defeats  Tilly  at  Breitenfeld        144 

Urban  VIII.  annexes  Urbino  to  the  Papal  States       182 

1632.  Successes  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Germany      144 

Wallenstein  resumes  his  command      145 

Death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  at  Liitzen      145 

1634.  Assassination  of  Wallenstein        147 

Battle  of  Nordlingen 147 

1635.  War  declared  between  France  and  Spain 148,176 

Treaty  of  Prague 148 

1637.  Death  of  Ferdinand  II.     Ferdinand  III.,  Emperor 148 

1638.  Conquest  of  Elsass  by  Bernhard  of  Saxe- Weimar      149 

1639.  Death  of  Bernhard  of  Saxe-Weimar.     Elsass  seized  by  the  French  149 

1640.  Accession    of    Frederick     William,    the     Great    Elector,    in 

Brandenburg 149,324 

Rebellions  in  Catalonia  and  Portugal         177 

Meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament  in  England. 

1642.  Outbreak  of  the  Great  Rebellion  in  England. 

Death  of  Richelieu.     Ministry  of  Mazarin         149,159 

1643.  Death  of  Louis  XIII.     Accession  of  Louis  XIV.     Regency  of 

Anne  of  Austria        161 

1645.  Treaty  of  Bromsebro  between  Sweden  and  Denmark                 ..  191 

Beginning  of  the  War  of  Candia  between  Venice  and  Turkey  ..  202 

1648.  Treaty  of  Westphalia 150 

Rising  of  Masaniello  in  Naples 178 

Accession  of  the  Sultan  Mohammed  IV 202 

1648-1653.  War  of  the  Fronde  in  France 164-169 

1649.  Execution  of  Charles  I.  (Jan.  30). 

1654.  Abdication  of  Christina  of  Sweden.     Accession  of  Charles  X...  192 

1655.  Charles  X.  of  Sweden  attacks  Poland         193 

1656.  Mohammed  Kiuprili  becomes  Grand  Vizier  in  Turkey      ..       ..  203 

1657.  Death  of  Ferdinand  III.     Leopold  I.,  Emperor 170 

The  Great  Elector  frees  Prussia  from  Polish  suzerainty  ..      ..  194 

Charles  X.  of  Sweden  invades  Denmark 194 

1658.  Treaty  of  Roeskilde  between  Sweden  and  Denmark 195 

Death  of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

1659.  Treaty  of  the  Pyrenees  between  France  and  Spain 171 

Defeat  of  Charles  X.  in  the  North       195 

1660.  Death  of  Charles  X.     Accession  of  Charles  XI 195 

Treaties  of  Oliva  and  Copenhagen       195 

Frederick  III.  establishes  absolute  government  in  Denmark     ..  190 

Leopold  I.  involved  in  war  with  the  Turks        230 


xiv  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  ,  PACK 

1660.  Restoration  of  Charles  II.  in  England. 

1661.  Death  of  Mazarin 172 

Louis  XIV.  assumes  the  personal  control  of  the  government  ..    216 

1664.  Montecuculi  defeats  the  Turks  at  St.  Gothard  . .       ..      ..      ..203 

Truce  of  Vasvar 204 

1665.  Battle  of  Villa  Viciosa.     Portugal  secures  its  independence  179,220 
Death  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain.     Accession  of  Charles  II.  ...  179,  220 

1667.  War  of  Devolution        .. ..      ..      ...     ...     ..    220 

1668.  Triple  Alliance  between  England,  Holland,  and  Sweden  ..       ..    220 
Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 221 

1669.  Venice  cedes  Candia  to  the  Turks       ...     ., ..    204 

Death  of  John  Casimir  of  Poland.     Extinction  of  House  of 

Jagellon     .. ...      ..      .»      ..      ..  198 

1670.  Secret  treaty  of  Dover  between  France  and  England        ...     ..  222 

1671.  Ascendancy  of  Louvois  in  France         ,      222 

1672.  French  invasion  of  Holland ..  222 

Murder  of  John  de  Witt.     William  of  Orange  stadtholder       . .  223 

1672-1676.  War  between  Turkey  and  Poland      .. ..204 

1673.  French  victories 224 

League  formed  at  the  Hague  against  Louis  XIV.      ..      ..      ..    224 

1674.  John  Sobieski  elected  king  of  Poland , 198 

French  victories 225-226 

1675.  Rebellion  of  Hungary  under  Tbkbli 207 

Death  of  Turenne.     Retirement  of  Conde  and  Montecuculi    ..      227 

Swedish  attack  on  Brandenburg 226 

The  Great  Elector  defeats  the  Swedes  at  Fehrbellin        ...  197,  325 

1677.  William  of  Orange  marries  Mary,  dau.  of  James,  duke  of  York  228 

1678.  Treaty  of  Nimwegen      .. 226 

1679.  Treaty  of   St.    Germain-en-Laye    between    Brandenburg   and 

Sweden 197,229,325 

1681.  Louis  XIV.  seizes  Strasburg        232 

1682    Accession  of  Peter  the  Great  in  Russia ..  199 

1683.  Death  of  Colbert ..  230 

Siege  of  Vienna  by  the  Turks 208 

Vienna  relieved  by  John  Sobieski       -     ..  209 

1685.  Accession  of  James  II.  in  England. 

Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes      237 

1686.  Formation  of  the  League  of  Augsburg  against  Louis  XIV.      ..  237 
Suppression  of  the  Hungarian  revolt         ..      ..  211 

1687.  Deposition  of  Mohammed  IV.     Accession  of  Solyman  II.          ..  211 

1688.  Death  of  the  Great  Elector  of  Brandenburg      327 

Revolution  in  England.     Accession  of  William  III.           ..      ..  239 

1689.  General  European  War        239 

The  Imperialists  take  Belgrad 212 

1690.  Battle  of  the  Boyne 240 

1691.  Death  of  Solyman  II.     Accession  of  Achmet  II 213 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  XV 

A.D.  PAOB 

1691.  Leopold  I.  annexes  Transylvania         213 

1692.  Battle  of  Steinkirk       242 

1694.  The  Turks  recover  Belgrad 213 

1696.  Victor  Amadeus  of  Savoy  receives  Pinerolo  and  Casale    ..      ..    243 

1697.  Treaty  of  Ryswick        243 

Eugene  defeats  the  Turks  at  Zenta 214 

Death  of  Charles  XI.  of  Sweden.     Accession  of  Charles  XII.  . .    198 
Death   of  John  Sobieski  of  Poland.     Election  of  Augustus  II. 

ofSaxony 198 

1698.  First  treaty  of  Partition  (of  the  Spanish  Monarchy)        ..      ..246 

1699.  Treaty  of  Carlowitz      214 

League  between  Russia,  Poland,  and  Denmark  against  Sweden   270 

1700.  Second  treaty  of  Partition 246 

Death  of  Charles  II.  of  Spain       247 

Louis  XIV.  accepts  the  Spanish  crown  for  his  grandson,  Philip 

of  Anjou  (Philip  V.)         247 

Charles  XII.  defeats  the  Danes.     Treaty  of  Travendahl   ..      ..272 

Charles  XII.  defeats  the  Russians  at  Narwa      272 

1701.  Outbreak  of  the  war  in  Italy      250 

Formation  of  the  Grand  Alliance        248 

Kingdom  of  Prussia  established  by  Frederick  1 327 

1702.  Death  of  William  III.     Accession  of  Anne 249 

Charles  XII.  invade*  Poland        272 

1704.  Battle  of  Blenheim       253 

Capture  of  Gibraltar  by  Sir  George  Rooke        255 

Deposition  of  Augustus  II.     Stanislaus  Leczinski  King  of  Poland  274 

1705.  Death  of  Leopold  I.     Joseph  I.,  Emperor 253 

1706.  Battle  of  Ramilliea      253 

Archduke  enters  Madrid  and  is  proclaimed  king  as  Charles  III  l 

Philip  V.  recovers  Madrid 255 

Charles  XII.  enters  Saxony  and  encamps  at  Altrnnstadt         ..  274 

1707.  The  duke  of  Berwick  defeats  the  allies  at  Almanza          . .       . .  255 

1708.  Battle  of  Oudenarde 257 

1708.  Charles  XII.  invades  Russia         276 

1709.  Battle  of  Malplaquet 258 

Defeat  of  Charles  XII.  at  Pultawa 277 

1710.  Congress  of  Gertruydenburg       258 

The  archduke  Charles  recovers  Madrid,  but  is  again  expelled ..  259 

Vendome  defeats  the  allies  at  Brihuega  and  Villa  Viciosa       ..  259 

Fall  of  the  Whig  ministry  in  England        259 

The  Turks  declare  war  against  Russia       278 

1711.  Death  of  Joseph  I.    Charles  VI.,  Emperor        250 

Marlborough  deprived  of  his  command       259 

Death  of  the  Dauphin  of  France 254 

Peter  the  Great  forced  to  conclude  the  treaty  of  the  Pruth    ..  279 

1712.  Victory  of  Villars  at  Denain        ..  260 


xvi  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A. IX  PAGE 

1712.  Death  of  the  duke  and  duchess  of  Burgundy 264 

1713.  Peace  of  Utrecht ...      ...      260 

Death  of  Fred.  I.  of  Prussia.     Accession  of  Fred.  William  I.  . .  327 

1714.  Treaties  of  Rastauc  and  Baden 261 

Accession  of  George  I.  in  England      265 

Death  of  the  duke  of  Berry         264 

Charles  XII.  leaves  Turkey  and  returns  to  Sweden 279 

Philip  V.  of  Spain  marries  Elizabeth  Farnese  of  Parma  ..      ..  296 

Outbreak  of  war  between  Turkey  and  Venice 305 

1715.  Death  of  Louis  XIV 265 

Accession  of  Louis  XV.    Regency  of  Orleans     289,290 

Charles  VI.  supports  Venice  against  the  Turks        305 

1716.  Eugene  defeats  the  Turks  at  Peterwardein        306 

1717.  Triple  alliance  of  France,  England,  and  Holland       298 

Spanish  conquest  of  Sardinia       299 

Eugene  defeats  the  Turks  at  Belgrad 306 

1718.  Turkish  war  ended  by  treaty  of  Passarowitz 306 

Spanish  conquest  of  Sicily 299 

Quadruple  Alliance  of  France,  Austria,  England,  and  Holland . .  300 

Chimerical  schemes  of  Alberoni  and  Gbrz 281,300 

Conspiracy  of  Cellamare  in  France      300 

Death  of  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden ..      ..282 

1719.  Accession   of   Ulrica   Eleanor   in   Sweden.      Establishment   of 

oligarchical  government 283 

French  invasion  of  Spain.     Dismissal  of  Alberoni 301 

1720.  Settlement  of  the  northern  wars         283 

Victor   Amadeus   III.    cedes    Sicily    to   Austria   and   receives 

Sardinia 301 

Charles  VI.  publishes  the  Pragmatic  Sanction 308 

Collapse  of  Law's  financial  schemes  in  France 294 

1722.  Charles  VI.  founds  the  Ostend  Company 309 

1723.  End  of  the  Regency  in  France.     Deaths  of  Dubois  and  Orleans  302 

1724.  Ripperda's  schemes.     His  mission  to  Vienna      311 

1725.  Death  of  Peter  the  Great.     Accession  of  Catharine  1 286 

Louis  XV.  marries  Marie  Leczinska 302 

Treaty  of  Vienna  between  Austria  and  Spain 311 

League  of  Hanover  between  England,  France,  and  Prussia       ..  312 

1726.  Fleury  becomes  chief  minister  of  France 303 

Disgrace  of  Ripperd a 313 

Frederick    William    I.    of    Prussia    deserts    the    League    of 

Hanover 312,330 

1727.  A  Spanish  fleet  lays  siege  to  Gibraltar       313 

Charles  VI.  draws  up  the  treaty  of  Vienna       314 

Accession  of  George  II.  in  England. 

Death  of  Catharine  I.     Accession  of  Peter  II.  in  Russia    ..      ..  286 

1728.  Philip  V.  signs  the  convention  of  the  Pardo      314 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xvii 

A.D.  1AOB 

1729.  Treaty  of  Seville  between  England,  France,  and  Spain     ..      ..  314 

1730.  Death  of  Peter  II.     Accession  of  Anne  of  Courland..       ..   286,  287 

1731.  Second  treaty  of  Vienna.     Don  Carlos  receives  the  duchy  of 

Parma       315 

1733.  Death  of  Augustus  II.  of  Saxony  and  Poland 316 

1733-5.  War  of  the  Polish  Succession 316-320 

1733.  Stanislaus  Leczinski  elected  king,  but  expelled  by  the  Russians  316 

Accession  of  Augustus  III.  in  Poland 316 

France  allied  with  Spain  and  Sardinia  against  Austria    ..  317,  318 

Family  Compact  (secret)  between  France  and  Spain         . .       . .  336 

1734.  Don   Carlos   conquers   Naples.     Indecisive  campaign   on   the 

Rhine        318 

1735.  Spanish  conquest  of  Sicily.     Charles  VI.  accepts  the  prelimi- 

naries of  peace.     Don  Carlos  keeps  Naples  and  Sicily  and 

resigns  Parma  to  the  emperor         319 

Lorraine  given  to  Stanislaus  Leczinski       319 

1736.  Russia  declares  war  against  Turkey 320 

Death  of  Prince  Eugene       320 

1737.  Austria  joins  Russia  against  the  Turks       321 

1738.  Preliminaries  of  1735  confirmed  in  the  third  treaty  of  Vienna. 

France  guarantees  the  Pragmatic  Sanction 320 

1739.  Treaty  of  Belgrad  between  Austria  and  Turkey        321 

Treaty  between  Russia  and  Turkey 322 

War  of  Jenkins*  ear  between  France  and  Spain         337 

1740.  Death    of  Frederick    William    I.   of    Prussia.       Accession   of 

Frederick  the  Great         337 

Death  of  Anne  of  Russia.     Accession  of  Iwan  VI 386 

Death  of  Charles  VI.     Accession  of  Maria  Theresa 338 

Claims  to  the  Austrian  succession       339 

1740-8.  War  of  the  Austrian  succession        842-386 

1740.  Prussian  invasion  of  Silesia         342 

1741.  Rattle  of  Mollwitz        343 

Formation  of  league  against  Maria  Theresa       345 

Convention  of  Klein  Schnellendorf 347 

Capture  of  Prague  by  French  and  Bavarians .'UK 

Deposition  of  Iwan  VI.     Accession  of  Elizabeth  m  Russia       ..  388 

Frederick  breaks  the  convention  of  Klein  Schnellendorf  ..      ..  348 
Death  of  Ulrica  Eleanor  of  Sweden.     Accession  of  her  husband 

Frederick 380 

1742.  Election  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VII 349 

Conquest  of  Bavaria  by  the  Austrians        349 

Failure  of  Prussian  campaign  in  Moravia 349 

Battle  of  Chotusitz       350 

Preliminaries  of  Breslau  and  treaty  of  Berlin  between  Austria 

and  Prussia       * 351 

Treaty  of  Dresden  bet mm  A ittril  and  Saxony        351 


XVlll  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1742.  The  Austrians  driven  from  Bavaria 352 

Capitulation  of  French  garrison  in  Prague        353 

Indecisive  campaign  in  Italy       .,      ,.      ..      f.    355 

1743.  Death  of  Cardinal  Fleury ,      f.      ..356 

Bavaria  reconquered  by  the  Austrians.     Convention  of  Nieder- 

schonfeld 357 

Battle  of  Dettingen 358 

Treaty  of  Worms  between  England,  Austria  and  Sardinia        . .  359 

Treaty  of  Fontainebleau  between  France  and  Spain 360 

Treaty  of  Abo  between  Russia  and  Sweden        389 

1744.  Successes  of  Marshal  Saxe  in  the  Netherlands 361 

Austrian  invasion  of  Alsace  ..       ..  361 

Fredk.  the  Great  allies  himself  with  France  and  renews  the  war  363 

Prussian  invasion  of  Bohemia  and  capture  of  Prague       . .       . .  364 

Indecisive  campaign  in  Italy       366 

Retreat  of  the  Austrians  from  Alsace         365 

Traun  manoeuvres  the  Prussians  out  of  Bohemia      . .       . .       . .  365 

The  Austrians  again  driven  from  Bavaria 366 

1745.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VII.     Accession  of  Maximilian 

Joseph  in  Bavaria 367 

Treaty  of  Fiissen  between  Austria  and  Bavaria 368 

Renewal  of  the  alliance  between  Austria  and  Saxony      ..      ..    368 

Victory  of  Marshal  Saxe  at  Fontenoy        369 

Austrian  invasion  of  Silesia         370 

Battle  of  Hohenfriedberg 370 

Convention  of  Hanover  between  England  and  Prussia  ..  ..  371 
Francis  of  Tuscany,  husband  of  Maria  Theresa,  elected  Emperor 

as  Francis  1 372 

Battle  of  Soor       372 

Prussian  invasion  of  Saxony        373 

Treaties  of  Dresden  between  Prussia  and  Austria,  and  Prussia 

and  Saxony       374 

Austrian  disasters  in  Italy 375,376 

Negotiations  between  Sardinia  and  France         377 

1746.  Austrian  successes  in  Italy 378 

Death  of  Philip  V.  of  Spain.  Accession  of  Ferdinand  VI.  . .  378 
French  successes  in  the  Netherlands.  Battle  of  Raucoux  379,  380 
Futile  attack  upon  Toulon 380 

1747.  French  invasion  of  Holland.     William  IV.  becomes  Stadtholder  382 

Victory  of  Marshal  Saxe  at  Lauffeld 382 

Failure  of  the  Austrian  attack  on  Genoa 382 

Elizabeth   of  Russia  quarrels  with  Frederick   the  Great  and 

allies  herself  with  Austria      390 

1748.  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  ends  war  of  Austrian  succession      ..    384 
Don  Philip  receives  the  duchy  of  Parma 385 

1750.  Mission  of  Kaunitz  to  Versailles 394 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xix 

A.D.  '  PAGE 

1752.  Treaty  of  Aranjuez  between  Austria  and  the  Bourbon  states  . .  395 

1753.  Kaunitz  becomes  chief  minister  in  Austria        395 

1754   Outbreak  of  war  between  English  and  French  in  America       ..  397 

1755.  Treaty  of  St.  Petersburg  between  England  and  Russia     ..       ..  398 

175tt    Convention  of  Westminster  between  England  and  Prussia        ..  399 

French  conquest  of  Minorca        400 

War  declared  between  England  and  France       400 

Treaty  of  Versailles  between  France  and  Austria     402 

Frederick  the  Great  invades  Saxony 404 

Battle  of  Lobositz        406 

Capitulation  of  the  Saxon  array  at  Pima 406 

1756-1763.  Seven  Years' War       400-429 

1757.  Russia  accepts  the  treaty  of  Versailles      407 

Attempted  assassination  of  Louis  XV.  by  Damiens 409 

Second  treaty  of  Versailles 409 

Ministry  of  William  Pitt  in  England 414 

Prussian  invasion  of  Bohemia.     Battle  of  Prague    ..      ....  411 

Defeat  of  Frederick  at  Kolin       411 

Clive's  victory  at  Plassy.     Foundation  of  English  empire  in 

India 418 

Convention  of  Closter-Seven        412 

Frederick's  victory  at  Rossbach 413 

Frederick's  victory  at  Leuthen 414 

1758.  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  drives  the  French  from  North  Germany  415 

Failure  of  Prussian  invasion  of  Moravia 416 

Rattle  of  Zorndorf       417 

Defeat  of  Frederick  at  Hochkirch        417 

Choiseul  becomes  minister  in  France 420 

Renewal  of  alliance  between  Austria  and  France     420 

1759.  Battle  of  Minden 422 

Defeat  of  Frederick  at  Kunersdorf 422 

Naval  victories  of  England 423 

Capture  of  Quebec     Deaths  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm       . .      . .  423 

Death  of  Ferdinand  VI.  of  Spain.     Accession  of  Charles  III.   ..  423 

Pombal  expels  the  Jesuits  from  Portugal 436 

Capitulation  of  Maxen 422 

1760.  Schuwalow  treaty  between  Austria  and  Russia         423 

Victories  of  Frederick  at  Liegnitz  and  Torgau 424 

Death  of  George  II.    Accession  of  George  III 425 

1761.  Resignation  of  William  Pitt         426 

1762.  War  declared  between  England  and  Spain 426 

Death  of  Elizabeth  of  Russia.     Accession  of  Peter  III 427 

Alliance  between  Russia  and  Prussia 427 

Deposition  of  Peter  III.     Accession  of  Catharine  II 427 

Neutrality  of  Russia 427 

1763.  Treaty  of  Paris  between  England,  France  and  Spain         ..      ..427 


XX  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

A.D.                                                                                                                                                            ,  PAGB 

1763.  Treaty  of  Hubertsburg  between  Austria  and  Prussia        ..      ..  428 
Death  of  Augustus  III.  of  Saxony  and  Poland 442 

1764.  Abolition  of  the  Jesuits  in  France        436 

Stanislaus  Poniatowski  elected  king  of  Poland 443 

1765.  Death  of  Francis  I.     Joseph  II.,  hmperor 438 

1766.  Death   of  Stanislaus   Leczinski.      Annexation    of   Lorraine   to 

France      433 

1767.  Expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  Spain 436 

1768.  Corsica  sold  by  Genoa  to  France 433 

1769.  Death  of  Clement  XIII.     Election  of  Clement  XIV 437 

Outbreak  of  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey 446 

First  interview  between  Frederick  the  Great  and  Joseph  II.    . .  447 

1770.  Fall  of  Choiseul     .'.      433 

Second  interview  between  Frederick  the  Great  and  Joseph  II.  447 

1771.  Abolition  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris  by  Maupeou      433 

1772.  First  Partition  of  Poland      ..     ...    , 448 

Gustavus  III.  restores  absolutism  in  Sweden      463 

1773.  Clement  XIV.  suppresses  the  Jesuits 437 

1774.  Death  of  Louis  XV.     Accession  of  Louis  XVI 434 

Ministry  of  Maurepas 476 

Treaty  of  Kutschuk  Kainardji  between  Russia  and  Turkey     ..  449 

Restoration  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris       477 

1775.  Reforms  of  Turgot  in  France       478 

1776.  Dismissal  of  Turgot      480 

Necker  becomes  Financial  Minister 480 

Declaration  of  American  Independence       481 

1777.  Death  of  Maximilian  Joseph  of  Bavaria.     Claims  of  Joseph  II. 

to  Bavarian  succession 451 

1778.  Frederick  the  Great  opposes  Joseph  II.  in  Bavaria 451 

Treaty  between  France  and  the  American  Colonies 482 

1779.  Settlement  of  Bavarian  succession  by  treaty  of  Teschen  ..      ..  452 
Spain  joins  France  against  England 483 

1780.  Death  of  Maria  Theresa        452 

"  Armed  Neutrality  "  of  the  North 483 

1781.  Alliance  between  Catharine  II.  and  Joseph  II 456 

Resignation  of  Necker 485 

Death  of  Maurepas       485 

Surrender  of  Corn wallis  at  Yorktown        486 

1782.  Fall  of  Lord  North's  ministry  in  England 486 

1783.  The  Crimea  ceded  to  Russia         456 

Treaty  of  Versailles.     Recognition  of  American  Independence  486 

Ministry  of  Calonne  in  France 487 

1785.  Frederick  the  Great  forms  the  Fiirstenbund  against  Joseph  II.  458 

1786.  Death  of  Fredk.  the  Great.     Accession  of  Fredk.  William  II.  458 

1787.  Meeting  of  the  Notables  in  France.     Fall  of  Calonne        ..      ..488 
Fredk.  Wra.  II.  of  Prussia  restores  William  V.  in  Holland       ..  461 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  2X1 

A.D.  PAdB 

1787    Outbreak  of  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey 461 

1788.  Joseph  II.  joins  Russia  against  the  Turks 461 

Treaty  of  the  Hague  between  Prussia,  England  and  Holland  ..    461 

Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden  attacks  Russia 463 

Louis  XVI.  recalls  Necker  and  summons  the  States-General  . .    489 

1789.  Meeting  of  the  States-General  (May  5)      492 

Assumption  of  the  name  of  National  Assembly  (June  17)       ..  492 

Dismissal  of  Necker  (July  11) 496 

Storming  of  the  Bastille  (July  14) 497 

Recall  of  Necker 498 

The  abolition  of  feudal  rights  (August  4)         500 

Riot  at  Versailles  (Oct.  5).    The  king  in  Paris  (Oct.  6)   . .       . .    505 
Death  of  Abdul  Hamid.     Accession  of  Selim  III 463 

1790.  Death  of  Joseph  II.  (Feb.  20).     Leopold  II.,  Emperor      ..      ..464 
The  assembly  draws  up  a  new  constitution  for  France     ..    507-511 

Reform  of  the  Polish  Constitution  (May  3)       467 

Treaty  of  Reichenbach  between  Austria  and  Prussia  (July  27)    466 

Resignation  of  Necker 513 

Treaty  of  Werela  between  Russia  and  Sweden 463 

1791.  Death  of  Mirabeau  (March  27)    ..       .*      513 

Louis  XVI/s  attempt  to  escape  (June  20).     Its  failure    ..      ..    514 

Conference  of  Pilnitz 518 

Louis  XVI.  accepts  the  constitution  (September  14)        ..      ..   516 
Dissolution  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  (Sept.  30)         ..       ..516 

Treaty  of  Sistowa  between  Austria  and  Turkey       466 

Meeting  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  (Oct.  1) 519 

1792.  Treaty  of  Jassy  between  Russia  and  Turkey     466 

Russian  invasion  of  Poland 467 

Death  of  Leopold  IL  (March  1) 468,522 

Death  of  Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden  (March  29) 523 

France  declares  war  against  Austria  (April  20)        523 

Riot  in  the  Tuileriea  (June  20) 524 

Francis  II.  elected  Emperor  (July  3) 524 

Manifesto  of  the  duke  of  Brunswick  (July  27) 525 

Great  riot  in   Paris  (August  10).     Suspension  and  imprison- 
ment of  the  king     526 

September  massacres 527 

Cannonade  of  Valmy  (Sept.  20).     Retreat  of  the  Prussians    ..  528 

Meeting  of  the  Convention  (Sept.  21)        529 

The  French  Republic     Beginning  of  the  year  I.  (Sept.  21)   ..  531 

Annexation  of  Savoy  and  Nice  to  France 533 

Successes  of  Custine  in  Germany         534 

Battle  of  Jemmappes  (Nov.  6).    Dumouriez  conquers  Belgium  534 
Trial  of  Louis  XVI.  by  the  Convention  (Dec.  13-26)       ..      ..536 

1793.  Execution  of  Louis  XVI.  (Jan.  21) 537 

Second  Partition  of  Poland  (Jan.  23) 409 


xxii  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1793.  France  declares  war  against  England  (Feb.  8) 538 

Defeat  of  Dumouriez  at  Neerwinden  (March  8).    Failure  of  his 

schemes,  and  exile 539 

Rising  in  La  Vendee 539 

Appointment  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  (April  6)      ..    540 

Fall  of  the  Girondists  (June  2) 541 

Re-organisation  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,    which 

becomes  absolute 542 

Suppression  of  provincial  revolts        543 

French  victories 544 

The  Reign  of  Terror 545 

The  "  dumb  sitting  "  of  Grodno  (Sept.  22)        470 

Introduction  of  the  republican  calendar  (Oct.  6)      545 

The  "  Feast  of  Reason  "  (Nov.  10)      ..      546 

1794.  Fall  of  the  H^bertists  (March  15)      ..546 

Fall  of  the  Dantonists  (April  5) 547 

Supremacy  of  Robespierre *. 547 

Treaty  of  the  Hague  between  England  and  Prussia 550 

Revolt  of  Kosciusko  in  Poland 470 

Failure  of  Prussian  invasion  of  Poland       471 

The  "  Festival  of  the  Supreme  Being  "  (June) 547 

Death  of  Robespierre  (July  28) 549 

The  Russians  put  down  the  Polish  revolt 471 

Thermidorian  reaction  in  France         550 

Closing  of  the  Jacobin  club         550 

French  victories 550-1 

French  conquest  of  Holland        551 

1795.  Third  Partition  of  Poland  (Jan.  3)     ..      ..      471 

Break  up  of  the  European  coalition 551 

Treaty  of  Basel  between  Prussia  and  France  (April)        ..       ..    551 

Treaty  between  Spain  and  France  (June) 551 

Death  of  "  Louis  XVII."  (June  8)      ..      ..      551 

Suppression  of  the  revolt  in  La  Vendee      552 

French  constitution  of  the  year  III 552 

Suppression  of  rising  of  13  Vendemiaire 553 

Dissolution  of  the  Convention  (Oct.  26) 553 

The  Directory       553 

Campaign  on  the  Rhine        - 555 

1796.  Bonaparte's  invasion  of  Italy       555 

Victor  Amadeus  III.  of  Sardinia  concludes  humiliating  pe  ice ..    555 

Battle  of  Lodi  (May  9).     Conquest  of  Lombardy      556 

Successes  of  the  archduke  Charles  in  Germany.     Defeat    of 

Jourdan  and  retreat  of  Moreau       557 

Battle  of  Areola  (Nov.  15-17) 558 

Death   of  Catharine   II.    of  Russia   (Nov.   17).     Accession  of 

Paul  1 564,472 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  XXiii 

.  S.D.  PAGB 

1797.  Battle  of  Rivoli  (Jan.  15) 558 

Surrender  of  Mantua  (Feb.  2) 558 

Bonaparte  concludes  treaty  of  Tolentino  with  Pope  (Feb.  19)      558 

French  invasion  of  Austria 559 

Preliminaries  of  Leoben  (April  18) 559 

Submission  of  Venice 560 

Coup  (Ttfat  of  the  18th  Fructidor  (Sept.  4)       561 

Treaty  of  Campo  Formio  (Oct.  17).  Venice  ceded  to  Austria  562 
Congress  of  Rastadt 563 

1798.  The  French  enter  Rome,  expel  Pius  VI.,  and  establish  a  republic  564 

Bonaparte's  expedition  to  Egypt        563 

Switzerland  becomes  the  Helvetic  Republic     564 

Second  coalition  against  France  564 

Naples,  Sardinia  and  Tuscany  occupied  by  the  French     ..      ..   565 

1799.  French  defeats  in  Germany  and  Italy         565 

Restoration  of  Ferdinand  IV.  in  Naples 566 

Bonaparte's  return  from  Egypt  (Oct.  9) 568 

Coup  <T€tat  of  the  18th  Brumaire  (Nov.  9)       568 

Constitution  of  the  year  VIII 569 

Bonaparte  First  Consul        570 

1800.  Campaign  in  Italy        574 

Battle  of  Marengo  (June  14)       575 

Moreau's  campaign  in  Germany  575,  576 

Battle  of  Hohenlinden  576 

Paul  I.  renews  the  Armed  Neutrality        577 

1801.  Treaty  of  Luneville  between  France  and  Austria      576 

Resignation  of  William  Pitt         577 

Nelson  bombards  Copenhagen 577 

Assassiuation  of  Paul  I.     Accession  of  Paul  II 577 

Capitulation  of  the  French  forces  in  Cairo  and  Alexandria  ..  578 
Preliminaries  of  peace  between  England  and  France  (Oct.  1)  578 
The  Batavian  Republic        581 

1802.  The  Italian  Republic 581 

Treaty  of  Amiens  between  England  and  France  (March  27)    ..    578 

Bonaparte's  concordat  with  the  Pope         580 

Bonaparte  Consul  for  life  (August) 581 

Increase  of  despotism  in  France 581 

Annexation  of  Piedmont  to  Frame  (Sept.)        581 

1803.  Secularisation  of  ecclesiastical  states  in  Germany 582 

Renewal  of  the  war  between  England  and  France 583 

French  occupation  of  Hanover 583 

1804.  Issue  of  the  Code  SapolAn         580 

Murder  of  the  duke  of  Enghien  (March  15)      584 

Bonaparte  proclaimed  Emperor  as  Napoleon  I.  585 

William  Pitt  resumes  office  586 

Francis  II.  assumes  the  title  of  "  Hereditary  Emperor"  of  Austria  586 

2 


xxiv  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A-D.  PAGE 

1805.  Establishment  of  the  "  kingdom  of  Italy  "         587 

Formation  of  the  third  coalition  against  France        587 

Napoleon  marches  against  Austria 589 

Capitulation  of  Ulm  (Oct.  20) 589 

Battle  of  Trafalgar.     Death  of  Nelson  (Oct.  21)      589 

Prussia  joins  the  coalition  (Nov.  3) 590 

Battle  of  Austerlitz  (Dec.  2)       590 

Treaty  of  Schonbrunn  between  France  and  Prussia  (Dec.  15)..  590 

Treaty  of  Pressburg  between  France  and  Austria 591 

1806.  Death  of  Pitt  (Jan.  23)        590 

Ferdinand  IV.  driven  from  Naples.     Joseph  Bonaparte  pro- 
claimed king     592 

Louis  Bonaparte  king  of  Holland         592 

The  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  (July  12)         592 

End  of  the  "  Holy  Roman  Empire  "  (Aug.  1) 592 

Prussia  declares  war  against  France  (Oct.  9) 593 

Battles  of  Jena  and  Auerstadt  (Oct.  14) 594- 

Napoleon  issues  the  Berlin  decree       595 

1807.  The  English  Orders  in  Council 596 

Campaign    in    East    Prussia.     Battles  of  Eylau  (Feb.  8)  and 

Friedland  (June  14)        596,597 

Treaty  of  Tilsit  between  France,  Russia,  and  Prussia      . .       . .    598 
Kingdom  of  Westphalia  formed  for  Jerome  Bonaparte    ..       ..    598 

The  English  fleet  bombards  Copenhagen 599 

Stein  takes  office  in  Prussia.     Issue  of  the  Emancipating  Edict    604 
French  conquest  of  Portugal.     Flight  of  the  Court  to  Brazil      600 

1808.  French  iuvasion  of  Spain      602 

Abdication  of  Charles  IV.  and  Ferdinand  VII 602 

The  Spanish  crown  given  to  Joseph  Bonaparte         602 

Rising  in  Spain.     Capitulation  of  Baylen 602 

Naples  given  to  Joachim  Murat  618 

The  English  in  Portugal.     Battle  of  Vimeira  (Aug.  21)..       ..    603 
Convention  of  Cintra.     The  French  evacuate  Portugal  ..       ..    603 

Dismissal  of  Stein         606 

Interview  of  Napoleon  and  Alexander  at  Erfurt       606 

Napoleon  in  Spain.     Joseph  restored  in  Madrid         607 

1809.  Ptetreat  of  Sir  John  Moore.     Battle  of  Corunna        607 

The  French  again  invade  Portugal 607 

Austria  declares  war 607 

Napoleon  enters  Vienna  (May  13)       608 

Napoleon  confiscates  the  Papal  States        611 

Battles  of  Aspern  (May  22)  and  Wagram  (July  5,  6)     ..    608,  609 

Armistice  of  Znaim  (July  12) 609 

The   English  drive    the    French    from    Portugal    and   invade 

Spain 609 

Battle  of  Talavei  a  (July  28).     Wellington  returns  to  Portugal    610 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  XXV 

A.D.  PACK 

1809.  Disastrous  expedition  to  Walcheren 610 

Treaty  of  Vienna  between  France  and  Austria 610 

Gustavus  IV.  of  Sweden  deposed.     Accession  of  Charles  XIII.'  599 

1810.  Napoleon  ma rri 08  the  archduchess  Maria  Louisa       612 

Holland  taken  from  Louis  Bonaparte  and  annexed  to  France  ..  611 

Massena  takes  Ciudad  Rodrigo  aud  invades  Portugal       ..       ..  613 

Battle  of  Busaco  (Sept.  29)         613 

Masse'na  retreats  from  Torres  Vedras  613 

1811.  Wellington  invades  Spain.     Battles  of  Fuentes  d'Onoro  (May  5) 

and  Albuera  (May  16).     Return  of  the  English  to  Portugal    614 

1812.  Wellington  captures  Ciudad  Rodrigo  (Jan.  19)  and  Bad  i-  z 

(April  6) ..  614 

Treaty  of  Bucharest  between  Russia  and  Turkey  (May  28)     ..  616 

Battle  of  Salamanca  (July  22) 614 

Wellington  occupies  Madrid,  but  returns  to  Ciudad  Rodrigo  ..  614 

Napoleon's  expedition  to  Russia 617 

Battle  of  Borodino  (Sept.  14) 617 

Retreat  of  the  French  from  Moscow 617,618 

1813.  Treaty  of  Kalisch  between  Russia  and  Prussia 619 

War  of  Liberation         620-624 

Armistice  of  Poischwitz  (June  4)        621 

Battle  of  Vittoria  (June  21)  decides  the  Peninsular  war . .       ..  625 

Austria  joins  the  league  against  France 622 

Treaty  of  Topi itz  (Sept.  9) 

Battle  of  Leipzig  (Oct.  18) 

Wellington  fights  his  way  through  the  Pyrenees     680 

1814.  The  Allies  invade  France 625 

Capitulation  of  Paris  (March  31)       626 

Battle  of  Toulouse  (April  10) 626 

Abdication  of  Napoleon  (April  11) 626 

Restoration  of  Louis  XVI II G27 

Treaty  of  Paris  (May  30) 627 

Louis  XVIII.  issues  the  Charter         628 

The  Congress  of  Vienna       629 

1815.  Napoleon  leaves  Elba  and  lands  at  Cannes  (March  1)               ..  681 
Louis  XVIII.  flies  to  Ghent.     Restoration  of  the  Empire         ..  631 

Defeat  of  Murat  at  Tolentino  (May  23)     632 

Restoration  of  Ferdin-tnd  IV.  in  Naples.   "  Kingdom  of  the  Two 

Sicilies" 632 

Battles  of  Ligny  and  Quatre  Bras  (June  16) 631 

Battle  of  Waterloo  (June  18) 632 

Napoleon  sent  to  St.  Helena        883 

Second  restoration  of  Louis  XVIII 633 

Formation  of  the  Holy  Alliance  (S.|t.  J')        636 

Death  of  Murat  (Oct.'l 5) 033 

1   Treaty  of  Pan                     |         033 


xxvi  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.J).  PAGB 

1818.  Congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.    Withdrawal  of  army  of  occupation 

from  France      640 

1820/  Death   of  George  III.  of  England.     Accession  of  George  IV. 

Assassination  of  the  duke  of  Berry  (Feb.  13) 640 

Royalist  reaction  in  France 641 

Revolution  in  Spain ..      ..  642 

Risings  in  Naples  and  Sicily         642 

Revolution  in  Portugal.     Separation  of  Brazil  from  Portugal  643 

Congress  of  Troppau  (Oct.),  transferred  to  Laybach  . 645 

1821.  Austrian  troops  put  down  revolutionary  movement  in  Naples 

and  Sicily 646 

Revolution  in  Piedmont       ..      ..      ..      ..      .. 646 

Victor  Emmanuel  I.  abdicates  in  favour  of  Charles  Felix         ..  646 

Austria  helps  to  put  down  the  revolution  in  Piedmont    .,       ..  646 

Death  of  Napoleon  I.  at  St.  Helena  (May  5)       641 

Rising  in  Greece ..       ..  650 

1822    Successes  of  the  Greeks        ..      ..      ..      ..      ..  651 

Congress  of  Verona  (Oct.) 647 

1823.  French  troops  restore  the  authority  of  Ferdinand  VII.  in  Spain  647 
Reaction  in  Portugal 648 

1824.  Death  of  Louis  XVII.  (Sept.  16).     Accession  of  Charles  X.    ..  657 

1825.  Egyptian  intervention  in  Greece.     Successes  of  Ibrahim  Pasha  653 
Death  of  Alex.  I.  of  Russia  (Dec.  1).    Accession  of  Nicolas  648,  653 

1826.  Fall  of  Missolonghi  (April  2)      653 

Mahmoud  II.  destroys  the  Janissaries        654 

Convention  of  Ackermann  between  Russia  and  Turkey    ..       ..  655 

1827.  Treaty  of  London  between  England,  France,  and  Russia  (July  6)  655 

Death  of  Canning  (August  8) 655 

Battle  of  Navarino  (Oct.  20)       655 

1828.  Outbreak  of  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey 656 

Dom  Miguel  usurps  the  crown  in  Portugal      672 

1829.  Diebitsch  crosses  the  Balkans 656 

Treaty  of  Adrianople 657 

1830.  Revolution  in  France  (July  28-30) ..  661 

Abdication  of  Charles  X.  (August  1) 662 

Accession  of  Louis  Philippe  as  "  Roi  des  Frangais"  .,      ..      ..  662 

Rising  in  Belgium         664 

London  conference  on  the  Belgian  question        ,      ..  665 

Rising  in  Poland ..       ..       ...       ••  667 

Accession  of  Ferdinand  II.  (King  Bomba)  in  the  Two  Sicilies . .  671 

1831.  Death  of  Charles  Felix  of  Sardinia.     Accession  of  Charles  Albert  676 

Risings  in  Italy.     Austrian  intervention 971 

Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg  elected  king  of  the  Belgians 666 

Suppression  of  the  Polish  rising          668 

1832.  Formation  of  the   Siebener-Concordat  and  the  Sarner  Bund  in 

Switzerland      ..       ..      , 670 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxvii 

A.D.  PACK 

1832    Accession  of  Otho  I.  (of  Bavaria)  in  Greece       657 

The  Reform  Bill  carried  in  England 663 

1833.  Holland  recognises  the  independence  of  Belgium       ..       ..      ..    667 

Interview  between  rulers  of  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia  at 

Miinchengratz  • 669 

Mehemet  Ali  obtains  Syria 741 

Treaty  of  Unkiar  Skelessi  between  Russia  and  Turkey  ..  ..  741 
Death  of  Ferdinand  VII.  of  Spain.  Accession  of  Isabella  II.  ..  679 
Quadruple    alliance    between    France,    England,    Spain,   and 

Portugal.     Expulsion  of  Dom  Miguel  from  Portugal  ..      ..    672 

1834.  Victory  of  the  Liberals  in  Switzerland.     Dissolution  of  the 

Sarncr  Bund 670 

1835.  Death  of  Francis  I.  of  Austria.      Accession  of  Ferdinand  I.      ..   688 
1837.  Death  cf  William  IV.  of  England.     Separation  of  England  and 

Hanover 688 

1839.  War  between  Mehemet  Ali  and  the  Sultan        741 

Death  of  Mahmoud  II.     Accession  of  Abdul  Medjid  . .      ....   741 

1840.  Treaty  of  London.     Mehemet  Ali  resigns  Syria         ..      ..678,742 
Death   of  Frederick    William   HI.   of  Prussia.      Accession  of 

Frederick  William  IV 688 

1841.  Convention  of  the  Straits 742 

1846.  The  Spanish  marriages 680 

Election  of  Pope  Pius  IX 692 

IS47.  War  of  the  Sotuicrbund  in  Switzerland       687 

1848.  Death  of  Christian  V 1 1 1 .  of  Denmark.     Accession  of  Fredk.  VII.  691 

Rising  in  Sicily  and  Naples 693 

Revolution  in  Paris  (Feb.  24).     Fall  of  Louis  Philippe.      The 

Second  Republic      684 

March  revolutions  in  Germany 688-690 

Revolt  of  Schleswig  and  Holstein  against  Denmark 691 

Charles  Albert  grants  a  constitution  to  Piedmont 693 

Pius  IX.  grants  a  constitution 693 

Revolt  of  Lombardy  and  Venice  against  Austria     693 

War  between  Austria  and  Sardinia.     Victory  of  Radetsky  at 

Custozza 693-694 

Meeting  of  the  German  Parliament  at  Frankfort  (May  18)  ..  702 
Suppression  of  socialist  rising  in  Paris  (June).     Dictatorship 

ofCavaignac 686 

Reaction  in  Vienna      697 

Reaction  in  Berlin        701 

Establishment  of  republics  in  Rome  and  Florence 695 

Abdication  of  Ferdinand  L  of  Austria.     Accession  of  Francis 

Joseph      797 

Louis  Napoleon  elected  President  of  the  French  Republic        ..   710 

1849.  Open  revolt  of  Hungary      698 

Charles  Albert  renews  the  war.     Battle  of  Novara 699 


xxviii  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1849.  Abdication  of  Charles  Albert.     Accession  ofVictor  Emmanuel  700 

Suppression  of  Hungarian  revolt         699 

Ferdinand  II.  (Bomba)  reduces  Sicily         701 

Dissolution  of  the  German  parliament        707 

French  occupation  of  Rome         700 

Reaction  in  Central  Italy 700 

Capitulation  of  Venice         701 

18")0.  Rivalry  of  Austria  and  Prussia  in  Germany      707 

Convention  of  Olmiitz.    Restoration  of  German  Confederation  708 

1851.  Coup  d'&tat  in  France  (Dec.  2).     Louis  Napoleon  President  for 

ten  years 712 

1852.  Treaty   of    London  (May   8)   settles   the   Schleswig-Holstein 

question 709 

First  ministry  of  Cavour      ..       ..      ,.    717 

The  Second  Empire  in  France ..      t.      ,.   713 

1$53.  Outbreak  of  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey 743 

1854.  France  and  England  join  Turkey.     The  Crimean  war       ..       ..    743 

1855.  Death  of  Nicolas  of  Russia  (March  3).  Accession  of  Alexander  II.  744 
Evacuation  of  Sebastopol      745 

1856.  Treaty  of  Paris  ends  the  Crimean  war        745 

1858.  Attempt  of  Orsini  to  assassinate  Napoleon  III 718 

Interview  at  Plombieres  between  Napoleon  III.  and  Cavour    ..    719 

1859.  War  between  Austria  and  Sardinia.     Intervention  of  France. 

Magenta  and  Solferino   ..      ..      .,      719-720 

Peace  of  Villafranca ..    720 

1860.  Annexation  of  Tuscany,  Emilia,  and  Romagna  to  Sardinia     ..    721 

Cession  of  Savoy  and  Nice  to  France 722 

Garibaldi  in  Sicily  and  Naples 722 

Battle  of  Castel  Fidardo      723 

1861.  Annexation  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  Umbria,  and  the  Marches  to 

Sardinia 723 

Victor  Emmanuel  king  of  Italy 724 

Death  of  Cavour 724 

Death  of  Abdul  Medjid.     Accession  of  Abdul  Aziz 748 

Emancipation  of  the  Russian  serfs 746 

Death  of  FreJk.  Wm.  IV.  of  Prussia.     Accession  of  William  I.  725 

1862.  Defeat  of  Garibaldi  at  Aspromonte 725 

Bismarck  becomes  Prussian  minister 727 

Revolution  in  Greece.     Expulsion  of  Otho  1 748 

1863.  Death  of  Frederick  VII.  of  Denmark.    Accession  of  Christian  IX.  726 

Re-opening  of  the  Schleswig-Holstein  question 726 

Rising  in  Poland 746 

George  I.  becomes  King  of  Greece       748 

1864.  Schleswig  and  Holstein  ceded  to  joint  occupation  of  Austria 

and  Prussia        727 

Suppression  of  the  Polish  revolt 746 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  XXIX 

A.D.  PACK 

1864.  Cession  of  the  Ionian  Islands  to  Greece       748 

1865.  Convention  of  Gastein  between  Austria  and  Prussia 728 

1866.  The  Seven  Weeks'  war  between  Austria  and  Prussia         ..  729,  730 
Prussia   annexes   Schleswig-Holstein,    Hanover,    Hesse-Cassel, 

Nassau,  and  Frankfort 730 

Campaign  in  Italy.     Venetia  ceded  to  Victor  Emmanuel         ..  731 

Battle  of  Mentana.     Renewal  of  French  occupation  of  Rome  732 

1867.  The  North  German  Confederation       731 

Establishment  of  dual  government  in  Austro-Hungary  ..       ..  731 

1868.  Revolution  in  Spain.     Expulsion  of  Isabella  II 733 

1870.  Outbreak  of  Franco-German  war        734 

Fall  of  the  French  Empire.     The  Third  Republic 735 

Rome  becomes  the  capital  of  Italy      738 

1871.  Proclamation  of  the  German  Empire 737 

Treaty  of  Frankfort  between  France  and  Germany 736 

1873.  Resignation  of  M.  Thiers.     Marshal  MacMahon  president  of 

the  French  Republic        737 

1874.  Accession  of  Alfonso  XII.  in  Spain 739 

1875.  Rising  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina       748 

1876.  Deposition  of  Abdul  Aziz.     Accession  of  Amurath  V 749 

"  Bulgarian  atrocities"        749 

Servia  and  Montenegro  declare  war  against  Turkey        ..      ..  749 

Deposition  of  Amurath  V.     Accession  of  Abdul  Hamid  II.     ..  749 

Conference  at  Constantinople 750 

1877.  Russia  declares  war  against  Turkey 750 

1878.  Death  of  Victor  Emmanuel.     Accession  of  Humbert  1 738 

The  Russians  at  Adrianople         750 

Treaty  of  San  Stefano 751 

Convention  between  England  and  Turkey 752 

Treaty  of  Berlin 751 

Resignation  of  Marshal  MacMahon.     M.  GreVy  president  of 

the  French  Republic 737 


MODERN    EUROPE, 


INTRODUCTION. 

Without  denying  the  essential  unity  of  history,  it  is  not  only 
convenient  but  possible  to  draw  a  fairly  well-marked  line  between 
certain  periods.  Such  a  line  is  that  which  is  usually  drawn 
between  ancient  and  modern  history  at  the  fall  of  Rome.  It  was 
not  true  that  Roman  civilization  ceased  to  affect  the  world,  but  a 
number  of  new  influences  came  into  working  with  the  barbarian 
invasions,  which  were  sufficient  to  mark  a  new  epoch.  Very 
similar  is  the  line  which  can  be  drawn  between  the  middle  ages 
and  later  times.  The  two  differ  in  innumerable  points,  in  art, 
philosophy,  language,  literature,  and  commercial  principles.  But 
the  historian  is  pre-eminently  concerned  with  the  radical  difference 
in  men's  conceptions  of  politics  and  society. 

In  the  middle  ages  there  was  nothing  which  corresponds  to  the 
modern  conception  of  the  state  as  a  nation.  The  political  unit  was 
not  fixed  as  it  is  now,  nor  was  it  so  large  as  now.  In  some  places 
it  was  the  feudal  lord  and  his  vassals,  who  were  bound  together  by 
reciprocal  duties  of  service  and  defence.  Elsewhere  it  was  the 
commune,  the  association  of  citizens  under  a  more  or  less  indepen- 
dent municipal  government.  In  other  places  it  was  still  smaller, 
the  guild  or  voluntary  association  of  men  for  some  common  object, 
either  mercantile  or  religious.  These  and  other  similar  bodies  were 
the  practical  units  of  mediaeval  politics. 

But  in  theory  they  were  not  units  at  all.  The  political  theorist 
regarded  the  whole  of  Christendom  as  forming  one  state,  at  once 
religious  and  political.  This  was  the  result  of  the  influence  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  which  fascinated  the  barbarians  who  broke  it  to 
pieces.  This  idea  of  unity  lay  at  the  root  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  which  in  theory  still  represented  the  universal  rule  of 
Rome,  long  after  it  had  lost  all  practical  power  and  even  influence. 
The  theory  was  rendered  more  fanciful  by  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State,  unknown  before  the  introduction  of  Christianity.     Th« 


Z  MODERN   EUROPE. 

• 
papacy  rose  side  by  side  with  the  empire,  and  the  mediaeval  world 
regarded  itself  as  one  state  with  two  heads.  The  quarrels  of 
emperors  and  popes  did  much  to  weaken  the  system  which  both 
represented.  Thus  in  its  theoretical  unity  and  its  practical  division 
the  political  condition  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages  differed  com- 
pletely from  that  of  our  own  times. 

Its  social  condition  differed  no  less.  The  unit  was  not  smaller, 
but  larger  than  it  is  now.  The  modern  unit  of  society  is  the 
individual.  In  the  middle  ages  the  individual  was  powerless.  He 
could  only  obtain  separate  importance  as  the  holder  of  some  office,  as 
emperor,  king,  or  bishop.  Otherwise  he  must  efface  himself  in  a 
corporation.  The  social  units  of  medieval  times  were  the  families, 
guilds,  and  corporations,  which  were  in  some  cases  also  political 
units,  but  which,  even  when  they  had  begun  to  form  part  of  some 
larger  whole,  continued  to  exist  as  the  b  iscs  of  social  life. 

Though  the  two  periods  are  thus  distinctly  divided,  it  is  not 
possihle  to  fix  any  absolute  date  of  division.  The  fall  of  Constan- 
tinople in  1453,  which  brought  the  Eastern  Empire  to  an  end, 
which  spread  Greek  literature  and  culture  in  western  Europe,  and 
which  made  the  Turks  a  first-rate  European  power,  serves  as  a 
convenient  landmark.  But  the  transition  from  the  middle  ages 
was  going  on  throughout  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries. 
The  most  notable  points  in  the  great  change  are  :  (1)  the  decline 
of  the  empire  and  the  papacy  ;  (2)  the  rise  of  the  people,  and  their 
acquisition  of  a  share  in  political  power;  (3)  the  formation  of 
nations  ;  (4)  the  rise  of  monarchy. 

{I.)  The  practical  power  of  the  empire  had  been  weakened  by  its 
long  struggle  with  the  papacy;  it  was  almost  destroyed  by  the  great 
interregnum  (1251-72)  which  followed  the  fall  of  the  Hohenstaufen. 
The  accession  of  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg  restored  order,  but  the  empire 
had  sunk  to  an  ordinary  territorial  lordship,  or  something  even  less. 
But  the  papacy  did  not  reap  the  expected  advantage  from  the  fall 
of  its  old  rival.  The  championship  of  the  temporal  power  fell  to 
other  and  stronger  hands.  Philip  IV.  of  France  defeated  and 
humbled  Boniface  VIII.  Boniface's  successor,  Clement  V.,  trans- 
ferred his  residence  from  Rome  to  Avignon,  and  during  a  Babylonish 
captivity  of  seventy  years  (1305-77),  the  papacy  was  subservient 
to  France.  The  enemies  of  France  became  the  enemies  of  the  pope. 
This  gave  a  great  impulse  to  that  national  opposition  to  the  papacy 
which  did  much  to  direct  the  course  of  the  Reformation.  The 
return  to  Rome  in  1377  was  followed  by  the  outbreak  of  the  great 
schism  (1373-1417).  Two  popes,  one  in  Rome,  and  one  in  Avig- 
non, claimed  the  allegiance  of  Christians.  In  1409  the  Council  of 
Pisa  elected  a  third  pope.     The  Council  of  Constance  terminated 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

the  schism  by  the  election  of  Marti  u  V.  But  his  successor 
Eugenius  IV.  embarked  in  a  quarrel  with  the  Council  of  Basel 
(1431-1449),  in  which  the  papacy  was  victorious,  though  it  nevt  i 
really  recovered  its  strength.  From  this  time  the  popes  sink  more 
and  more  into  temporal  rulers  of  the  States  of  the  Church. 

(2.)  As  the  empire  and  papacy  declined,  a  new  power,  that  of  the 
people,  rose  into  prominence.  In  most  European  countries  the 
towns  had  early  established  their  right  to  form  part  of  the  political 
assemblies.  But  within  the  towns  themselves  democratic  move- 
ments were  going  on  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries, 
The  artisans  revolted  against  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  merchants  or 
city  nobles.  And  gradually  the  conflict  extended  beyond  the  town- 
walls.  The  fourteenth  century  is  an  age  of  great  popular  move- 
ments. In  1291  the  cantons  of  Uri,  Schwyz,  and  Unterwalden 
formed  their  famous  league.  In  1315  their  peasants  defeated 
Leopold  of  Austria  at  Morgarten.  Thus  strengthened,  the  league 
extended  itself  and  took  in  Lucerne  in  1330,  Zurich  in  1350,  Glaris, 
Zug  and  Berne  in  1352.  Thus  was  formed  the  league  of  the  eight 
old  cantons  which  in  1386  secured  its  independence  by  the 
victory  of  Sempach.  Flanders  was  another  important  scene  cf 
popular  progress.  In  1302  the  Flemish  burghers  defeated  Philip 
IV.  at  Courtrai.  The  people  found  leaders  in  Jacob  van  Artevelde, 
the  ally  of  Edward  III.,  and  Philip  van  Artevelde,  who  was 
ultimately  slain  at  Rosbecque  in  1382.  In  France  Etienne  Marcel 
headed  a  movement  of  the  third  estate  in  1355,  which  aimed  at 
first  at  constitutional  reforms,  but  which  degenerated  into  a  selfish 
insurrection  of  the  Parisian  mob.  This  was  accompanied  in  1358 
by  the  fearfnl  peasant  outbreak,  called  the  Jacquerie.  In  England 
we  find  the  Lollards  teaching  doctrines  of  democratic  equality,  and 
in  1381  the  insurrection  of  Wat  Tyler  necessitated  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  villeins.  In  the  fifteenth  century  we  come  to  the 
greatest  of  these  popular  movements,  that  of  the  Hussites  in 
Bohemia,  which  for  twenty  years  threatened  to  proselytise  by  force, 
first  Germany  and  then  Europe.  But  it  failed  because  it  was  too 
destructive,  and  because  it  offered  no  satisfactory  substitute  for  the 
by  stem  which  it  attacked.  These  movements  were  by  no  means 
uniformly  successful,  but  even  when  they  failed  they  were  not 
without  results,  and  they  testify  to  a  general  ferment,  which  is  a 
sign  of  the  breaking-up  of  old  political  forms. 

(3.)  With  the  rise  of  the  people  is  intimately  connected  the  rise 
of  nations.  Hitherto  Europe  had  been  mainly  divided  into  classes. 
Chivalry  was  pre-eminently  a  class  institution.  Knighthood  was  a 
link  between  the  upper  classes  of  all  countries.  A  French  and  a 
German  knight  had  more  in  common  with  each  other  than  either  had 


4  MODERN  EUROPE. 

with  a  citizen  or  peasant  of  his  own  country.  But  this  came  to  an 
end  as  the  lower  classes  forced  their  way  upwards.  Europe  began 
to  be  divided  vertically,  instead  of,  as  before,  horizontally.  The  rise 
of  nations  was  the  result  of  the  gradual  growth  of  common  interests 
which  bound  together  the  inhabitants  of  certain  countries  in 
opposition  to  the  class-interests  which  had  hitherto  kept  them 
divided.  The  most  vivid  form  of.  common  interest  is  common 
danger,  and  the  chief  creator  of  such  danger  has  always  been 
war.  Thu3  the  Hundred  Years'  War  created  the  French,  and 
consolidated  the  English  nation.  In  Spain  the  ancient  and  well- 
marked  divisions  of  Castile,  Aragon  and  Navarre  proved  very 
difficult  to  unite.  The  first  impulse  to  union  was  the  marriage  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  who  held  the  crowns  of  Aragon  and  Castile. 
They  conquered  Granada  and  crushed  the  Moors.  Ferdinand 
annexed  Navarre,  but  provincial  jealousies  continued  to  exist,  and 
it  was  not  till  local  life  and  independence  had  been  stifled  by  the 
inquisition  and  the  policy  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.,  that  the 
Spanish  nation  was  crushed  and  created  at  the  same  time.  Two 
countries,  Germany  and  Italy,  were  complete  exceptions  to  the 
rest  of  Europe.  Germany,  nominally  united,  was  really  a  loose 
federation.  Italy  was  the  battle-ground  for  foreign  powers,  and 
had  no  unity  of  its  own. 

(4.)  In  all  the  nations  which  arose  in  Europe  at  the  close  of  the 
middle  ages,  the  growth  of  unity  was  accompanied  by  the  rise  of  a 
strong  monarchical  power.  The  same  causes  were  at  work  in  both 
cases.  The  rise  of  the  people,  and  the  consequent  weakening  of 
class  distinctions,  as  they  aided  the  gradual  union,  so  also  they 
strengthened  the  central  power.  This  was  specially  the  case  in 
France.  There  the  crown  allied  itself  with  the  third  estate  against 
the  nobles,  and  thus  raised  itself  till  it  could  tyrannise  equally 
over  all  classes.  Foreign  war  too  was  as  serviceable  to  monarchy 
as  to  nationality.  Victory  over  the  English  enabled  Charles  V.  and 
Charles  VII.  to  found  a  power,  which  was  rendered  despotic  by 
Louis  XI.  In  England  the  whole  course  of  events  was  different  from 
that  in  France.  But  the  result  was  not  dissimilar.  Lollard 
schemes  of  confiscation  drove  the  church,  formerly  the  champion  of 
liberty,  to  the  side  of  the  crown.  The  nobles  destroyed  themselves 
in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses.  The  commons  by  themselves  were  for  a 
time  powerless,  and  the  Tudors  established  despotism.  In  Spain  it 
was  the  successful  wars,  first  against  the  Moors  and  then  in  Italy, 
that  founded  the  power  of  the  monarchy.  The  accession  of 
Charles  V.  gave  the  crown  the  assistance  of  foreign  territories. 
This  power  was  ruthlessly  employed  by  Charles  and  his  son  to 
crush  more  ancient  and   more  firmly   established  liberties  than 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

existed  in  any  other  country  in  the  middle  ages.  Germany  and 
Italy  are  again  exceptions.  As  they  had  no  unity,  so  they  could 
have  no  strong  central  power. 

The  period  of  transition  is  also  marked  by  a  great  social  change, 
viz.,  the  rise  to  importance  of  the  individual.  This  change  is  closely 
connected  with  the  so-called  Renaissance,  which  in  its  essence 
was  the  assertion  of  the  rights  of  the  individual  against  the 
mediaeval  chains  which  had  hitherto  bound  him  down.  Literature 
and  art  opened  up  a  new  career,  over  which  the  old  restrictions  had 
no  control.  The  change  was  completed  in  the  16th  century  by 
the  Reformation,  which  broke  through  the  most  oppressive  trammels 
of  the  mediaeval  system. 

These  then  are  the  chief  points  of  the  great  change  which 
inaugurated  modern  history.  The  empire  and  papacy,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  old  theoretical  unity,  lost  their  influence.  That 
unity  was  replaced  by  large  and  united  nations  under  powerful 
monarchies.  Feudalism,  chivalry,  and  the  class  interests  which 
those  institutions  represented,  were  weakened  by  the  rise  of  the 
people.  And  lastly,  a  vigorous  attack  was  made  on  the  repressive 
influence  of  the  old  system  by  the  growth  of  freedom  of  thought  and 
individual  liberty.  One  may  also  mention  without  comment,  tho 
rise  of  national  churches  and  of  national  literatures ;  the  military 
change  which  substituted  infantry  for  cavalry;  the  invention  of 
gunpowder,  which  gave  a  death-blow  to  military  feudalism ;  and 
the  great  scientific  and  geographical  discoveries  which  opened  up  a 
new  world  of  thought  and  action. 


CHAPTER  T. 

EUROPE  IN  THE  LATTER  HALF  OF  THE  15TH  CENTURY. 

I.  Italy  from  1453  to  1494.— §  1.  Decline  of  the  imperial  power.  £  2. 
Milan  under  the  Sforzas.  §  3.  Naples  and  Sicily  under  the  Hon<»c  of 
Aragon.  §  4.  The  Papacy;  growth  of  nepotism.  §  5.  Florence  under 
the  Medici.  §  6.  Venice;  policy  of  territorial  aggression.  II.  Ger- 
many from  1453  TO  1519. — §  7.  Union  of  royal  and  imperial  power; 
decline  of  central  authority.  §  8.  Chief  principalities  of  Germany  ;  the 
knights;  the  free  cities;  fatal  results  of  German  disunion;  attempted 
reforms  under  Frederick  III.  §  9.  Hungary,  Bohemia,  and  Poland ; 
Ladislaus  Postumus  and  the  siege  of  Belgrad  ;  Hungary  and  Bohemia 
separated  from  Austria ;  George  Podiebrad  and  Matthias  Corvinus. 
§  10.  Maximilian  I.;  reforms  in  the  empire:  advance  of  the  House  of 
Hapsburg.  III.  France  from  1453  to  1494. — §  11.  Growth  of  the 
French  monarchy;  the  dukes  of  Burgundy;  the  War  of  the  Public 
Weal.  §  12.  Rivalry  of  Louis  XL  and  Charles  the  Bold  ;  importance 
of  Louis'  reign.  §  13.  Regency  of  Anne  of  Beaujeu  ;  Charles  VIII. 
prepares  for  his  Italian  expedition.  IV.  Spain  from  1453  to  1521. — 
§  14.  Divisions  of  Spain  ;  Navarre  ;  Aragon  ;  Castile.  §  15.  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella;  fall  of  Granada  ;  the  royal  family  ;  Ferdinand's  rule  after 
Isabella's  death.  §  16.  Accession  of  Charles  I. ;  revolt  of  the  Com- 
munes. V,  Ottoman  Empire,  1453  to  1520. — §  17.  Causes  of  Turk- 
ish success;  conquests  of  Mohammed  II. ;  Bajazet  II. ;  lull  in  Turkish 
aggression.     §  19.  Selim  I.;  conquest  of  Syria  and  Egypt. 

1.  Italy  from  1453  to  1494. 

§  1.  Italy  and  Germany,  the  two  countries  whose  history  stands  out 
in  complete  coutrast  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  were  connected  together 
by  the  fact  that  both  were  nominally  subject  to  the  same  power,  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire.  This  was  the  chief  cause  that  neither  of 
them  attained  to  national  unity.  The  Empire,  by  its  nature,  ccfuld 
not  be  hereditary.  Elective  princes  held  their  power  on  very 
precarious  terms;  they  had  none  of  the  ordinary  motives  for 
extending  that  power ;  and  the  electors  were  able  to  extort 
concessions  which  secured  their  own  independence.  Moreover,  the 
attempt  to  rule  two  such  distinct  countries  did  much  to  destroy 
any  real  authority  over  either. 

It  was  in  Italy  that  the  imperial  power  first  became  a  practical 


a.d.  1450-1494.      MILAN  UNDER  THE  SFORZAS.  7 

nullity.  The  Hohenstaufen  were  the  last  emperors  who  made  a 
serious  effort  to  rule  the  southern  kingdom.  The  invasions  of 
Henry  VII.  and  of  Lewis  the  Bavarian,  only  proved  the  vanity  of 
such  an  effort.  Charles  IV.  (1346-1378),  the  founder  of  the  great- 
ness of  the  Luxemburg  house,  with  a  self-control  rare  in  that  age, 
purposely  left  Italy  to  its  fate.  The  decline  of  the  imperial  power 
enabled  independent  despots  to  establish  their  power  in  most  of  the 
Italian  states.  Nearly  every  city  had  its  own  petty  dynasty,  as 
the  Estensi  in  Ferrara,  the  Gonzagas  in  Mantua,  the  Bentivogli  in 
Bolcgiia,  and  the  Baglioni  in  Perugia.  But  the  n  ost  important  of 
the  States  subject  to  despotism  were  Milan  in  the  north,  and 
Naples  and  Sicily  in  the  south. 

§  2.  Milan  was  ruled  from  the  beginning  of  the  14th  century  by 
the  Visconti.  In  1395,  the  emperor  Wenzel  gave  to  Gian  Galeazzo 
Visconti  the  title  of  duke.  But  in  1447  his  son  Filippo  Maria 
died  without  legitimate  issue.  After  a  short-lived  effort  to  restore 
republican  government,  which  failed  through  the  jealousy  of  the 
neighbouring  states,  a  successful  military  leader,  Francesco  Sforza, 
conquered  Milan  and  established  a  new  dynasty.  His  first  task 
was  to  defend  himself  against  Venice,  the  rival  of  Milan  for  tho 
supremacy  in  northern  Italy.  But  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Con- 
stantinople  terrified  the  combatants,  and  the  war  was  terminated 
by  the  peace  of  Lodi  in  1454.  From  this  time  Francesco  Sforza 
gave  up  his  military  career  and  devoted  himself  to  the  peaceful 
government  of  his  duchy.  His  chief  supports  were  the  friendship 
of  Louis  XI.  of  France,  and  of  the  Florentine  Cosimo  de  Medici. 
He  also  maintained  a  close  alliance  with  the  kings  of  Naples.  His 
connection  with  France  enabled  Sforza  to  annex  Genoa  in  1464. 
This  was  his  last  great  success ;  and  he  died  in  1466  leaving  Milan 
to  his  eldest  son  Galeazzo  Maria.  Galeazzo  Sforza  represents  1  he 
worst  type  of  an  Italian  despot;  he  was  selfish,  debauched, 
suspicions,  and  cruel.  Fortunately  the  continued  influence  of  bis 
father's  ministers  kept  him  for  some  time  to  a  peaceful  policy. 
The  French  alliance  was  cemented  by  his  marriage  with  Pona  of 
Savoy,  whose  sister  was  the  wife  of  Louis  XI.  But  Galeazzo  was 
rash  enough  to  alienate  Louis  by  an  alliance  with  Charles  the  Bold. 
The  defeat  of  the  latter  at  Granson  (1476)  compelled  him  to  sue 
for  pardon  which  was  contemptuously  granted.  After  ten  years  of 
tyranny  and  misgovernment,  he  was  assassinated  by  three  of  the 
citizens  whom  he  had  grievously  injured.  He  left  an  infant  son, 
Gian  Galeazzo,  under  the  guardianship  of  Bona  of  Savoy.  The 
guiding  spirit  of  the  regency  was  Francesco  Simonetta,  forrneily 
secretary  to  Francesco  Sforza  and  the  devoted  adherent  of  the 
policy  of  his  former  patron.     The  regency  was  attacked  by  tho 


8  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  l 

brothers  of  the  late  duke,  who  were  indignant  at  their  exclusion 
from  power.  They  were  foiled  by  Simonetta's  vigilance  and  forced 
to  leave  Milan.  But  Simonetta's  adherence  to  the  Medici  roused 
powerful  enemies.  Ferdinand  of  Naples  and  Sixtus  IV.,  who  were 
anxious  to  crush  Florence,  determined,  as  a  preliminary,  to  over- 
throw the  Milanese  regency.  They  encouraged  Lodovico  Sforza, 
the  ablest  of  the  exiled  princes,  to  renew  his  intrigues.  In  1479, 
Simonetta  was  imprisoned  and  put  to  death,  Bona  of  Savoy  was 
removed  from  the  regency,  and  Lodovico  Sforza  became  supreme  in 
Milan  as  the  guardian  of  Gian  Galeazzo.  Lodovico  was  personally 
timid,  but  endowed  with  more  than  Italian  cunning.  His  am- 
bition was  to  supersede  his  nephew  and  to  make  himself  duke.  His 
unscrupulous  pursuit  of  this  object  was  destined  to  bring  the 
greatest  disasters  upon  Italy  and  ultimately  upon  himself. 

§  3.  Naples  and  Sicily,  in  the  11th  century,  had  been  formed  into 
one  kingdom  under  Norman  rule.  Two  centuries  later  they  had. 
been  conquered  by  Charles  of  Anjou,  brother  of  Louis  IX.  of 
France,  who  was  called  in  by  the  popes  to  oppose  the  Hohenstaufen. 
But  in  1 282,  a  revolt,  known  as  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  drove  the 
French  from  Sicily,  and  gave  that  island  to  the  house  of  Aragon. 
From  this  time  Naples  and  Sicily  were  divided  until  the  extinction 
of  the  original  house  of  Anjou  by  the  death  of  Joanna  II.  in  1435. 
Alfonso  V.,  already  king  of  Aragon,  Sicily,  and  Sardinia,  now 
obtained  the  crown  of  Naples  after  a  contest  with  Rene*  le  Bon  of 
Provence,  the  representative  of  a  second  Angevin  line  which  was 
descended  from  Louis,  brother  of  Charles  V.,  and  which  rested  its 
claims  not  on  descent  but  on  adoption.  Alfonso  V.,  by  his 
patronage  of  literature  and  art,  and  by  maintaining  Naples  in 
unwonted  peace,  has  earned  from  historians  the  title  of  "  the 
Magnanimous."  On  his  death  in  1458,  he  left  Aragon,  Sicily,  and 
Sardinia  to  his  brother,  John  II.,  while  Naples,  as  a  more  personal 
possession,  he  bequeathed  to  his  natural  son  Ferdinand  I.  This 
arrangement  was  contested  in  Naples  where  the  Angevin  claim  was 
revived.  Re'ne  le  Bon  resigned  his  pretensions  to  his  son  John  of 
Calabria,  who  was  at  this  time  governor  of  Genoa  for  Charles  VII. 
of  France.  At  first  John  gained  important  successes.  But  other 
Italian  powers  were  opposed  to  the  establishment  of  French  in- 
fluence in  Italy.  Especially,  Francesco  Sforza,  though  formerly 
the  enemy  of  the  house  of  Aragon,  now  gave  consistent  support  to 
Ferdinand.  And  John's  failure  was  assured  when  Charles  VII. 
was  succeeded  in  1461  by  Louis  XI.,  who  regarded  with  jealousy 
the  house  of  Anjou.  In  1464  John  left  Italy  and  showed  his 
sense  of  Louis'  hostility  by  joining  the  league  of  French  nobles 
against  him.     Ferdinand  I.  was  now  firmly  established  in  Naples. 


a.d.  1453-1494.    THE  POPES  IN  THE   15TH  CENTURY.      9 

His  foreign  policy  will  be  best  noticed  in  connection  with  the 
history  of  other  states.  At  home  his  rule  was  in  the  highest 
degree  oppressive  and  tyrannical,  especially  after  the  association  in 
the  government  of  his  son,  Alfonso  of  Calabria.  The  treacherous 
cruelty  with  which  these  princes  treated  the  Neapolitan  barons  was 
one  among  the  many  circumstances  which  helped  to  bring  the 
French  into  Italy. 

$  4.  The  papacy  occupied  a  unique  position  among  Italian  powers. 
From  a  very  early  time  the  popes  had  endeavoured  to  supplement 
their  universal  spiritual  authority  by  obtaining  the  secular  rule  of 
Rome  and  the  neighbouring  territory.  Their  claims  were  based  on 
donations,  real  or  pretended,  of  Roman  emperors  and  Frankish 
kings.  Their  temporal  dominions  may  be  regarded  as  legally 
established  by  the  cession  of  Rudolf  of  Hapeburg,  and  included 
Rome  itself,  the  Patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  Romagna,  and  the  March 
of  Ancona.  But  the  withdrawal  of  the  popes  to  Avignon  (1305- 
1377)  enabled  nobles  and  towns  nominally  subject  to  them,  to 
throw  off  their  allegiance,  and  the  states  of  the  church  fell  into  the 
wildest  anarchy.  Cardinal  Albornoz,  as  papal  legate,  restored  the 
suzerainty  of  the  popes,  but  only  by  confirming  local  independence. 
The  Great  Schism  (1378-1417)  again  reduced  the  papal  authority  to 
a  shadow.  Martin  V.  (1417-1431)  re-established  his  government 
in  Rome,  but  only  by  identifying  his  interests  with  those  of  the 
Colonnas,  his  own  family.  Eugenius  IV.  (1431-1447),  who  en- 
deavoured to  abase  the  Colonnas,  was  driven  by  them  from  the 
But  while  he  resided  in  Florence,  his  legates,  Vitelleschi 
and  Scarampo,  reduced  Rome  to  submission.  Under  Nicolas  V. 
(1447-1458)  a  last  attempt  to  revive  republican  independence  in 
Rome  was  put  down,  and  the  ring-leader,  Stephen  Porcaro,  was  put 
to  death.  From  this  time  the  temporal  sovereignty  of  the  popes 
produced  its  natural  result,  nepotism.  Men  who  had  no  chance  of 
iouuding  a  dynasty,  and  who,  elected  in  their  old  age,  could  expect 
but  a  short  tenure  of  power,  made  their  first  object  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  their  relatives.  Only  one  or  two,  more  magnanimous  than 
the  rest,  were  roused  by  the  Turkish  advance  to  energetic  labours  on 
behalf  of  Christendom. 

Calixtus  III.  (1466-1468)  conferred  the  cardinal's  hat  on  his 
nephew,  Rodrigo  Borgia,  who  was  destined  to  carry  nepotism  to  its 
extreme,  and  to  bring  lasting  discredit  on  the  papacy.  Pius  II. 
(1458-1464),  the  famous  Mne*a  Sylvius  Piccolomini,  redeemed  a 
worldly  and  careless  youth  by  devoted  efforts  to  rouse  the  temporal 
princes  to  a  crusade  against  the  Turks.  But  the  age  of  crusades 
was  past;  international  jealousy  and  the  desire  of  territorial 
aggrandisement  were  too  powerful   to  allow  any  combination  of* 


10  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  i. 

European  powers  in  a  joint  enterprise.  The  Congress  of  Mantua 
(1459)  proved  a  complete  failure,  and  Pius  had  to  content  himself 
with  renewing  the  war  between  Venice  and  the  Turks.  The  old 
pope  died  on  the  beach  at  Ancona,  whither  he  had  proceeded  to 
superintend  in  person  the  embarkation  of  the  crusading  fleet. 
Paul  II.  (1464-1471),  himself  a  Venetian,  was  expected  to  give 
great  assistance  to  his  countrymen.  But  he  was  absorbed  in  secular 
interests,  and  he  even  aided  the  Turks  by  impelling  Matthias 
Corvinus,  the  ally  of  Venice,  to  make  war  on  the  Bohemian  heretics. 
His  successor,  Sixtus  IV.  (1471-1484),  was  one  of  the  worst  popes 
even  of  the  15th  century.  He  had  five  nephews  :  Girolamo  and 
Pietro  Riario,  Lionardo,  Giuliano  and  Giovanni  della  Rovere.  All 
of  them  were  raised  to  distinction  either  within  or  without  the 
church.  For  Girolamo  Riario  he  obtained  Imola  and  Forli;  and 
the  endeavour  to  carve  out  a  principality  for  this  favoured  nephew 
involved  Italy  in  wars  which  still  more  divided  the  country  and 
prepared  the  way  for  foreign  invasion.  Innocent  VIII.  (1484- 
1492),  far  less  active  than  his  predecessor,  is  notorious  as  the  first 
pope  who  openly  acknowledged  his  own  children.  But  he  was 
content  to  enrich  his  son,  Franceschetto  Cibo,  with  the  spoils  of  the 
Roman  curia,  without  attempting  to  alienate  papal  territories  in  his 
favour.  On  Innocent's  death,  the  most  prominent  aspirants  to  the 
tiara  were  Giuliano  della  Rovere,  nephew  of  Sixtus  IV.,  and  after- 
wards pope  as  Julins  II.,  and  Ascanio  Sforza,  the  younger  brother 
of  Lodovico.  As  n  ither  could  obtain  the  requisite  majority,  the 
cardinals  allowed  their  votes  to  be  purchased  by  Rodrigo  Borgia,  the 
nephew  of  Calixtus  III.,  who  in  1492  became  pope  with  the  title 
of  Alexander  VI. 

§  5.  There  were  only  two  important  states  in  Italy  whose 
government  was  professedly  republican,  Florence  and  Venice.  The 
liberties  of  Florence  had  long  been  undermined,  first  by  the 
Albizzi,  (1378-1434),  and  afterwards  by  the  Medici.  Cosimo  de 
Medici,  the  founder  of  the  greatness  of  his  family,  headed  the 
opposition  to  the  Albizzi  as  the  champion  of  the  lower  classes.  In 
1433  Rinaldo  Albizzi  procured  the  banishment  of  his  rival.  But 
during  his  absence  a  revolution  took  place,  the  Albizzi  were  driven 
into  exile,  and  Cosimo  returned  from  Venice  to  become  the  ruler  of 
Florence.  He  was  careful  to  disguise  his  supremacy  by  the  main- 
tenance of  constitutional  forms  and  by  retaining  the  habits  of  life 
of  a  private  citizen.  He  found  his  chief  supports  in  the  favour  of 
the  lower  classes  and  the  wealth  which  he  obtained  by  commerce. 
He  was  a  distinguished  patron  of  art  and  literature.  By  maintain- 
ing friendly  relations  with  Milan  on  the  one  side  and  Naples  on 
the  other,  he  was  able  to  act  as  a  mediator  in  Italian  politics.     He 


a.d.  1478.  CONSPIRACY  OF  THE  PAZZI.  11 

died  in  1464,  and  the  title  of  pater  patriae  was  inscribed  upon  his 
tomb.  His  son  Piero  (1464-9),  who  succeeded  him  in  middle 
age,  had  to  confront  a  confederacy  of  powerful  citizens  who  were 
jealous  of  the  Medici  supremacy.  But  though  the  conspirators 
were  supported  by  Venice,  always  jealous  of  the  commercial 
prosperity  of  Florence,  they  were  defeated ;  and  Piero,  in  spite  of 
the  ill-health  which  crippled  him,  left  his  family  more  powerful 
at  his  death  than  it  had  been  at  his  accession. 

Piero  left  two  sons,  Lorenzo  and  Giuliano,  the  elder  of  whom 
now  became  the  ruler  of  Floreuce,  and  has  obtained  a  great  name 
in  history.  For  nine  years  he  governed  in  peace  and  prosperity. 
He  was  careful  to  follow  his  grandfather's  policy,  and  to  maintain 
the  alliance  with  Milan  and  Naples.  But  his  power  was  shaken 
and  almost  destroyed  by  a  quarrel  with  Sixtus  IV.  Lorenzo  had 
gone  in  person  to  congratulate  the  pope  on  his  accession,  and  the 
Medici  had  been  appointed  receivers  of  the  papal  revenues.  This 
good  understanding  did  not  last  loug.  Sixtus  gave  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Pisa  to  Francesco  Salviati,  but  Pisa  was  subject  to 
Florence,  and  Lorenzo  refused  to  recognise  the  appointment.  A 
far  more  important  cause  of  quarrel  was  the  opposition  of  the 
Medici  to  the  jape's  schemes  on  behalf  of  Girolamo  Iliario.  The 
Florentines  were  hostile  to  the  creation  of  a  new  dynasty  in 
Romagna,  and  when  Sixtus  wished  to  borrow  money  for  the 
purchase  of  Imola,  the  Medici  refused  the  loan.  Their  post  at 
Rome  was  taken  from  them  and  given  to  the  Pazzi,  another  and 
hostile  Florentine  family.  But  the  pope,  not  content  with  this, 
wished  to  destroy  the  Medici  supremacy  in  Florence.  With  his 
sanction  a  conspiracy  was  formed  by  Girolamo  Riario,  Salviati,  and 
the  Pazzi.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  pope  was  cognisant  of  the 
scheme  for  assassinating  the  two  brothers.  On  Palm  Sunday,  1478, 
the  attempt  was  made  in  the  cathedral  of  Florence.  Giuliano  do 
Medici  was  slain,  but  the  priests  who  had  been  specially  chosen  to 
commit  the  sacrilege  of  murder  in  a  church,  failed  in  their  attack 
on  Lorenzo,  and  he  escaped,  though  wounded,  to  the  sacristy.  The 
city  rose  in  his  defence,  and  prompt  vengeance  was  taken  on  the 
conspirators.  Salviati,  in  his  archiepiscojal  robes,  was  hanged 
witli  his  colleagues  from  the  windows  of  the  Palazzo  Vecchio. 
The  news  of  these  events  infuriated  Sixtus  IV.,  who  excom- 
municated the  Florentines,  and  concluded  an  alliance  against  them 
with  Ferdinand  of  Naples.  Thus  the  balance  of  the  Italian  states, 
which  had  been  so  dear  to  Cosiroo  de  Medici  and  Francesco  Sforza, 
was  suddenly  overthrown.  Hitherto  Milan,  Florence,  and  Naples 
had  stood  together,  and  had  been  strong  trough  to  maintain  the 
peace  against  Venice  and  the  papacy.    Now  Italy  was  geographic 


12  ,        MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  i. 

cally  divided  into  two  hostile  leagues;  in  the  north,  Milan,  Venice, 
and  Florence;  in  the  south,  Naples  and  the  pope. 

In  the  war  which  followed  Florence  was  reduced  to  the  greatest 
straits.  Venice  was  a  feeble  and  vacillating  ally ;  Milan  rendered 
what  assistance  it  could,  but,  as  has  been  seen,  the  friendly 
government  of  Simonetta  was  weakened  and  overthrown  by  the 
intrigues  of  Ferdinand  of  Naples.  Lorenzo  de  Medici  relied  with 
confidence  on  the  support  of  France.  Louis  XI.  sent  Philippe  de 
Commines  to  Florence,  but  an  envoy  without  troops  could  effect 
nothing.  Thus  Florence  was  left  to  its  own  defence.  Alfonso  of 
Calabria  took  Siena  and  a  number  of  the  Florentine  fortresses.  But 
fortunately  a  coolness  sprang  up  between  the  pope  and  his  ally, 
and  Lorenzo  took  advantage  of  this  to  pay  a  personal  visit  to 
Ferdinand.  With  him  he  concluded  a  separate  treaty,  which  was 
at  last  reluctantly  accepted  by  Sixtus  IV.  Florence  was  not  yet 
out  of  danger,  as  Alfonso  of  Calabria  tried  to  obtain  permanent 
possession  of  Siena.  But  the  capture  of  Otranto  by  the  Turks  in 
L480  compelled  the  Neapolitan  troops  to  withdraw  for  the  defence 
of  their  own  country. 

The  failure  of  the  conspiracy  of  the  Pazzi  and  the  extrication  of 
Florence  from  pressing  dauger,  strengthened  the  hands  of  Lorenzo. 
He  was  now  able  to  make  his  government  more  despotic,  and  to 
get  rid  of  many  of  the  popular  forms  which  had  hitherto  hampered 
him.  The  citizens  began  to  address  him  with  a  servility  hitherto 
unknown,  and  Florence  witnessed  the  establishment  of  a  splendid 
court,  which  resembled  while  it  surpassed  the  courts  of  the 
northern  despots.  Lorenzo  was  himself  a  poet  of  no  mean 
capacity,  and  his  munificent  patronage  of  art  and  literature, 
while  it  benefited  Italy  and  the  world,  has  helped  to  give  him 
too  lofty  a  reputation.  His  abilities,  both  as  a  ruler  and  a  dip- 
lomatist, were  unquestionable.  But  his  honesty  was  not  above 
the  conventional  Italian  standard,  and  by  destroying  Florentine 
freedom  he  helped  to  degrade  the  political  life  of  Italy.  Lorenzo 
found  it  impossible  to  combine,  as  Cosimo  had  done,  the  func- 
tions of  a  statesman  and  a  man  of  business.  As  the  political 
power  of  the  Medici  increased,  their  mercantile  profits  diminished, 
and  there  can  be  no  dmibt  that  Lorenzo  employed  the  public  funds 
to  support  his  own  failing  credit.  But  his  name  was  gratefully 
remembered  in  Italy  as  the  successful  advocate  of  peace.  When  war 
was  inevitable  he  laboured  to  maintain  the  balance  of  power.  His 
death  in  1492,  at  the  early  age  of  41,  was  felt  as  a  national  disaster, 
and  his  best  fame  is  the  general  belief  that  had  he  lived  longer  he 
might  have  averted  many  of  the  subsequent  troubles  from  Italy. 

Lorenzo  left  three  sons ;  Piero,  who  succeeded  him,  Giovanni, 


a.d.  1453-1494.      VENICE   IN   THE   15TH   CENTURY.  13 

afterwards  famous  as  pope  Leo  X.,  and  Giuliano.  His  brother 
Giuliano,  the  victim  of  the  Pazzi  conspiracy,  had  left  a  natural 
son,  Giulio,  who  plays  a  prominent  though  ill-fated  part  in  later 
history  as  Clement  VII.  The  Florentines  were  soon  made  con- 
scious of  the  loss  they  had  sustained.  Piero  de  Medici  was  as 
rash  as  his  father  had  been  prudent.  He  irritated  tho  citizens  by 
his  contemptuously  public  assumption  of  despotic  authority.  And 
his  foreign  policy  was  still  more  ruinous.  Deserting  the  traditional 
policy  of  his  family,  he  identified  his  interests  wholly  with  Naples, 
and  thus  alienated  Milan  just  at  a  time  when  the  unity  of  Italy 
was  required  to  avert  a  foreign  invasion. 

§6.  Perhaps  the  most  prominent  of  Italian  states  in  the  eyes  of 
Europe  was  Venice.  The  stability  of  its  institutions,  its  com- 
mercial wealth,  and  the  success  of  its  cautious  policy,  combined  to 
dazzle  both  philosophers  and  practical  politicians.  The  Venetian 
government  was  a  close  and  suspicious  oligarchy.  Power  was 
confined  to  those  families  whose  names  were  inscribed  in  the 
Golden  Book.  But  among  them  a  number  of  institutions  had 
been  devised  which  gradually  restricted  executive  power  to  fewer 
and  fewer  hands,  and  thus  secured  that  secresy  which  the  Venetians 
regarded  as  the  highest  object  of  government.  In  the  loth  century 
the  famous  Council  of  Ten  was  supreme  in  Venice. 

Ever  since  the  fourth  crusade  (1204),  Venice  had  held  important 
possessions  in  Eastern  Europe,  and  had  euriched  itself  with  the 
commerce  of  the  Levant  But  the  advance  of  the  Turks  bad 
diminished  their  territories  and  crippled  their  commerce.  To 
compensate  themselves  for  these  losses  in  the  east,  they  aimed  at 
increasing  their  power  in  Italy.  Under  the  famous  doge,  Francesco 
Foscari  (1425-1457),  they  acquired  large  possessions,  and  contested 
with  Milan  the  supremacy  in  northern  Italy.  But  the  acquisition 
of  empire  diverted  the  Venetians  from  their  true  task,  and  in  tho 
end  proved  fatal  to  their  greatness. 

When  Constantinople  fell,  the  Venetians  were  most  immediately 
concerned  in  resisting  the  Turks.  But  the  party  of  peace,  which 
had  opposed  the  aggressive  policy  of  Foscari,  had  now  the 
upper  hand,  and  the  republic  concluded  a  separate  treaty  with 
Mohammed  II.,  by  which  it  expected  to  secure  its  own  interests 
while  sacrificing  those  of  Europe.  Soon  afterwards  Foscari,  who 
had  been  already  attacked  through  his  son,  was  compelled  to 
resign,  and  died  as  the  tails  were  ringing  to  announce  the  election 
of  a  new  doge.  But  the  selfish  policy  of  his  opponents  proved  a 
failure.  The  Turks  annexed  Greece  and  most  of  the  adjacent 
islands,  and  the  Venetians  were  at  last  compelled  to  take  up  arms. 
In  the  war  they  met  with  great  and  almost  unmixed  tmn  mot,  llld 


14  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  t. 

in  1479  they  concluded  the  ignominious  treaty  of  Constantinople, 
by  which  they  surrendered  great  part  of  their  territories,  and  con- 
sented to  hold  the  rest  as  tributaries  of  the  Sultan.  It  was  but  a 
slight  compensation  that  they  were  able  soon  afterwards  to  annex 
Cyprus.  The  last  king,  James  of  Lusignan,  had  married  a 
Venetian  lady,  Catharine  da  Cornaro,  whom  the  republic  adopted 
as  a  daughter.  On  the  king's  death  (1473),  the  Venetians  stepped 
in  as  guardians  of  the  widow,  and  before  long  compelled  her  to 
abdicate  in  their  favour. 

The  Venetians  now  devoted  themselves  to  a  policy  of  selfish 
aggrandisement  in  Italy.  Always  hostile  to  Naples,  they  were 
suspected,  not  without  reason,  of  encouraging  the  Turks  to  attack 
Otranto.  And  in  1482  they  commenced  a  wholly  unprovoked  war 
against  their  neighbour,  the  duke  of  Ferrara.  Sixtus  IV.,  hoping  to 
turn  a  disturbance  in  Romagna  to  the  profit  of  Girolamo  Riario, 
allied  himself  with  them.  The  Venetians  seized  the  Polesine  of 
Rovigo,  and  the  duke  of  Ferrara  was  brought  to  the  verge  of  ruin. 
But  Lorenzo  de  Medici  considered  that  the  war  threatened  the 
balance  of  jiower,  and  formed  a  league  for  the  defence  of  Ferrara  with 
Ferdinand  of  Naples  and  Lodovico  Sforza.  Thus  the  old  balance 
of  the  Italian  states,  which  had  been  overthrown  after  the  Pazzi 
conspiracy,  was  restored,  a  great  triumph  for  Lorenzo's  diplomacy. 
Sixtus,  finding  that  he  was  excluded  from  all  share  in  the  Venetian 
spoils,  joined  the  league,  and  Venice  was  reduced  to  great  straits. 
But  Lodovico  Sforza  had  become  suspicious  of  the  Neapolitan 
rulers,  who  were  inclined  to  support  his  nephew  against  him.  He 
opened  relations  with  the  Venetian  commander,  Robert  of  San 
Severino,  and  negotiated  the  treaty  of  Bagnolo  which  closed  the  war 
in  1484.  By  this  the  Venetians  retained  the  Polesine,  and  the  duke 
of  Ferrara  was  the  only  sufferer.  Sixtus  IV.  was  extremely  chagrined 
at  the  news  of  the  treaty,  and  died  soon  afterwards — as  the  lampooners 
would  have  it — of  peace.  In  this  war  the  Venetians  had  displayed 
a  selfish  contempt  for  Italian  interests  which  boded  ill  for  the 
country  in  its  coming  trials. 

II.  Germany  from  1453  to  1519. 

§  7.  Germany,  like  most  the  European  states,  was  subject  to  a  king. 
He  was  chosen  by  seven  electors,  the  Archbishops  of  Mainz,  Koln, 
and  Trier,  th«  count  palatine  of  the  Rhine,  the  duke  of  Saxony,  the 
margrave  of  Brandenburg,  and  the  king  of  Bohemia.  By  a  series  o\' 
events,  which  it  is  beyond  our  province  to  trace,  the  German  king 
nad  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
the  apex  of  the  political  system  as  the  pope  was  of  the  hierarchy. 


a.d.  1453-1519.     GERMANY  IN  THE   15TH   CENTURY.      15 

He  assumed  the  title  of  Kiug  of  the  Romans  on  election,  ami  the 
higher  title  of  Emperor  alter  corouatiou  by  the  pope.  This  com- 
bination of  two  offices  in  themselves  distinct,  had  important  results. 
The  monarchy  remained  elective,  because  the  highest  temporal 
dignity  on  earth  could  hardly  be  confined  to  a  single  family.  Aud 
the  vague  nature  of  the  more  lofty  authority  tended  to  make  the 
royal  power  equally  vague  and  indistinct.  The  German  monarchy, 
in  the  early  middle  ages  the  strongest  in  Europe,  had  sunk  by  the 
15th  century  to  be  the  weakest  and  most  neglected.  The  princes 
who  nominally  acknowledged  the  imperial  authority  had  made 
themselves  practically  independent. 

This  had  not  taken  place  without  numerous  efforts  to  prevent  it. 
Charles  IV.  (1346-1378)  whose  policy  has  long  been  an  unsolved 
puzzle,  tried  to  get  rid  of  the  profitless  burden  of  the  empire  and  to 
found  a  territorial  monarchy  like  that  in  France  and  England.  But 
he  died  before  this  could  be  accomplished,  and  his  sons  had  neither 
the  will  nor  the  ability  to  complete  his  schemes.  Under  his  successor 
Wenzel,  a  schism  broke  out  (1400-1411)  which  was  almost  as 
fatal  to  the  empire  as  the  contemporary  schism  in  the  church  to  the 
papacy. 

From  this  time  the  main  interest  of  German  history  centres  round 
the  efforts  which  were  made  to  form  a  federal  union  in  place  of  the 
monarchy,  and  thus  to  repress  disorder.  The  Hussite  war  gave  a 
great  impulse  to  such  attempts,  and  notable  changes  were  proposed, 
especially  in  1427,  by  Frederick  1.,  the  first  Hohenzollern  margrave 
of  Brandenburg.  His  scheme  was  to  found  an  imperial  standing 
army  and  to  inaugurate  regular  assemblies  and  a  system  of  common 
taxation.  But  he  was  foiled  by  the  parly  among  the  princes  which 
regarded  anarchy  as  the  best  security  for  their  own  independence. 
In  1438  this  party  secured  the  election  of  Albert  of  Austria.  From 
this  time  to  the  fall  of  the  empire  in  1806  it  remained  practically 
hereditary  in  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  This  family  represented 
devotion  to  dynastic  interests,  and  did  nothing  for  the  unity  of 
Germany.  During  the  long  reign  of  Frederick  III.  (1440-1 194) 
that  unity  seemed  likely  to  disappear  altogether. 

The  German  diet  was  a  purely  feudal  assembly,  and  contained 
only  direct  tenants  in  chief  of  the  empire.  This  secured  the  power 
of  the  princes,  as  their  subjects  had  no  share  in  the  assembly.  The 
diet  was  divided  into  three  chambers  which  sat  separately.  The 
first  comprised  the  six  electors,  excluding  the  king  of  Bohemia  who 
took  no  part  in  the  diet.  NVxt  came  the  princes,  both  lay  and 
ecclesiastical,  and  thirdly,  the  deputies  of  the  free  imperial  cities, 
who  had  obtained  -\  place  in  the  diet  in  the  1 1  f li  century,  but  were 
looked  down  ti|>on  by  the  other  chambers 


16  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  l 

§  8.  The  most  prominent  of  the  German  states  were  Brandenburg, 
Saxony,  the  Palatinate,  Bavaria,  Austria  and  Wurtemburg.  Bran- 
denburg had  been  given  by  Sigismund  in  1415  to  the  house  oi 
Hohenzollern,  previously  burgraves  of  Nuremberg,  and  the  ancestors 
of  the  later  kings  of  Prussia.  Saxony,  on  the  extinction  of  the 
male  Welf  line  in  1422,  had  fallen  to  the  house  of  Wettin.  This 
was  now  represented  by  two  brothers,  Ernest  and  Albert,  who 
agreed  in  1484  to  divide  their  territories  by  the  treaty  of  Leipzig. 
Ernest  kept  Saxe -Wittenberg  and  Thuringia  with  the  electoral  title, 
while  Albert  took  the  remaining  territories  with  the  title  of  duke. 
The  Palatinate  was  held  by  the  elder  branch  of  the  house  of 
Wittelsbach.  The  .death  of  Lewis  IX.  in  1449  left  the  country  to 
an  infant  son  Philip  under  the  guardianship  of  his  uncle  Frederick. 
This  Frederick  the  Victorious,  who  obtained  a  great  reputation,  was 
allowed  on  the  plea  of  the  troubled  times  to  supplant  his  nephew 
in  the  electorate  on  condition  that  he  would  never  marry.  The 
emperor  Frederick  IU.  refused  to  ratify  this  agreement,  and  found 
an  implacable  opponent  in  the  able  and  energetic  elector.  On  the 
dtath  of  Frederick  the  Victorious  in  1 176,  the  Palatinate  passed  again 
to  his  nephew  Philip.  Bavaria  was  held  by  a  younger  branch  of 
the  same  house  of  Wittelsbach,  and  was  weakened  at  this  time  by 
division  into  three  duchies,  Ingolstadt,  Landshut  and  Munich. 
The  two  former  lines  became  extinct,  and  in  1502  Bavaria  was  re- 
united under  Albert  II.  of  Munich. 

Austria,  the  most  powerful  of  the  non-electoral  territories,  had 
been  acquired  in  the  13th  century  by  Rudolf,  count  of  Hapsburg  in 
Swabia,  who  was  also  king  of  the  Romans.  His  descendants  had 
since  occasionally  held  the  empire,  and  from  1438  obtained  un- 
interrupted possession  of  that  dignity.  But  the  most  striking  point 
in  their  history  hitherto  was  their  steady  acquisition  of  territories  in 
the  east.  One  after  another,  Styria,  Carinthia  and  Tyrol  had  been 
annexed,  and  for  a  time  Hungary  and  Bohemia  were  subject  to  them. 
Like  other  German  families,  the  Hapsburgs  had  often  been  weakened 
by  the  practice  of  subdivision,  but  under  Frederick  III.  and  his  son 
Maximilian,  all  the  family  territories  were  reunited.  From  this 
time  the  Hapsburgs  became  a  prominent  European  power.  Wur- 
temberg,  previously  a  small  country,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  a 
duchy  in  1495  for  Eberhard  the  elder. 

It  is  obvious  that  German  unity  had  little  chance  amidst  the 
jarring  interests  of  so  many  independent  princes.  But  this  was  not 
the  worst  evil  under  which  the  country  suffered.  Below  the  princes 
were  an  important  body  of  lesser  nobles,  the  knights  or  Ritters. 
They  claimed  to  be  independent  of  any  power  except  the  empire, 
but  they  were  excluded  from  the  diet.    Thus  they  had  no  interest  in 


a.d.  1440-1493.      REIGN  OF  FREDERICK  HI.  17 

the  general  welfare  and  fought  for  their  own  hand.  Living  in  stray 
and  isolated  castles,  they  organised  a  regular  system  of  highway- 
robbery  which  destroyed  peaceful  industry.  At  the  same  time  by 
incessant  feuds  with  the  princes  and  among  themselves  they  kept 
the  country  involved  in  civil  strife. 

The  free  cities  were  the  most  progressive  and  promising  elements 
of  German  political  life.  Many  of  them  had  acquired  great  wealth, 
which  with  their  fortifications  made  them  important.  But  the 
opposition  of  their  interests  to  those  of  the  princes  and  knights  com- 
pelled them  to  pursue  a  selfish  policy,  and  thus  they  too  were  a 
hindrance  rather  than  a  help  to  the  unity  of  Germany. 

The  evil  results  of  German  division  were  clearly  visible  in  the 
gradual  falling  away  of  border-territories,  and  in  the  aggressions  of 
foreign  princes.  Italy  had  already  gone.  When  Frederick  III.  went 
to  Home  in  1452  to  receive  the  imperial  crown,  he  was  compelled  to 
go  without  an  armed  retinue  and  to  leave  the  country  directly  after 
the  ceremony.  The  Swiss  cantons,  which  had  established  their 
independence  in  opposition  to  the  Hapsburgs,  would  pay  no 
obedience  to  the  empire  while  it  was  held  by  that  house.  In  the 
north  the  Uanseatic  League,  which  was  strong  enough  to  overcome 
both  Scandinavian  kings  and  German  princes,  stood  practically 
outside  the  empire.  The  kings  of  Poland  gained  constant  successes 
against  the  Teutonic  knights,  who  in  1466  were  compelled  to  cede 
preat  part  of  their  territories  and  to  hold  the  rest  under  Polish 
suzerainty.  But  the  most  considerable  losses  of  Germany  were  in 
the  west.  The  dukes  of  Burgundy,  members  of  the  royal  family 
of  France,  had  obtained,  by  marriage,  conquest  or  cession,  a  number 
of  imperial  provinces,  which  they  annexed  to  large  Freuch  possessions. 
There  was  little  doubt  that  Charles  the  Bold  (1466-1477)  intended 
to  fuse  these  provinces  into  an  independent  kingdom,  and  was  only 
prevented  by  a  series  of  unforeseen  accidents  which  terminated  in 
his  death. 

In  the  face  of  those  disasters  and  the  still  graver  dangers  which 
were  threatened  by  the  Turks,  Frederick  III.  remained  obstinately 
inactive.  The  princes,  who  had  elected  him  mainly  on  account  of 
his  inactivity,  began  to  repent  when  they  discovered  that  they  were 
left  defenceless.  A  scheme  was  formed  to  depose  him  and  to  elect 
George  Podiebrad,  the  Hussite  kin^  of  Bohemia,  But  in  face  of  this 
common  danger,  those  old  rivals,  the  empire  and  the  papacy,  formed 
a  close  alliance,  and  the  scheme  fell  through.  But  the  desire  for 
reform  had  been  roused  and  could  not  now  bo  suppressed,  though  it 
was  diverted  to  another  direction.  As  the  emperor  would  do 
nothing,  the  task  of  reform  fell  upon  the  estates.  The  first  need 
was  lo  put  an  end  to  private  wars,  and  the  measure  known  as  the 
3 


18  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  i. 

Public  Peace  was  passed  by  successive  diets  from  1466  to  1486.  But 
it  was  found  to  be  of  little  use  to  make  laws  while  there  was  no 
machinery  to  enforce  them.  An  attempt  was  therefore  made  in 
1486  to  extort  from  Frederick  III.  the  establishment  of  a  central 
judicial  court,  the  Imperial  Chamber.  But  Frederick  clung  ob- 
stinately to  his  traditional  rights,  and  succeeded  in  postponing 
reform  during  his  lifetime.  Some  success,  however,  was  attained. 
In  1488  the  Swabian  League  was  formed  of  princes,  knights  and 
citizens  to  decide  disputes  by  arbitration.  In  1492  the  league, 
supported  by  the  empire,  gained  a  great  success  in  compelling 
Albert  II.  of  Bavaria  to  cede  territories  which  he  held  unlawfully. 

The  reign  of  Frederick  III.  is  of  primary  importance  in  the  history 
of  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  By  marrying  his  son  Maximilian  to 
Mary,  the  heiress  of  Burgundy  (1477),  he  founded  the  European 
greatness  of  his  family.  But  in  spite  of  this  and  other  successes,  in 
his  personal  relations  with  his  subjects  and  his  neighbours  he  was 
hardly  more  fortunate  than  in  the  empire. 

§  9.  In  the  fifteenth  century  the  eastern  kingdoms,  Hungary, 
Bohemia,  and  Poland  had  an  importance  quite  out  of  proportion  to 
their  present  condition.  This  was  due,  in  the  case  of  Hungary,  to  its 
position  as  a  barrier  against  the  Turks,  in  the  case  of  Bohemia  and 
Poland,  to  the  great  conflict  between  the  Germans  and  the  Slavs. 
In  the  eleventh  century  the  Slavs  occupied  northern  Germany 
almost  to  the  North  Sea.  From  this  territory  they  had  been 
gradually  driven  eastwards,  first  by  the  dukes  of  Saxony,  then  by  the 
Hanse  towns,  and  lastly  by  the  Teutonic  knights,  who  occupied 
Prussia.  Thus  the  southern  coast  of  the  Baltic  became  German. 
But  in  the  fifteen  century  the  tide  of  victory  turned.  The  house  of 
Jagellon  obtained  Poland  in  1386,  and  undertook  the  championship 
of  the  Slavs.  From  this  time  they  were  engaged  in  constant  war 
with  the  Teutonic  Order.  The  Hussite  movement  in  Bohemia  was 
to  a  great  extent  a  national  revolt  against  German  influences.  The 
height  of  the  Slavonic  reaction  was  reached  in  1466,  when  the  peace 
of  Thorn  annexed  great  part  of  Prussia  to  Poland. 

The  Emperor  Albert  II.  (1438-9)  had  been  the  first  to  unite 
Hungary  and  Bohemia  to  Austria.  But  he  died  within  two  years 
of  making  this  acquisition,  and  his  only  son,  Ladislaus  Postumus, 
was  not  born  till  after  his  death  in  1440.  Austria  and  Bohemia 
acknowledged  the  infant  prince,  but  the  Hungarians,  under  the 
influence  of  John  Huniades,  chose  Ladislaus  VI.  of  Poland.  The 
Polish  king  was  killed  in  1444  at  the  battle  of  Varna,  and  Hungary 
also  acknowledged  Ladislaus  Postumus,  who  had  been  placed  under 
the  guardianship  of  Frederick  III.  It  was  not  till  1453  that  he  became 
independent  at  the  age  of  fourteen.    Hungary  and  Bohemia  remained 


a.d.  1453-1491.      THE   EASTERN   KINGDOMS..  19 

under  regents,  John  Huniades  and  George  Podiebrad:  Ladislaus 
himself  fell  under  the  influence  of  an  Austrian  noble,  the  Count  of 
Cilly,  who  tried  to  make  him  jealous  of  the  other  governors, 
especially  of  Huniades.  But  the  latter's  presence  in  Hungary  was 
now  a  European  necessity.  Mohammed  II.,  who  had  paused  after 
the  capture  of  Constantinople  in  1453,  resumed  his  advance,  and  in 
1456  laid  siege  to  Belgrad.  Belgrad  stands  at  the  junction  of  the 
Danube  and  the  Save,  and  its  capture  would  have  opened  to  the 
Turks,  not  only  Hungary  but  the  whole  of  Germany  to  the  Rhine. 
At  this  crisis  Huniades,  assisted  by  a  friar  Capistrano,  but  neglected 
by  the  European  princes,  raised  an  untrained  and  ill-equipped  force. 
With  this  he  first  destroyed  the  Turkish  fleet  on  the  Danube,  and 
having  thus  secured  an  entrance  to  the  fortress,  he  repulsed  the 
assault  of  the  whole  Turkish  army.  Mohammed  II.,  completely 
defeated,  fled  to  Sofia.  Soon  after  this  marvellous  success,  Huniades 
died,  leaving  two  sons  Ladislaus  and  Matthias.  The  elder  son 
murdered  Cilly,  the  king's  favourite,  at  Belgrad,  and  for  this  was  put 
to  death  in  1477.  The  younger,  Matthias,  was  carried  a  prisoner  to 
Prague.  There,  in  the  midst  of  preparations  for  his  marriage  with 
Madeleine,  daughter  of  Charles  VII.  of  France,  Ladislaus  Postumus 
died  of  the  plague  (Dec.  1457).  His  death  severed  the  connection  of 
Hungary  and  Bohemia  with  Austria  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

Austria  being  a  male  fief,  passed  without  question  to  the  three 
surviving  Hapsburg  princes,  and  ultimately  to  Frederick  HI.  But  in 
Bohemia  and  Hungary  the  settlement  of  the  succession  was  far  more 
difficult.  Ultimately  it  was  decided  to  pass  over  all  dynastic  claims, 
whether  based  upon  treaties  or  hereditary  right.  Hungary,  to  show 
its  sense  of  the  heroic  and  ill-requited  services  of  Huniades,  elected 
his  surviving  son  Matthias  Corvinus.  Bohemia,  in  defiance  of 
German  claims  and  in  still  more  open  defiance  of  the  papacy,  gave 
the  crown  to  the  Utraquist  leader,  George  Podiebrad. 

Matthias  Corvinus  emulated  tho  achievements  of  his  father  as  the 
champion  of  Europe  against  the  Turks.  But  unfortunately  he 
became  involved  in  quarrels  with  his  neighbours.  Ecclesiastical 
intolerance  could  not  endure  a  Hussite  on  the  Bohemian  throne. 
Pope  Paul  II.  issued  a  bull  deposing  Podiebrad,  and  entrusted  its 
execution  to  Matthias.  The  war  between  Hungary  and  Bohemia 
was  still  going  on  when  Podiebrad  died  in  1471.  The  Bohemians, 
to  obtain  the  support  of  the  other  Slavs,  now  elected  Wladislaus, 
the  son  of  the  king  of  Poland.  Matthias  himself  claimed  the  crown 
and  carried  on  the  war  with  great  vigour.  Frederick  III.,  who  had 
been  his  ally,  deserted  him  to  go  over  to  Wladislaus.  In  1479,  the 
treaty  of  Olmiitz  was  concluded  between  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  by 
which  Lausitz,  Moravia  and  Silesia  were  ceded  to  Matthias.    He  now 


20  •  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  i. 

turned  his  arms  against  Austria  and,  in  1485,  captured  Vienna. 
The  lord  of  the  world  became  an  exile  from  his  own  capital. 
Under  Matthias,  Hungary  reached  the  zenith  of  its  power.  He  died 
in  1490,  and  his  subjects  elected  as  his  successor  his  former  rival, 
Wladislaus  of  Bohemia.  Maximilian,  Frederick  III.'s  son,  now 
recovered  Vienna,  and  even  invaded  Hungary,  but  without  per- 
manent result.  In  1491  the  -treaty  of  Pressburg  restored  all 
Austrian  territories  to  Frederick  III.,  and  the  succession  in  Hun- 
gary and  Bohemia  was  secured  to  the  Hapsburgs  on  the  extinction 
of  the  male  descendants  of  Wladislaus. 

§  10.  Soon  afterwards  Frederick  III.  died  in  August,  1493.  Maxi- 
milian, who  was  already  lord  of  the  Netherlands  by  his  marriage  with 
Mary  of  Burgundy,  and  who  had  been  elected  King  of  the  Romans 
in  his  father's  lifetime,  now  obtained  the  empire  and  all  the 
Austrian  territories.  The  accession  of  a  young  and  vigorous  prince 
gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  schemes  of  reform  which  had  been  foiled 
by  the  obstinacy  of  Frederick  III. 

In  1495  Maximilian  summoned  the  important  diet  of  Worms. 
He  himself  wanted  money  to  oppose  the  French  in  Italy,  and  the 
estates,  under  the  guidance  of  the  elector  Berthold  of  Mainz,  took 
advantage  of  his  needs  to  demand  constitutional  concessions.  A 
general  tax,  the  "Common  Penny,"  which  had  been  one  of  the 
schemes  of  1427,  was  now  imposed  in  proportion  to  the  population. 
Its  collection  and  expenditure  were  entrusted,  not  to  the  emperor, 
but  to  nominees  of  the  estates.  The  Public  Peace  was  again 
enjoined,  and  to  enforce  it  a  great  reform  was  made  in  the  supreme 
court  of  justice.  Hitherto  it  had  always  followed  the  emperor,  and 
its  members  had  been  appointed  by  him.  It  was  now  fixed  in  a 
definite  place,  its  members  were  appointed  by  the  diet,  and  the 
president  alone  was  nominated  by  the  emperor.  This  reformed 
court,  the  Imperial  Chamber,  plays  a  great  part  in  later  German 
history. 

But  these  reforms  did  not  produce  immediate  results  of  import- 
ance. Maximilian  had  only  accepted  them  to  further  his  foreign 
policy.  As  that  policy  proved  unsuccessful,  he  was  by  no  means 
anxious  to  fulfil  his  engagements  and  to  weaken  his  personal  power. 
Constant  struggles  ensued  between  him  and  Berthold  of  Mainz,  the 
leader  of  th*  constitutional  party.  In  1502  fresh  concessions  were 
extorted  from  the  king.  A  Council  of  Regency  (Reichsregiment) 
was  entrusted  with  the  chief  executive  power,  and  its  composition 
was  based  on  representation  of  the  estates.  Six  circles  were  formed, 
each  of  w*hich  sent  a  count  and  a  bishop  to  the  Council.  Austria 
and  the  Netherlands  sent  two  representatives  and  later  two  deputies 
from  tho  cities  were  admitted.      The  president  was  chosen  by  the 


a.d.  1493-1519.      REIGN  OF  MAXIMILIAN  I.  21 

emperor.  Maximilian  was  by  no  means  sincere  in  this  reform. 
He  set  himself  to  gain  over  a  party  among  the  princes,  and  belore 
long  the  Council  of  Regency  ceased  to  sit,  though  it  was  revived  in 
the  next  reign.  The  only  other  important  change  effected  under 
Maximilian  was  the  extension  of  the  division  into  circles,  which 
had  been  primarily  adopted  to  regulate  representation  in  the 
imperial  chamber.  About  1514  Germany  was  divided  into  ten 
circles,  viz.,  Franconia,  Bavaria,  Swabia,  the  Upper  Rhine,  and 
Lower  Saxony,  the  six  circles  formed  in  1495,  with  Brandenburg 
and  Saxony,  the  Rhenish  electorates,  Austria  and  Burgundy.  In 
each  of  these  a  captain  was  appointed  to  enforce  the  execution  of 
the  laws. 

Maximilian's  foreign  politics,  which  play  so  great  a  part  in  his 
personal  history,  concern  the  history  of  Italy  or  of  France  rather 
than  of  Germany.  His  reign  is  remarkable  for  two  things,  the 
reforms  in  the  empire  to  which  he  was  distinctly  opposed,  and 
the  advance  of  the  house  of  Hapsbnrg,  to  which  he  greatly  contri- 
buted. By  his  own  marriage  he  obtained  Franche-Comte"  and  the 
Netherlands,  over  which  be  retained  his  hold  in  spite  of  great 
difficulties.  By  marrying  his  son  Philip  to  Joanna,  the  daughter 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  he  not  only  secured  an  important 
alliance  but  prepared  for  his  descendants  the  Spanish  succession. 
He  recovered  the  Austrian  provinces  from  Hungary.  He  stipulated 
by  treaties  for  the  Hapsburg  succession  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia, 
and  facilitated  it  in  1516  by  marrying  his  grandson  Ferdinand  to 
Anne,  the  daughter  of  Wladislaus. 

For  the  empire  Maximilian  did  little.  He  did  not  re-establish 
his  authority  in  Italy ;  or  enforce  it  in  Switzerland.  He  could  not 
even  obtain  from  the  pope  that  coronation  which  would  give  him 
the  legal  title  of  emperor.  But  in  1502  he  assumed  the  title  with- 
out the  ceremony,  and  thus  set  an  example  which  was  followed  by 
his  successors.  In  1519,  Maximilian  I.  died,  and  Germany  entered 
upon  a  new  epoch. 

III.  France  from  1453  to  1494. 

§  11.  The  French  monarchy  grew  up  from  very  humble  beginnings. 
The  early  Capet  kings  had  exercised  direct  power  only  over  Paris 
and  the  surrounding  country.  The  great  territorial  lords  had 
hardly  acknowledged  a  nominal  allegiance.  But  gradually  the 
crown  had  extended  its  judicial  power  and  encroached  on  baronial 
independence.  One  after  another  the  great  provinces  fell  in  and 
were  conquered.  The  English  wars,  which  seemed  at  one  time  to 
jeopardise  the  very  existence  of  France,  ultimately  strengthened 


22  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  t. 

both  the  national  unity  and  the  royal  power.  Charles  V1T.,  with 
little  ability  of  his  own,  was  enabled  by  circumstances  to  do  more 
for  the  monarchy  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  The  gradual 
expulsion  of  the  English,  which  was  completed  in  1453,  gave  him 
a  firm  hold  on  popular  affection  ;  while  the  necessity  for  peace  and 
order  generated  a  desire  to  increase  the  power  of  the  crown.  In  1439 
the  States-General  of  Orleans  gave  the  king  the  right  to  form  the 
gens  d'ordonnance,  the  first  germ  of  a  standing  army.  To  support  this 
force  he  was  allowed  to  levy  and  collect  a  perpetual  tax,  the  taille. 
Thus  the  control  of  the  purse,  the  essential  basis  of  constitutional 
rights,  was  surrendered  of  their  own  accord  by  the  national  repre- 
sentatives. A  revolt  on  the  part  of  the  nobles  was  put  down, 
and  Charles  VII.,  dying  in  1461,  left  the  crown  to  his  eldest  son 
Louis  XL 

Of  the  old  French  territorial  fiefs,  Brittany  alone  retained  its 
independence.  But  as  the  fiefs  had  fallen  in,  a  dangerous  custom 
prevailed  of  granting  them  out  again  to  members  of  the  roya^ 
family.  Thus  was  founded  the  great  house  of  Burgundy,  which 
came  to  rival  and  almost  to  overshadow  the  power  of  the  monarchy. 
John  II.  gave  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  in  1363  to  his  fourth  son 
Philip.  By  marriage  Philip  obtained  Flanders,  Artois,  and  the 
county  of  Burgundy.  His  grandson,  Philip  the  Good,  made  further 
acquisitions.  Brabant,  Holland,  Zealand,  Hainault,  Luxemburg  and 
a  number  of  other  provinces  which  afterwards  formed  the  Nether- 
lands, were  brought  under  his  rule.  By  allying  himself  with 
England,  Philip  rendered  possible  Henry  V.'s  conquest  of  France. 
Charles  VII.  had  to  purchase  his  support  at  the  Treaty  of  Arras 
(1435),  by  ceding  to  him  Picardy  and  the  border-towns  on  the 
Somme. 

By  a  series  of  rash  acts  on  his  accession,  Louis  XI.  alienated 
almost  all  the  French  nobles.  But  his  most  serious  quarrel  was 
with  Burgundy.  By  gaining  over  the  ministers  of  Philip  the  Good, 
he  procured  the  restitution  of  the  ISomme  towns  on  payment  of 
4CO,000  crowns.  This  roused  the  bitter  hostility  of  Charles  of 
Charolais,  Philip's  son  and  heir.  In  his  wrath,  Charles  drove  his 
father's  ministers  from  court,  and  joined  the  League  of  the  Public 
Weal,  which  was  formed  by  the  French  nobles  to  restrict  the  royal 
power.  The  other  chief  members  of  the  league  were  Charles  of 
Berry,  the  king's  brother,  and  the  dukes  of  Brittany  and  Bourbon. 
Louis  XI.  at  once  attacked  Bourbon,  but  meanwhile  his  other 
enemies  surrounded  Paris.  Hurrying  back,  Louis  fought  an 
indecisive  battle  at  Mont  l'hery,  and  entered  the  capital.  But  he 
was  compelled  to  yield  the  demands  of  the  league  at  the  peace  of 
Conflans  (1465).     Charles  of  Berry  was  to  receive  the  important 


a.d.  1461-1483.      FRANCE   UNDER  LOUIS  XI.  23 

duchy  of  Normandy,  the  loss  of  which  would  cripple  the  monarchy. 
Charles  the  Bold  recovered  the  Somme  towns. 

§  12.  This  great  defeat  taught  Louis  to  employ  diplomacy  rather 
than  force,  and  to  divide  his  enemies  instead  of  uuiting  them  by 
aggression.  A  quarrel  between  the  dukes  of  Berry  and  Brittany 
enabled  him  to  recover  Normandy.  But  from  the  first  he  recognised 
his  great  enemy  in  Charles  the  Bold,  who  in,  1467  became  duke  of 
Burgundy  by  the  death  of  his  father.  To  weaken  him  Louis  stirred 
up  the  town  of  Liege  to  frequent  revolts.  But  in  1468  he 
incautiously  placed  himself  in  his  rival's  power  at  Perronne,  and 
was  again  compelled  to  sign  an  ignominious  treaty.  He  had  to 
assist  in  person  at  the  reduction  of  Liege,  and  to  cede  the  provinces 
of  Champagne  and  Brie  to  Charles  of  Berry.  But  seeing  the  danger 
of  allowing  his  brother  to  fall  under  the  influence  of  Burgundy, 
Louis  induced  him  to  accept  instead  the  duchy  of  Guienne. 

A  new  war  between  France  and  Burgundy  was  soon  commenced 
by  the  intrigues  of  a  French  party  which  wished  to  force  on  a 
marriage  of  Charles  the  Bold's  daughter  with  Charles  of  Guienne. 
The  latter  had  lost  the  prospect  of  succession  to  the  throne  by  the 
birth  of  a  dauphin  in  1471.  The  projected  marriage  would  have 
placed  Louis  in  a  dangerous  position,  but  he  was  saved  by  the  op- 
portune death  of  his  brother  in  1472.  Guienne  now  reverted  to 
the  crown,  and  a  truce  was  made  with  Charles  the  Bold,  which 
events  converted  into  a  peace. 

The  year  1472  marks  a  complete  change  in  the  policy  of  Charles 
the  Bold.  Hitherto  he  had  played  the  part  of  an  independent 
French  vassal,  and  his  chief  object  had  been  the  weakening  of  the 
royal  power.  Henceforth  he  devotes  his  attention  to  his  German 
provinces,  and  seeks  to  consolidate  his  disjointed  dominions  into  a 
powerful  kingdom.  From  Sigismund  of  Tyrol,  a  member  of  the 
house  of  Hapsburg,  he  had  obtained  Elsass  and  the  Breisgau  in  1460, 
and  soon  afterwards  he  annexed  the  province  of  Guelders.  In  1473 
he  had  an  interview  at  Trier  with  Frederick  III.,  by  whom  he  hoped 
to  be  made  a  king,  but  the  cautions  emperor  escaped  by  night  down 
the  Moselle.  In  the  next  year  Charles  laid  siege  to  Neuss  on  the 
Rhine,  of  which  river  he  hoped  to  make  himself  master.  When  at 
last  he  was  compelled  to  raise  the  siege,  he  employed  his  troops  in 
conquering  Lorraine,  the  province  which  was  required  to  unite  the 
Netherlands  with  Burgundy. 

All  this  time  the  hostility  of  Louis  XI.  was  none  the  less  active 
that  it  was  not  displayed  in  open  war.  He  stirred  up  Frederick  III. 
and  the  German  princes  to  defend  Neuss.  He  urged  Sigismund  of 
Tyrol  to  reclaim  Elsass.  But  his  greatest  success  lay  in  convincing 
the  Swiss,  partly  by  argument  and  partly  by  bribes,  that  Charles' 


24  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chai».  i. 

progress  was  dangerous  to  their  independence.  To  divert  the  at- 
tention of  the  French  king,  Charles  induced  Edward  IV.  to  invade 
France,  but  the  indolent  English  king  was  bought  off  by  the  treaty 
of  Pecquigny  (1475).  The  Swiss  had  attacked  Burgundy  during 
the  siege  of  Neuss,  and  in  the  attempt  to  avenge  this  insult,  Charles 
the  Bold  wrecked  his  power.  He  suffered  crushing  defeats  at 
Granson  and  Morat,  and  the  victorious  Swiss  aided  Rene  II.  to 
recover  Lorraine.  In  a  desperate  effort  to  retake  Nancy,  the  capital 
of  the  duchy  and  the  intended  capital  of  the  kingdom  he  dreamt  of 
forming,  Charles  the  Bold  was  killed  on  January  5th,  1477.  His 
heir  was  his  only  daughter,  Mary. 

Louis,  overjoyed  at  the  death  of  his  rival,  set  to  work  to  reap 
advantage  from  the  event.  His  most  feasible  plan  would  have  been 
to  marry  Mary  of  Burgundy  to  the  dauphin  or  to  some  prince  of  the 
royal  house.  But  this  would  not  satisfy  the  jubilant  king,  who 
determined  to  break  up  the  Burgundian  power  altogether.  His 
plan  was  to  annex  all  the  French  territories  to  the  crown,  and  to 
divide  the  G-erman  provinces  among  friendly  German  princes.  He 
at  once  seized  the  Somme  towns,  the  duchy  of  Burgundy,  and  great 
part  of  Artois.  But  this  avowed  hostility  drove  Mary  into  a 
marriage  with  Maximilian,  Frederick  III.'s  son,  who  at  once  armed 
in  defence  of  his  wife's  dominions.  The  war,  distinguished  only  by 
the  indecisive  battle  of  Guinegate,  was  ended  by  the  treaty  of  Arras 
(1482)  after  Mary's  death.  Maximilian's  daughter,  Margaret,  was 
promised  in  marriage  to  the  dauphin  Charles,  and  Artois  and  the 
county  of  Burgundy  were  to  form  her  dowry.  Margaret  was  sent 
to  be  brought  up  in  France. 

Louis  XI.  was  already  worn  out  by  disease,  and  he  died  in  1483. 
His  reign  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Fiance,  and  especially 
in  the  history  of  the  monarchy.  The  last  great  revolt  of  the  feudal 
barons  was  completely  put  down.  By  annexing  Burgundy,  and  the 
county  of  Provence,  Louis  extended  the  territorial  power  of  the 
crown.  By  the  acquisition  of  Roussillon  from  John  II.  of  Aragon 
he  gave  France  a  strong  frontier  on  the  side  of  the  Pyrenees.  By 
his  alliance  with  the  Swiss,  he  procured  for  the  monarchy  the 
support  of  the  first  military  power  of  the  day.  By  instituting 
regular  posts,  he  improved  the  communication  between  the  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  gave  increased  centralisation  to  the 
government.  At  the  same  time  he  systematically  depressed  the 
nobles  by  the  elevation  to  office  of  members  of  the  lower  classes. 
His  personal  character  presents  a  curious  combination  of  great 
political  ability  with  the  weakest  superstition.  His  reign  terminated 
the  middle  ages  in  France,  and  gave  that  country  a  modern  ad- 
ministrative system. 


a.d.  1483-1491.     REGENCY  OF  ANNE  OF  BEAUJEU.       25 

§  13.  Charles  VIII.  succeeded  his  father  at  the  age  of  twelve. 
During  his  minority,  ihe  government  was  placed  by  the  States 
General  in  the  hands  of  his  sister,  Anne  of  Beaujeu.  She  followed 
out  with  equal  ability  and  success  her  father's  policy.  A  revolt  of  the 
nobles,  headed  by  the  duke  of  Orleans,  was  suppressed,  and  the  duke, 
although  heir  apparent  to  the  crown,  was  imprisoned.  To  prevent 
the  nobles  from  receiving  aid  from  Richard  III.,  Anne  encouraged 
Henry  Tudor  in  the  invasion  of  England  which  ended  in  the  battle 
of  Bosworth  (1485).  The  regent  also  prepared  the  way  for  the 
annexation  of  the  last  of  the  great  French  provinces.  Francis  II.  of 
Brittany  died  in  1488,  leaving  the  duchy  to  his  daughter  Anne. 
Her  hand  was  sought  and  obtained  by  Maximilian,  who  was  married 
to  her  by  proxy.  But  Anne  of  Beaujeu  saw  the  danger  to  France  of 
such  a  union,  and  by  a  well-timed  invasion  of  Brittany  compelled 
the  duchess  to  marry  Charles  VIII.  Thus  a  double  wrong  was 
done  to  Maximilian ;  his  wife  was  taken  from  him,  and  his  daughter 
Margaret,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  France  as  its  destined  queen, 
was  ignominiously  sent  back.  As  soon  as  he  had  settled  affairs  in 
Austria,  he  armed  for  a  war  with  France. 

The  regency  now  came  to  an  end,  and  Charles  assumed  the 
government  of  his  kingdom.  The  strength  which  France  had  attained 
under  his  father  and  sister,  Charles  determined  to  employ  in  the 
enforcement  of  dynastic  claims  in  Italy.  But  first  he  had  to  settle 
the  differences  with  his  neighbours  so  as  to  avoid  attack  during  his 
absence.  Henry  VII.,  alienated  by  the  annexation  of  Brittany,  was 
conciliated  by  the  treaty  of  Etaples  (1492).  With  Maximilian 
Charles  concluded  the  peace  of  Senlis  (1493),  by  which  Margaret's 
dowry,  Artois  and  Franche-Comte*,  were  restored.  To  Ferdinand  ot 
Aragon  Charles  ceded  the  disputed  province  of  Roussillon  by  the 
treaty  of  Barcelona  (1493).  Having  thus,  as  he  thought,  secured 
France  from  danger,  he  crossed  the  Alps  on  his  way  to  Naples  in 
September,  1494. 


IV.  Spain  fbom  1453  to  1521. 

§  14.  It  was  not  till  the  end  of  the  15th  century  that  Spain  began 
to  assume  the  position  of  a  European  power.  Hitherto  all  its  energies 
had  been  absorbed  in  the  great  contest  with  the  Moors.  The 
contest  had  not  resulted  in  the  union  of  the  Christian  inhabitants  of 
the  peninsula.  On  the  contrary,  the  various  provinces,  Navarre, 
Aragon,  Castile  and  Portugal,  remained  obstinately  opposed  to  each 
other.  And  within  each  province  there  was  eqnal  disunion. 
Liberty  had  been  developed  earlier  and  more  completely  in  Spain 
than  elsewhere.  In  Castile  and  Aragon  the  Cortes  possessed  great 
3* 


26  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  i. 

power,  and  in  the  latter  kingdom  there  existed  an  officer  called  the 
Justiza,  whose  authority  almost  overshadowed  that  of  the  Crown. 
But  it  was  fatal  to  Spain  that  the  interests  of  classes  always  clashed. 
Especially  destructive  were  the  quarrels  between  the  nobles  and  the 
citizen  class.  It  was  certain  that  as  soon  as  the  monarchy  was 
strong  enough  to  take  advantage  of  these  divisions,  it  could  crush 
constitutional  liberty. 

The  little  kingdom  of  Navarre,  in  the  north-eastern  corner  of  the 
peninsula,  is  important  only  as  a  link  between  France  and  Spain. 
At  the  opening  of  this  period  it  had  become  connected  with  Aragon, 
through  the  marriage  of  Blanche,  heiress  of  Navarre,  with  John, 
viceroy  of  Aragon  for  his  brother  Alfonso  V.  They  had  one  son, 
Charles  of  Viana,  who  on  his  mother's  death  ought  to  have 
inherited  the  crown  of  Navarre.  But  he  was  kept  out  by  his 
father,  who  was  under  the  influence  of  a  second  wife  Joanna 
Henriquez.  The  result  was  a  war  between  father  and  son,  which 
was  ended  by  the  sudden  death  of  Charles  of  Viana  in  1461,  not 
without  suspicions  of  poison.  The  prince,  whose  early  death  was 
much  lamented  by  his  subjects,  left  two  sisters,  Blanche  and 
Eleanor.  The  elder  was  imprisoned  at  Orthez,  where  she  was 
poisoned  in  1464.  Eleanor,  the  reputed  murderess,  was  married  to 
Gaston  de  Foix,  and  brought  Navarre  to  her  husband's  family.  But 
the  kingdom  again  passed  into  female  hands,  and  through  a  grand- 
daughter of  Eleanor's,  it  came  under  the  rule  of  the  house  of  d'Albret, 
from  whom  it  was  conquered  in  1512  by  Ferdinand  the  Catholic. 

Aragon,  on  the  death  of  Alfonso  V.,  passed  to  his  brother  John  II. 
His  reign  was  a  period  of  incessant  warfare.  The  province  of 
Catalonia  had  been  united  to  Aragon  in  1137,  but  never  thoroughly 
amalgamated.  The  Catalans  had  been  warm  partisans  of  Charles  of 
Viana.  They  rebelled  against  John,  and  besieged  his  wife  in 
Barcelona.  To  obtain  assistance  from  France,  John  pledged  the 
counties  of  Roussillon  and  Cerdagne  to  Louis  XI.  As  the  pledge 
was  not  redeemed,  the  provinces  were  annexed  to  France  till  their 
restitution  in  1493  by  the  treaty  of  Barcelona.  The  Catalans 
offered  the  crown  to  Rene  of  Anjou,  and  he  accepted  it  for  his  son 
John  of  Calabria,  the  knight-errant  of  the  15th  century.  He 
appeared  in  Catalonia  and  was  crowned,  but  his  adventurous  career 
was  closed  by  his  death  in  1470.  In  1472  John  II.  suppressed  the 
rebellion  and  re-entered  Barcelona.  He  became  involved  in  a  war 
with  France  for  the  re-conquest  of  Roussillon,  but  was  unsuccessful, 
and  died  at  an  advanced  age  in  1479.  The  crown  of  Aragon  fell  to 
Ferdinand,  the  son  of  the  second  wife. 

In  Castile  the  year  1454  witnessed  the  death  of  Johu  II.,  patron 
of  the  famous  but  unfortunate  minister,  Alvaro  de  Luna.     His  son 


A.i>.  147^-1504.      SPAIN   UNDER   FERDINAND.  27 

and  successor  Henry  IV.  received  the  nickname  of  the  Impotent, 
and  his  reign  is  one  scene  of  anarchy.  He  divorced  his  first  wife 
Blanche  of  Navarre,  and  married  Joanna,  sister  of  Alfonso  V.  of 
Portugal  In  1462  the  queen  gave  birth  to  a  daughter  Joanna,  but 
there  was  a  general  conviction  that  she  was  illegitimate.  So  strong 
was  this  feeling  that  the  nobles  forced  Henry  to  disinherit  her  in 
favour  of  his  brother  Alfonso.  When  the  king  tried  to  break  this 
agreement,  a  party  of  the  nobles  deposed  him  with  theatrical  pomp 
at  Avila,  and  declared  Alfonso  king  in  his  place.  A  civil  war 
ensued,  in  the  midst  of  which  Alfonso  died  (1468).  Henry  IV.  was 
again  acknowledged,  but  on  condition  that  the  crown  should  pass, 
after  his  death,  to  his  sister  Isabella.  In  14U9  Isabella  married 
Ferdinand,  son  of  John  II.  of  Aragon.  The  marriage  was 
displeasing  to  the  king  and  to  many  of  the  Castilians  ;  and  a  new 
effort  was  made  to  secure  the  crown  to  Joanna.  But  on  Henry  IV.'s 
death  in  1474,  Isabella  was  raised  to  the  throne,  and  though  Joanna's 
uncle,  Alfonso  V.  of  Portugal,  armed  in  defence  of  his  niece  he  was 
completely  unsuccessful. 

§  15.  The  marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  created  the  uuity  of 
Spain.  In  1479  the  former  succeeded  his  father  in  Aragon,  and 
the  most  important  kingdoms  of  the  peninsula  were  brought  under 
one  government.  To  cement  the  newly-formed  union,  and  to 
divert  the  attention  of  malcontent  subjects,  the  new  monarchs 
embarked  in  a  grand  crusade  against  the  Moors,  who  still  held  the 
southern  districts  of  Spain.  In  1492  the  war  was  brought  to  a 
triumphant  end  by  the  conquest  of  Granada,  an  event  which  did 
more  than  anything  else  to  give  strength  to  the  central  government 
But  the  subject  population  waa  the  reverse  of  homogeneous. 
The  policy  of  the  sovereigns  waa  to  baso  political  upon  reli-imis 
unity.  To  this  policy  was  due  the  establishment  of  the  famous 
Inquisition,  which  was  sanctioned  by  a  bull  of  Sixtus  IV.  in  1482. 
The  Inquisition,  in  spite  of  its  religious  duties,  was  a  royal  rather 
than  a  papal  institution,  and  in  later  times  it  was  employed  as  a 
formidable  and  efficient  support  of  despotism.  But  it  was  fatal  to 
the  real  greatness  of  Spain.  The  two  most  industrious  and 
progressive  elements  of  its  population,  the  Jews  and  the  Moons  were 
either  expelled  or  crushed  by  religious  persecution. 

In  spite  of  these  blots  on  their  policy,  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  is  a  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  Spain.  Geographical 
discoveries  gave  them  magnificent  dominions  in  the  new  world. 
People  began  to  speculate  as  to  the  probable  heir  of  this  magnificent 
inheritance.  There  were  five  children  of  the  marriage,  a  son,  John, 
and  four  daughters,  Isabella,  Joanna,  Catharine,  and  Mary.  The 
daughters  were  used  as  instruments  of  foreign  policy.    A  natural 


28  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap    i. 

object  was  the  union  of  Portugal  with  the  rest  of  Spain.  To 
facilitate  this  Isabella  was  married  to  Alfonso,  prince  of  Portugal. 
On  his  death,  the  widow  was  married  to  his  kinsman,  Emmanuel, 
who  became  king  of  Portugal  in  1495.  Isabella  herself  died  in 
giving  birth  to  a  child  in  1498,  but  to  keep  up  the  connection  with 
Spain,  Emmanuel  was  induced  to  marry  her  youngest  sister,  Mary. 
The  second  daughter,  Joanna,  became  the  wife  of  Philip,  only  son 
of  Maximilian,  and  this  important  marriage  brought  to  the 
Hapsburgs  the  crown  of  Spain.  Catharine  was  married  to  Arthur, 
eldest  son  of  Henry  VII.,  and  after  his  death  to  his  brother, 
Henry  VIII.  To  cement  the  alliance  with  the  Hapsburgs,  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  brought  about  a  marriage  between  their  only  son, 
John,  and  Margaret,  Maximilian's  daughter,  formerly  betrothed  to 
Charles  VIII.  of  France.  But  John  died  a  few  months  afterwards 
(1497),  and  Margaret  gave  birth  to  a  dead  child.  These  events 
left  the  succession  to  the  daughters,  and,  on  the  death  of  the  eldest, 
to  Joanna,  the  wife  of  the  Archduke  Philip. 

In  1504  Ferdinand  was  brought  into  grave  difficulties  by 
Isabella's  death.  She  had  left  to  Ferdinand  the  regency  of  Castile 
for  their  daughter,  Joanna  ;  but  it  was  doubtful  whether  this  would 
be  endured  by  Joanna's  husband.  Philip  and  Joanna  came  over 
from  the  Netherlands  in  1505,  and  the  former,  supported  by  a  large 
party  among  the  nobles,  compelled  his  father-in-law  to  resign  the 
regency,  and  to  withdraw  to  Aragon.  But  in  the  course  of  the 
next  year  Philip  died,  leaving  two  infant  children,  Charles  and 
Ferdinand,  both  destined  to  play  a  great  part  in  history.  Joanna's 
intellect,  never  very  powerful,  was  completely  overclouded  by  her 
husband's  death,  and  Ferdinand  was  enabled  to  resume  the  govern- 
ment of  Castile.  In  his  wrath  at  Philip's  conduct,  and  his  anxiety 
to  keep  him  out  of  the  succession  to  Aragon,  he  had  concluded  a 
second  marriage  in  1505  with  Germaine  de  Foix.  But  there  were 
no  children  by  the  marriage. 

As  king  of  Sicily,  Ferdinand  was  closely  connected  with  Italian 
politics.  In  1504,  his  general,  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova  had  conquered 
Naples.  Cardinal  Ximenes,  the  greatest  of  Spanish  subjects,  made 
extensive  annexations  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  in  1512  Ferdi- 
nand himself  annexed  Navarre.  Thus  the  Spanish  inheritance 
became  more  extensive  and  imposing  than  ever.  In  his  later  days 
Ferdinand  began  to  feel  jealous  of  his  successor.  He  even  cherished 
the  idea  of  disinheriting  his  elder  in  favour  of  his  younger  grandson, 
but  nothing  came  of  it.  In  1515  the  Catholic  king  died,  and 
Charles  I.  became  king  of  Spain,  while  his  mother,  Joanna,  though 
still  living,  was  disregarded  by  her  own  son. 

§  16.  In  the  next  few  years  Spain  passed  through  an  important 


a.d.  1515.      ACCESSION  OF  CHAKLES  I.  IN  SPAIN.        29 

crisis.  The  energetic  and  centralised  government  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  had  aroused  grave  discontent,  especially  among  the  nobles. 
The  accession  of  a  young  and  inexperienced  prince  seemed  to  offer  a 
favourable  opportunity  of  regaining  the  privileges  and  the  in- 
dependence that  had  been  lost.  Had  they  succeeded,  the  newly- 
formed  unity  of  Spain  must  have  perished.  From  this  the  country 
was  saved  by  the  zeal  and  energy  of  one  man,  Cardinal  Ximenes, 
Archbishop  of  Toledo.  He  undertook  the  government,  put  down  the 
malcontent  nobles,  and  enabled  Charles  to  receive  the  crown  with 
its  powers  undiminished.  For  these  invaluable  services  he  was 
treated  with  more  than  royal  ingratitude,  and  he  died  in  1517 
without  seeing  the  prince  for  whom  he  had  saved  a  kingdom. 

Charles  I.  of  Spain,  afterwards  the  emperor  Charles  V.,  had  been 
born  at  Ghent  in  1500.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  the  Nether- 
lands, without  any  knowledge  of  other  countries,  and  surrounded 
by  flatterers.  This  education  obscured,  though  it  did  not  destroy, 
his  natural  talents  for  government.  He  soon  undid  all  the  work  of 
Ximenes.  By  his  reckless  promotion  of  Flemish  favourites  he 
disgusted  the  nobles,  by  his  despotism  and  his  demands  for  money 
he  alienated  the  citizens.  The  general  discontent  found  expression 
in  1521  in  a  great  rebellion  of  the  Spanish  communes.  Fortunately 
for  the  king  the  old  jealousies  between  nobles  and  citizens  prevented 
any  union  between  them,  the  rebellion  was  put  down,  and  its  heroic 
leader,  Juan  de  Padilla,  was  executed  in  1521.  But  before  this 
date  Charles  had  been  elected  to  the  empire,  and  Spain  entered 
upon  a  wholly  new  position  in  Europe. 


V.  Ottoman  kmpibe,  1453-1520. 

§  17.  The  Ottoman  Turks  established  an  independent  power  in 
Asia  Minor, on  the  ruins  of  the  Seljukian  empire.  Internal  disputes 
among  the  Greeks  gave  them  their  first  footing  in  European  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century.  From  this  time  their  progress 
was  incessant.  Gradually  the  Greek  emperors  lost  all  their  domin- 
ions except  their  capital,  Constantinople,  which  was  saved  only  by 
the  strength  of  its  position.  In  1402  the  city  must  have  fallen  but 
for  the  defeat  of  the  Sultan  Bajazet  I.  at  Angora,  by  the  Tartars 
under  Tiniour.  The  Turks  recovered  their  shaken  power  with 
marvellous  rapidity.  In  1453,  Mohammed  II.,  the  seventh  of  the 
sultans,  and  the  greatest  conqueror  of  his  age,  took  Constantinople, 
and  the  last  of  the  Greek  emperors,  Constantino  Palaeologus, 
perished  in  a  heroic  defence  of  his  capital.  The  cause  of  the 
Turkish  successes  in  Europe  is  to  be  found,  partly  in  the  self- 
sacrificing  heroism  inspired  by  their  religion,  but  still  more  in  the 


30  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  l 

superiority  of  their  civil  and  military  administration.  This  was 
based  on  their  employment  of  slaves.  Besides  the  captives  taken 
in  war,  a  regular  tax  of  children  was  imposed  on  the  conquered 
peoples.  These  children  were  subjected  to  a  rigorous  education, 
comparable  only  to  that  of  the  Jesuits.  As  they  grew  up  they 
were  divided  into  two  classes.  Those  who  showed  intellectual 
vigour  were  drafted  into  the  civil  service,  where  they  formed  a  body 
of  perfectly  trained  and  submissive  administrators.  Those  who 
were  distinguished  by  physical  strength  were  added  to  the  famous 
corps  of  Janissaries,  long  the  backbone  of  the  Turkish  armies.  It 
was  this  complete  organisation,  under  the  absolute  control  of  a 
single  will,  which  made  the  Turks  so  vastly  superior  to  the 
imperfectly  united  nations  of  Europe. 

The  fall  of  Constantinople  made  a  profound  impression  in  Europe. 
The  bolder  and  more  sanguine  spirits  urged  the  union  of  the 
western  princes  in  a  new  crusade.  But  it  was  soon  evident  that 
the  age  of  crusades  was  long  past.  Special  and  national  interests 
were  too  absorbing  to  allow  the  various  nations  to  combine  even  for 
a  common  object.  It  soon  became  evident  that  resistance  to  the 
Turks  would  be  left  to  those  powers  which  were  most  immediately 
affected.  And  even  they  were  in  no  hurry  to  provoke  a  conflict. 
The  Venetians,  afraid  of  interruption  to  their  commerce,  concluded 
a  treaty  with  the  Sultan  in  1454. 

Mohammed  II.  showed  no  immediate  eagerness  to  extend  his 
conquests.  His  first  care  was  to  settle  the  government  of  his  new 
capital.  He  did  all  in  his  power  to  encourage  the  Greeks  to  reside. 
He  promised  his  protection  to  the  neighbouring  princes  who  were 
willing  to  pay  tribute.  But  even  had  he  wished  to  stop  short  in 
the  work  of  conquest,  events  were  too  strong  to  allow  him  to  do  so. 
From  1455  onwards  his  reign  was  one  of  ceaseless  military  activity  ? 
of  which  it  is  only  possible  to  give  a  brief  summary.  He  annexed 
the  province  of  Servia,  but  his  further  progress  westwards  was 
arrested  by  the  relief  of  Belgrad  in  1456.  In  the  south  he  wa?  more 
successful.  The  duchy  of  Athens  was  taken  from  the  Florentine 
family  of  Acciajuoli.  George  and  Demetrius,  two  survivors  of  the 
house  of  Palasologus,  were  driven  out  of  the  Morea,  and  the  whole  of 
the  peninsula  was  annexed  except  the  few  possessions  of  Venice.  One 
after  another  Lesbos  and  other  islands  in  the  iEgean  were  conquered. 
Successful  resistance  was  made  only  by  the  knights  of  Rhodes,  the 
outpost  of  Christendom,  and  by  Scanderbeg,  the  Albanian  hero. 
All  this  time  Mohammed  II.  was  engaged  in  constant  wars  in  Asia 
Minor,  where  he  conquered  the  prince  of  Caramania,  the  old  rival  of 
the  Ottomans.  The  Sultan  was  also  occupied  with  the  reduction  of 
the  Danubian  principalities.     In  1462  he  annexed  Wallachia.     In 


a.d.  1453-1481.  CONQUESTS  OF  MOHAMMED  II.  31 

the  next  year  he  overran  Herzegovina  and  Montenegro,  and  in  1464 
he  completed  the  conquest  of  the  kingdom  of  Bosnia.  Further 
acquisitions  in  this  direction  were  prevented  by  the  military 
activity  of  Hungary  under  Matthias  Corvinus.  Matthias  might 
have  been  able  to  drive  the  Turks  backwards,  had  he  not  been 
diverted  from  the  enterprise  by  his  wars  with  Bohemia  and 
Austria. 

The  progress  of  the  Turks  and  the  entreaties  of  Pope  Pius  II. 
at  last  drew  Venice  into  the  war  which  it  had  hitherto  shunned. 
But  the  war  was  as  unsuccessful  as  the  former  peace  had  been 
discreditable.  Negropont  and  other  Venetian  possessions  in  Greece 
were  conquered.  The  death  of  Scanderbeg  in  1467  not  only 
deprived  the  Republic  of  its  most  valuable  ally,  but  hampered  it 
with  the  defence  of  Albania.  The  fortresses  of  Kroja  and  Scutari 
were  consequently  besieged  and  in  1479  Venice  had  to  conclude 
the  peace  of  Constantinople,  by  which  Albania  and  most  of  the 
Greek  territories  were  surrendered,  and  the  rest  were  held  under 
Turkish  suzerainty.  Mohammed  II.  now  organised  an  Italian  ex- 
pedition, which  took  Otranto  in  1480,  and  caused  a  new  feeling  of 
alarm.  But  Otranto  was  restored  in  the  next  year  on  account  of 
the  death  of  Mohammed  II.  at  the  age  of  fifty-one. 

§  18.  The  Turkish  throne  was  now  contested  by  Mohammed's 
two  sons  Bajazet  and  Djem.  Bajazet  succeeded  in  defeating  his 
younger  but  more  capable  brother,  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
knights  of  Rhodes.  The  Sultan,  anxious  to  get  rid  of  his  formi- 
dable rival,  paid  the  knights  45,000  ducats  a  year  to  keep  him  a 
prisoner.  In  1489  the  unfortunate  Djem  passed  into  the  keeping 
of  the  pope,  Innocent  VIII.,  who  received  still  larger  sums  from 
Bajazet.  Alexander  VI.  was  compelled  to  surrender  his  captive 
to  Charles  VIII,  but  was  suspected  of  being  bribed  to  poison  him 
beforehand.  At  any  rate  Djem  died  in  1495,  and  Bajazet  at  last 
felt  his  throne  to  be  secure. 

Bajazet  II.  presents  a  curious  contrast  to  his  predecessors  and 
successors.  With  some  interest  in  literature,  he  was  averse  to  war, 
and  during  his  reign  there  was  a  lull  in  Turkish  aggression.  But 
tin  military  activity  of  his  subjects  compelled  him  occasionally  to 
divert  his  attention  from  peaceful  pursuits.  He  reduced  a  revolt  in 
Bosnia,  and  overran  Croatia.  He  was  also  involved  in  a  war  with 
Venice  which  was  ended  by  a  peace  in  1502.  The  Turks  were 
disgusted  with  their  indolent  ruler.  The  Janissaries  began  to  show 
that  turbulence  which  was  afterwards  so  fatal  to  the  empire. 
Bajazet's  son,  Selim,  was  the  favourite  of  the  soldiers.  Supported 
by  them,  he  deposed  his  father,  who  died  of  poison  (1512).  Selim 
I.  commenced  his  reign  with  the  murder  of  all  his  brothers,  a 


32  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  t. 

practice  which  became  the  invariable  concomitant  of  each  sultan's 
accession. 

§  19.  Under  Selim  I.,  a  ferocious  and  warlike  prince,  the  Turks 
resumed  that  career  of  conquest,  which  had  been  interrupted  since 
the  death  of  Mohammed  II.  From  1514  to  1516  he  was  engaged 
in  a  war  with  the  Persians,  and  conquered  Mesopotamia.  The 
Persians  were  Mohammedans,  but  of  the  sect  of  the  Shiites,  who 
showed  especial  reverence  to  Ali,  Mohammed's  son-in-law,  and 
regarded  him  as  the  lawful  successor  of  the  prophet.  The  orthodox 
Mohammedans,  or  Sonnites,  to  whom  the  Turks  belonged,  acknow- 
ledged the  intermediate  Caliphs,  Abou  Bekir,  Omar  and  Othman, 
who  ruled  before  Ali.  They  regarded  the  Shiites  with  far  greater 
abhorrence  than  they  did  the  Christian  heretics.  In  1516  Selim 
attacked  and  conquered  Syria.  He  then  turned  his  arms  against 
Egypt,  where  the  ancient  Caliphs  still  retained  a  shadow  of  their 
former  power,  at  once  ruled  and  protected  by  the  Mamelukes. 
Egypt  was  speedily  reduced,  and  the  last  of  the  Abasside  Caliphs, 
Motawakkel,  was  removed  to  die  in  obscurity  in  Constantinople. 
From  this  time  the  Turkish  sultans  were  regarded  as  the  successors 
to  the  Caliphate,  and  thus  became  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  temporal 
heads  of  Islam.  Egypt  was  by  far  the  most  important  Turkish 
conquest  since  that  of  Constantinople.  It  gave  the  last  blow  to  the 
commerce  of  Venice  by  securing  to  the  Turks  the  absolute  control  of 
the  Levant.  Soon  after  this  great  success,  as  he  was  planning  an 
attack  upon  Rhodes,  Selim  I.  died  of  the  plague  (1520).  His  son  and 
successor,  Solyman  the  Magnificent,  became  the  able  rival  of  the 
great  European  princes  of  the  16th  century,, 


CHAPTER  n. 

WARS  IN  ITALY,  1494-1519. 

§  I.  Possible  claimants  to  the  crown  of  Naples ;  Charles  VIII.'s  invasion 
solicited  by  revolted  barons  and  by  Lodovico  Sforza.  §  2.  Rapid  success 
of  the  French  in  Italy  ;  league  formed  against  them  ;  Charles'  return  ; 
battle  of  Fornovo.  §  3.  Loss  of  Naples  by  the  French ;  death  of 
Charles  VIII.  §  4.  Louis  XII.  conquers  Milan  ;  partition  of  Naples 
with  Spain ;  French  expelled  from  Naples  by  Gonsalro  de  Cordova. 
§  5.  Alexander  VI.  and  Caesar  Borgia :  reduction  of  Romagna ;  death 
of  the  Pope  and  fall  of  Caesar.  §  6.  Julius  II. ;  the  League  of  Cam  bray ; 
the  Holy  League ;  the  French  lose  Milan ;  death  of  Louis  XII.  and  of 
Julius  II.  §  7.  Florence  under  Savonarola ;  his  fall ;  Soderini  gonfa- 
lonier for  life ;  restoration  of  the  Medici.  §  8.  Francis  I.  invades 
Italy  ;  battle  of  Marignano ;  conquest  of  Milan ;  treaty  between 
Francis  and  Leo  X. 

§  1.  The  tyranny  of  Ferdinand  of  Naples  and  his  son  Alfonso  of 
Calabria  provoked  a  rebellion  among  the  Neapolitan  barons  (1485), 
which  had  important  ultimate  results.  The  claims  advanced  by 
the  popes  to  the  suzerainty  of  Naples  gave  them  frequent  causes  of 
quarrel  with  the  king,  and  Innocent  VIII.  supported  the  insurgents. 
It  was  decided  to  bring  forward  a  claimant  to  the  throne  in 
opposition  to  Ferdinand.  There  were  two  families  from  which  such 
a  claimant  might  be  chosen,  those  of  Aragon  and  Anjou.  Ferdinand 
of  Aragon,  the  lawful  son  of  John  II.,  might  claim  Naples  against 
his  bastard  cousin.  In  the  house  of  Anjou,  the  old  R6n6  of  Pro- 
vence had  died  in  1480,  and  his  only  descendant  was  Rene'  of 
Lorraine,  the  son  of  his  daughter  YoLinde.  But  the  elder  Re*ne* 
had  disinherited  his  grandson,  and  had  left  his  possessions  and 
claims  to  his  nephew,  Charles  of  Maine.  The  latter  had  died  in 
1481  after  making  a  will  in  favour  of  Louis  XI.  By  the  wills, 
therefore,  of  Rene"  le  Bon  and  Charles  of  Maine,  their  rights,  such 
as  they  were,  to  the  crown  of  Naples  might  be  claimed  by  Charles 
VIII.  But  the  Neapolitans  do  not  appear  to  have  recognised  these 
wills,  and  the  crown  was  offered  to  R6n6  of  Lorraine.  He  was  at 
this  time  at  the  French  court  endeavouring  to  establish  his  claim 
to  his  grandfather's  county  of  Provence.  In  this  hopeless  pursuit 
he  wasted  the  time  which  might  have  given  him  the  throne  of 


34  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ii. 

Naples.  Vessels  waited  for  him  in  vain  at  Genoa,  and  at  last  the 
barons  surrendered  on  promise  of  a  complete  amnesty.  In  defiance 
of  this  promise,  they  were  seized  and  shut  up  in  prison,  from  which 
few  of  them  came  out  alive.  A  small  number  of  nobles,  who  had 
declined  to  put  their  faith  in  princes,  remained  in  exile,  and  were 
impelled  by  the  fate  of  their  comrades  to  take  vigorous  measures 
of  revenge.  Their  leaders  were  the  princes  of  Salerno  and  Bisignan, 
the  heads  of  the  house  of  San  Severino.  They  repaired  to  Venice, 
now  as  ever  the  enemy  of  Naples,  and  asked  advice  as  to  whom 
they  should  appeal  to  for  aid.  The  choice  lay  between  Re'ne  of 
Lorraine,  the  hereditary  Angevin  claimant,  Charles  VIII.,  who 
claimed  to  represent  the  same  family  by  the  wills  of  Rene  I.  and 
his  nephew,  and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  the  representative  of  the 
legitimate  Aragonese  line.  Rene  had  shown  his  incapacity,  the 
Venetians  feared  any  increase  of  the  maritime  power  of  Spain, 
so  by  their  advice  it  was  determined  to  apply  to  France,  whither 
the  prince  of  Salerno  proceeded  in  1492. 

Meanwhile  events  occurred  elsewhere  to  facilitate  the  French 
invasion.  Lodovico'  Sforza  was  still  scheming  to  supplant  his 
nephew  in  the  duchy  of  Milan.  .  But  Gian  Galeazzo  had  married 
Isabella,  daughter  of  Alfonso  of  Calabria,  who  was  likely  to  inter- 
fere on  behalf  of  his  son-in-law.  Lodovico,  therefore,  looked  round 
for  allies  who  might  assist  him  in  a  possible  war  against  Naples.  The 
Medici  were  the  oldest  allies  of  the  Sforzas,  but  the  rash  conduct  of 
Piero  de  Medici  convinced  Lodovico  that  he  would  probably  find 
Florence  hostile.  This  compelled  him  to  look  outside  Italy.  His 
immediate  object  was  to  hamper  the  Neapolitan  rulers  so  as  to 
prevent  their  interference  in  the  affairs  of  Milan.  This  might  be 
done  by  a  French  invasion,  though  he  had  no  desire  or  expectation 
that  Naples  would  be  conquered.  In  1493  he  sent  to  the  French 
court  Galeazzo  da  San  Severino,  a  relative  of  the  prince  of  Salerno, 
to  co-operate  with  him  in  urging  on  the  invasion. 

Charles  VIII.  was  at  this  time  under  the  influence  of  two  low- 
born ministers,  Etienne  de  Vers  and  Guillaume  Briconnet,  both  of 
whom  were  won  over  by  the  Italian  envoys.  The  duke  of  Bourbon 
and  the  most  prominent  nobles  of  France  endeavoured  to  dissuade 
the  king,  but  in  vain.  In  1494  Charles  advanced  to  Lyons,  and 
thence  crossed  the  Alps  by  Mont  Genevre.  Milan  was  his  ally 
and  Venice  was  neutral,  so  that  he  met  with  no  opposition  in 
northern  Italy.  Lodovico  Sforza  obtained  the  object  of  his  intrigues. 
Gian  Galeazzo  died  suddenly  at  Piacenza,  and  his  uncle  was 
accepted  as  duke  of  Milan.  The  French  troops  in  Romagna  warded 
off  danger  from  Naples.  Gian  Galeazzo  left  an  infant  son,  Francesco, 
but  he  was  passed  over. 


A.D.  1494.        FRENCH  INVASION  OP   NAPLES.  35 

§  2.  There  were  three  advantageous  points  for  resistance  to  an 
army  invading  Italy,  at  the  entrances  into  Tuscany,  the  Papal 
States,  and  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  The  passes  of  the  Appennines 
which  divide  Lombardy  from  Tuscany  were  commanded  by  Floren- 
tine fortresses,  but  no  measures  were  taken  for  their  defence.  This 
was  the  result  of  a  misunderstanding  between  Piero  de  Medici  and 
his  subjects.  The  Florentines  were  attached  to  the  French  alliance 
both  by  commercial  connection  and  by  old  Guelf  traditions. 
They  were  alienated,  therefore,  by  Piero's  close  relations  with  the 
rulers  of  Naples.  The  party  of  opposition  to  the  Medici  rule  was 
immensely  strengthened  by  foreign  politics.  They  had  alieady 
opened  a  connection  with  the  French  king  before  he  entered  Italy. 
When  Charles  had  advanced  as  far  as  Pisa,  Piero  made  a  sudden 
resolution  to  pave  himself  from  domestic  sedition  by  a  complete 
change  of  policy.  He  made  his  way  to  the  French  camp,  and 
agreed  to  cede,  not  only  Pisa,  but  Leghorn,  Sarzana.  Sarzanello  and 
Pietrasanta.  This  complete  abandonment  of  their  interests  was 
even  more  exasperating  to  the  Florentines  than  his  previous 
opposition  to  the  French.  On  his  return  to  the  city,  Piero  found 
that  a  revolt  had  begun.  He  fled  to  Venice,  his  family  was 
exiled,  and  a  republic  was  proclaimed  in  Florence.  Charles  VIII, 
now  entered  the  city  as  its  pretended  conqueror,  and  made  the  most 
extreme  demands.  But  the  republican  leaders,  aud  notably  Piero 
Capponi,  showed  unexpected  spirit,  and  ultimately  a  treaty  was 
concluded  which  confirmed  the  cession  of  the  fortresses,  but  only  on 
condition  tliat  they  should  be  restored  when  Charles  entered  Naples 
or  returned  to  France. 

In  Naples,  Ferdinand  I.  had  died  before  the  French  invasion  in 
January,  1494.  His  son  and  successor,  Alfonso  II.,  who  had 
obtained  unmerited  repute  as  a  commander  through  his  I 
expulsion  of  the  Turks  from  Otranto,  displayed  at  the  crisis  equal 
incapacity  and  cowardice.  He  entrusted  the  command  of  the 
army  to  his  son  Ferdinand,  and  that  of  the  fleet  to  his  brother 
Frederic  of  Tarentnm.  The  army  was  now  encamped  at  Viterbo, 
at  the  entrauce  to  the  Papal  States.  The  eyes  of  all  Italy  were 
fixed  on  this  spot  in  the  expectation  of  a  decisive  conflict.  But 
the  French  were  again  favoured  by  their  marvellous  good  fortune, 
Ferdinand  withdrew  with  his  troops  to  Rome,  and  Charles  VIII. 
entered  Viterbo  unopposed.  He  marched  thence  upon  Rome,  and 
the  enemy  again  withdrew.  Alexander  VI.  shut  himself  up  in  the 
Castle  of  St.  Angelo.  Charles  refused  to  listen  to  those  who  urged 
him  to  depose  the  pope,  and  was  satisfied  to  extort  a  treaty,  by 
which  four  papal  towns  were  temporarily  ceded  to  him.  At  the 
seme  time  Djem,  brother  of  Bajazet  II.,  was  handed  over  to  the 


36  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  v 

French,  as  a  possible  instrument  in  the  projected  crusade  against 
the  Turks,  and  Csesar  Borgia,  the  pope's  son,  became  a  hostage  for 
his  father.  But  Csesar  soon  escaped,  and  Djem  died,  probably  of 
poison. 

Alfonso  of  Naples,  terrified  at  the  near  approach  of  the  French, 
and  conscious  that  his  cruel  rule  had  alienated  his  subjects,  abdi 
cated  in  favour  of  his  son  Ferdinand,  who  was  too  young  to  have 
incurred  enmity.  Ferdinand  II.,  his  father  having  retired  to  die  in 
•Sicily,  advanced  with  his  army  to  San  Germano  on  the  frontier, 
which  a  mountain-pass  and  the  river  Garigliano  rendered  easily 
defensible.  But  the  news  of  a  revolt  in  Naples  compelled  him  to 
withdraw  to  the  capital,  and  the  French  army  again  met  with  no 
opposition.  The  Neapolitan  citizens  compelled  Ferdinand  to  fly  to 
Ischia.  Charles  VIII.  now  realised  his  wildest  desires ;  he  entered 
Naples,  and  was  crowned  king. 

But  the  marvellous  success  of  the  French  arms,  which  the 
historian  Commines  calls  "a  true  mystery,"  had  effected  a  great 
change  in  the  sentiments  of  the  Italian  powers.  Lodovico  Sforza 
had  never  anticipated  the  conquest  of  Naples,  and  had  reason  for 
alarm.  Louis  of  Orleans,  Charles'  cousin,  who  had  been  left  in 
command  at  Asti  on  the  border  of  Lombardy,  laid  claim  to  Milan 
as  the  grandson  of  Valentina  Visconti.  The  French  invasion  had 
given  Milan  to  Lodovico,  it  might  also  deprive  him  of  it.  He  was 
now  as  anxious  to  oppose  Charles  VIII.  as  he  had  previously  been 
to  befriend  him.  Venice  was  roused  from  its  neutrality  by  the 
threatened  establishment  of  a  new  and  overwhelming  power  in 
Italy.  Foreign  princes,  too,  felt  their  interests  to  be  at  stake. 
Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  as  king  of  Sicily,  was  opposed  to  the  possession 
of  Naples  by  France.  Maximilian  was  roused  by  the  news  that 
Charles  VIII.  had  designs  on  the  empire.  The  envoys  of  these 
powers  met  at  Venice.  The  news  that  Charles  had  passed  Viterbo 
hastened  their  deliberations.  A  league  was  concluded  between 
Milan,  Venice,  the  Pope,  Ferdinand  and  Maximilian,  which  was 
really  directed  against  France,  though  its  avowed  object  was  only 
mutual  protection  against-  attack. 

Meanwhile  in  Naples  Charles'  conduct  was  unwise  and  im- 
prudent. He  took  no  pains  to  conciliate  bis  new  subjects,  and 
the  nobles,  even  the  Angevin  partisans,  were  especially  ill-treated. 
All  offices  were  conferred  upon  Frenchmen.  The  news  of  the 
conclusion  of  the  league  at  Venice  decided  Charles  to  return  to 
France.  Leaving  some  of  his  troops  under  different  commanders 
to  uphold  French  interests,  he  set  out  on  the  land  journey.  He 
passed  through  Pome,  whence  Alexander  VI.,  conscious  of  fraud, 
fled  to  Orvieto.     Through  Siena  Charles  came  to  Pisa.     Hitherto 


a.d.  1495.  EXPULSION  OF  THE  FRENCH.  37 

he  had  taken  no  steps  to  fulfil  his  treaty  with  the  Florentines. 
He  had  given  liberty  to  the  Pisans,  who  had  been  subject  to 
Florence  since  1406,  and  this  was  resented  by  the  Florentines. 
Charles'  evil  genius  on  this  journey  was  the  count  of  Ligny,  who 
induced  him  not  to  surrender  the  fortresses,  but  to  leave  thi-m 
occupied  by  French  garrisons.  After  thus  weakening  his  army, 
the  king  proceeded  through  the  Appennines  towards  Lombardy. 

In  northern  Italy,  the  duke  of  Orleans  had  determined  to 
prosecute  his  private  plans  upon  the  duchy  of  Milan.  Sallying 
out  of  Asti,  he  captured  Novara.  This  attack  on  one  of  their 
members  gave  the  league  their  desired  pretext  for  hostilities.  A 
large  army  was  collected  at  the  entrance  of  Lombardy  prepared 
to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  French.  Charles  VJ1I.  was  thus 
compelled  to  fight  a  battle  at  Fornovo,  6  July,  1495.  The  battle 
was  merely  a  confused  skirmish,  in  which  neither  side  could  claim 
a  victory.  But  the  French  were  enabled  to  continue  their  journey 
unmolested.  The  duke  of  Orleans  was  left  to  fight  out  his  own 
quarrel.  Charles  might  have  done  great  injury  to  Lodovico  Sforza 
by  espousing  the  cause  of  Gian  Galeazzo's  infant  son.  But  he 
refused  either  to  assist  his  cousin  or  to  prejudice  his  cause  in  any  way. 

§  3.  No  sooner  was  the  king's  bock  turned  than  affairs  in  Naples 
began  to  go  badly  for  the  French.  Their  evil  rule  did  much  to 
obliterate  from  the  minds  of  the  natives  the  misdeeds  of  their 
former  kings.  Ferdinand  II.  took  advantage  of  this  reaction  in 
men's  opinions.  He  received  assistance,  both  men  and  ships,  from 
the  king  of  Aragon,  and  the  Venetian  fleet  under  the  marquis  of 
Mautua  was  placed  at  his  disposal.  In  return  for  this,  hi-  promised 
to  cede  to  Venice  five  important  ports  on  the  Adriatic,  including 
Otranto  and  Brindisi.  Returning  from  exilu  Ferdinand  commenced 
the  reconquest  of  his  lost  kingdom.  One  place  after  another 
opened  its  gates.  The  city  of  Naples  received  him  with  enthusiasm, 
though  the  citadel  was  for  some  time  held  by  the  French  under 
the  marquis  of  Montpensier.  At  length,  as  no  assistance  came 
from  France,  the  citadel  was  evacuated,  and  Mont;«nsier  with  his 
array,  after  enduring  a  siege  in  Atella,  surrendered  to  Ferdinand. 
Calabria  held  out  longest  under  d'Aubigny,  the  ablest  of  the  French 
commanders,  but  he  too  had  to  yield.  Ferdinand  did  not  live 
long  to  enjoy  his  triumph.  After  marrying  bis  father's  half-sister, 
Joanna,  he  died  suddenly  in  1496.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  uncle 
Frederick  of  Tarentum,  the  fifth  king  who  had  worn  the  crown  of 
Naples  within  less  than  three  years. 

Meanwhile  Charles  VIII.  was  occupied  with  tournaments  and 
other  pleasures.  In  his  intervals  of  leisure  he  had  two  Italian 
questions  to  consider;  whether  to  assist  the  duke  of  Orleans,  wbc 


38  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap  n. 

was  reduced  to  great  straits  in  Novara,  and  secondly,  how  to 
preserve  the  vanishing  French  power  in  Naples.  At  court  there 
were  two  contending  parties.  One  wished  to  conclude  a  peace  and 
to  withdraw  from  Italian  politics  altogether  ;  the  other,  headed  by 
Briconnet,  saw  its  interest  in  the  prolongation  of  the  war.  At  last 
the  peace  party  prevailed  so  far  as  to  open  negotiations  with 
Lodovico  Sforza,  and  to  conclude  the  treaty  of  Vercelli.  By  this 
the  duke  of  Orleans  was  allowed  to  quit  Novara,  and  Sforza 
promised  to  equip  two  vessels  for  the  relief  of  the  castles  of  Naples. 
But  the  latter  promise  was  constantly  evaded,  and  Philippe  de 
Commines,  a  member  of  the  party  of  peace,  failed  to  persuade 
Venice  to  accept  the  treaty. 

Charles  VIII.  lived  for  three  years  after  his  return,  during  which 
he  did  nothing  either  for  Italy  or  France.  He  died  at  Amboise  in 
April,  1498.  His  understanding  was  as  feeble  as  his  person  was 
deformed,  and  it  was  the  irony  of  fate  that  made  such  a  man  the 
conqueror  of  Italy  at  a  time  when  that  country  was  in  the  zenith 
of  its  civilisation.  Charles'  three  children  had  died  before  him, 
and  the  crown  now  fell  for  the  fourth  time  in  French  history  to  a 
collateral  line,  in  the  person  of  Louis  of  Orleans.  By  Charles  VIII.'s 
death,  Brittany  was  again  severed  from  the  crown,  as  it  passed  to 
his  widow  Anne.  Louis  XII.,  anxious  to  recover  so  important  a 
province,  induced  Alexander  VI.  to  grant  him  a  divorce  from  his 
wife  Jeanne,  daughter  of  Louis  XL  This  preliminary  accomplished, 
Louis  at  once  married  Anne  of  Brittany. 

§  4.  Louis  XIL's  accession  was  an  important  event  for  Italy.  Not 
only  did  he  inherit  his  predecessor's  claims  to  Naples,  but  he 
possessed  a  personal  claim  upon  Milan,  which  he  had  already 
shown  his  intention  to  assert.  He  was  urged  on  by  his  minister 
George  of  Amboise,  who  had  designs  on  the  papacy,  which  he  hoped 
to  attain  by  making  his  master  powerful  in  Italy.  And  in  Italy 
itself  circumstances  were  favourable  to  the  French.  The  Venetians, 
always  rivals  of  Milan  in  northern  Italy,  were  at  this  time  on 
especially  bad  terms  with  Lodovico  Sforza.  Florence  was  occupied 
in  the  siege  of  Pisa,  and  though  it  owed  its  disasters  to  France,  it 
still  clung  to  the  French  alliance  as  the  only  means  of  recovering 
its  losses.  Pope  Alexander  VI.  had  schemes  for  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  his  son  Caesar  Borgia,  which  went  far  beyond  the  nepotism 
of  his  predecessors,  and  he  hoped  to  accomplish  them  with  the 
assistance  of  France.  It  was  this  hope  which  made  him  so  com- 
pliant in  granting  Louis'  divorce :  he  gave  the  cardinal's  hat  to 
George  of  Amboise,  and  encouraged  his  ambitious  hopes.  To 
Venice  Louis  promised  Cremona  and  the  Ghiara  d'Adda,  to 
Florence  aid  against  Pisa,  and  to  the  pope  French  troops  for  the 


a.d.  1499.         FRENCH  CONQUEST  OF  MILAN.  39 

conquest  of  Romagna.  Having  thus  purchased  allies,  he  despatched 
an  army  across  the  Alps  in  1499.  Its  success  was  immediate. 
Lodovico  Sforza  fled  for  refuge  to  the  Swiss,  and  Milan  opened  its 
gates  to  the  French.  Louis  now  appeared  in  j)erson  to  enjoy  his 
triumph,  and  appointed  Trivulcio  governor  of  Milan.  Trivulcio 
was  himself  a  Milanese  citizen,  driven  into  the  service  of  France 
hy  hostility  to  Lodovico  Sforza.  He  ruled  in  the  interests  of  his 
own  party,  and  soon  alienated  his  subjects.  Lodovico  took 
advantage  of  this  to  return  to  Lombardy,  and  recovered  Milan  as 
easily  as  he  had  lost  it.  But  the  French  army  strengthened  by 
reinforcements  renewed  the  war.  The  Swiss  in  Lodovico's  service, 
being  forbidden  to  fight  against  their  fellow-countrymen,  wcro 
compelled  to  desert  him.  He  was  given  np  to  the  French  and 
imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Loches,  where  he  died  after  ten  years' 
captivity.  Thus  he  expiated  his  own  short-sighted  policy  in 
calling  the  French  into  Italy. 

Having  thus  accomplished  his  first  object,  Louis  turned  his  at- 
tention to  the  reduction  of  Naples.  It  was  in  vain  that  king 
Frederick  offered  to  become  the  tributary  of  France.  But  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic  had  claims  upon  Naples  aud  Louis  was  unwilling  to 
incur  the  hostility  of  Spain.  Accordingly,  a  treaty  of  partition  was 
arranged  at  Granada  (1500).  Louis  was  to  have  Abruzzi  and  Terra 
di  Lavoro  with  the  title  of  king,  while  Ferdinand  was  to  receive 
Apulia  and  Calabria,  the  provinces  which  lay  nearest  to  his  own 
kingdom  of  Sicily.  The  unocrupulous  character  of  this  treaty  was 
disguised  by  the  flimsy  pretext  that  the  conquest  of  Naples  was 
merely  the  preliminary  of  a  crusade  against  the  Turks.  Frederick  of 
Naples,  who  expected  nothing  but  friendship  from  the  king  of  Aragon, 
could  make  no  resistance.  He  surrendered  Naples  to  the  French 
in  L501,  and  ended  his  life  a  prisoner  in  France. 

Thus  the  first  object  of  the  treaty  of  Granada  was  attained ;  the 
partition  proved  more  diflicult.  A  quarrel  between  the  French  and 
Spaniards  soon  developed  into  open  war.  The  military  skill  of  the 
Spanish  commander,  Gon*alvo  de  Cordova,  triumphed  in  every 
contest.  Defeated  in  the  battles  of  Seminara  and  Cerignola,  the 
French  were  comjwlled  to  withdraw,  and  Naples  was  annexed  to 
Spain  (1503).  In  1504  a  large  French  army  attempted  the  recovery 
of  Naples,  but  it  was  completely  routed  by  Gonsalvo  on  the 
Qariglkoo.  Piero  de  Medici,  who  fought  on  the  French  side  in 
the  battle,  was  drowned  in  the  river. 

§  5.  Meanwhile  the  pa[>al  states  had  been  the  scene  of  momentous 
events.  Alexander  VI.  reaped  all  the  advantages  he  had  hoped  to 
gain  from  the  French  alliance.  Caesar  Borgia  was  his  second  son, 
and  had  been  destined  for  promotion  in  the  church.    But  he  soon 


40  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  ii 

wearied  of  this  career,  murdered  his  brother  the  duke  of  Gandia, 
and  induced  the  pope  to  embark  in  schemes  for  his  temporal  ag- 
grandisement. His  object  was  to  form  a  great  secular  power  out 
of  the  states  of  the  church.  The  assistance  of  French  troops  en- 
abled him  to  conquer  Romagna,  which  had  long  been  diviled 
among  a  number  of  practically  independent  princes.  By  a  policy 
of  unscrupulous  cruelty,  Csesar  succeeded  in  establishing  a  strong 
central  government  in  the  hitherto  distracted  province.  With  an 
unscrupulous  ability,  which  extorted  the  admiration  of  Machiavelli, 
he  extended  his  power  over  the  duchy  of  Urbino,  Perugia,  and  other 
important  territories.  "When  his  adherents  appeared  untrustworthy, 
he  entrapped  them  at  Sinigaglia  and  murdered  them.  His  power 
was  supreme  in  central  Italy,  and  he  began  to  meditate  the 
conquest  of  Tuscany.  But  he  had  always  to  face  the  danger  that 
the  two  chief  supports  of  his  power  might  fail  him.  The  French 
were  not  unlikely  to  become  hostile,  and  his  father  might  die.  To 
make  himself  independent  of  France,  he  took  advantage  of  the 
Neapolitan  war  to  enter  into  relations  with  Spain.  But  his  chief 
object  was  to  secure  his  power  against  a  probable  reaction  after  his 
father's  death.  He  secured  a  majority  among  the  cardinals  so  as 
to  dictate  the  choice  of  a  new  pope.  All  persons  in  Rome  whose 
hostility  was  feared  were  removed  by  poison  or  the  dagger.  But 
his  carefully  devised  policy  proved  a  failure.  The  received  account 
of  Alexander  VI. 's  death  is  that  he  and  his  son  accidentally  drank 
the  poison  prepared  for  the  Cardinal  of  Corneto.  The  pope  died, 
and  though  Cajsar  Borgia  recovered,  his  life  was  for  some  time  in 
danger.  This  unforeseen  accident  prevented  his  taking  the  necessary 
steps,  and  enabled  his  enemies  to  concert  their  measures  without 
opposition.  The  choice  of  the  cardinals  fell  first  on  Francesco 
Piccolomini,  who  took  the  name  of  Pius  III.  but  died  within  a  few 
days.  The  cardinals  reassembled  and  elected  Giuliano  della  Rovere, 
a  nephew  of  Sixtus  IV.,  who  became  pope  with  the  title  of 
Julius  II.  The  great  object  of  Julius'  ambition  was  to  extend  the 
papal  power,  and  he  determined  to  take  advantage  of  Caesar  Borgia's 
conquests  for  that  purpose.  Caasar  was  imprisoned  and  compelled 
to  surrender  his  territories  to  the  papacy.  On  his  release  he  es- 
caped to  Naples,  where  he  was  betrayed  by  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova 
and  sent  a  prisoner  to  Spain.  After  three  years'  captivity  he 
escaped  to  Navarre,  where  he  perished  in  a  civil  war  in  1510. 

§  6.  The  Borgias  had  within  three  years  consolidated  a  power 
which  they  intended  to  make  their  own.  In  this  they  failed,  and 
the  fruits  of  their  success  were  reaped  by  the  papacy.  Thanks  to  his 
predecessor,  Julius  II.  was  a  stronger  temporal  prince  than  any  of 
his  predecessors  had  been.     But  he  was  too  active  and  restless  to 


a.d.  1508-1509.      THE  LEAGUE  OF  CAMBRAY.  41 

remain  contented  with  this.  He  wished  to  recover  all  the  territory 
to  which  the  papal  see  could  lay  claims.  Venice  was  in  possession 
of  Faenza,  Rimini  and  Ravenna,  and  Julius  was  determined  to  wrest 
them  from  her.  For  this  purpose  he  made  use  of  the  jealousy  with 
which  the  European  princes  regarded  the  republic  The  Venetians 
had  remained  selfishly  aloof  from  the  contests  in  Italy,  and  had 
sought  to  aggrandise  themselves  by  means  of  the  disasters  of  other 
states.  Louis  XII.  of  France  was  anxious  to  recover  Cremona  and 
Ghiara  d' Adda,  with  which  he  had  purchased  the  Venetian  alliance, 
and  also  Bergamo  and  Brescia,  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  the 
duchy  of  Milan.  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  resented  the  loss  of  the  five 
Apulian  ports  which  had  been  ceded  to  Venice  in  1495  in  return 
for  assistance  in  the  reconquest  of  Naples  from  the  French.  Maxi- 
milian had  old  grounds  of  quarrel  with  the  republic,  both  as 
emperor  and  as  duke  of  Austria.  Julius  II.  took  advantage  of  these 
various  grievances  to  form  a  general  league  against  Venice  at 
Cambray  in  1508.  The  campaign  was  begun  by  the  French  in 
1509.  The  Venetian  army  was  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Agnadello 
or  Vaila.  Julius  II.  annexed  Faenza,  Rimini  and  Ravenna,  while 
Otranto,  Brindisi  and  the  other  ports  were  regained  by  Naples.  The 
power  of  Venice  seemed  on  the  verge  of  complete  annihilation,  but 
it  was  saved  by  the  quarrels  which  broke  out  among  its  enemies. 

Julius  II.  had  no  sooner  gained  one  object  than  with  startling 
suddenness  he  started  in  pursuit  of  another.  He  had  himself  been 
an  active  partisan  of  Charles  VIII.,  but  circumstances  had  changed, 
and  ho  determined  to  free  Italy  from  the  foreigners.  His  first 
hostility  was  directed  against  the  French,  but  to  oppose  them  he 
had  to  make  use  of  tin  i^wer  of  Spain.  In  1510  ho  absolved  the 
ms  from  the  interdict  he  had  issued  against  them,  and  de- 
tached Ferdinand  from  the  league  of  Cambray.  Thus  Italy  was 
again  convulsed  by  a  new  war.  At  first  the  pope  was  unsuccessful. 
A  revolt  in  Bologna  gave  that  city  to  the  French,  and  Julius  returned 
discomfited  to  Rome.  But  a  hasty  move  on  the  part  of  the  French 
king  roused  him  to  new  rifOW.  Ijou'ib  XII.  summoned  a  general 
council  at  Pisa  and  threatened  to  try  and  depose  the  pope.  This 
interference  with  ecclesiastical  affairs  alienated  the  European  princes, 
and  Julius  II.  was  enabled  to  conclude  the  so-called  Holy  League 
in  October,  1511.  Its  members  were  Maximilian,  Ferdinand  the 
Catholic,  Henry  VIII.  of  England  and  the  Swiss.  The  war  begun 
in  1512  with  the  siege  of  Bologna,  which  was  saved  by  the  energy 
of  the  youthful  French  commander,  Gaston  do  Foix.  Bergamo  and 
Brescia,  which  had  been  seized  by  Venice,  were  reconquered  by  the 
French.  Gaston  de  Foix,  raised  to  the  summit  of  fame  by  these 
victories,  marched  towards  Home.  0a  his  way  be  had  to  0ght  with 
4 


42  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ii. 

the  army  of  the  League  at  Ravenna.  He  won  a  glorious  victory,  but 
was  himself  slain  at  the  age  of  23.  His  death  was  more  fatal  to 
the  French  than  his  victory  had  been  to  their  enemies.  His 
successor,  La  Palisse,  was  compelled  to  retire  to  Lombardy.  There 
he  was  attacked  by  the  Swiss  and  driven  out  of  Italy  into  France. 
The  duchy  of  Milan  was  given  to  Maximilian  Sforza,  the  eldest  son 
of  Lodovico,  and  thus  the  Swiss  thought  to  repair  the  wrong  they 
had  done  to  the  father.  But  Brescia  and  Bergamo  were  restored  to 
Venice,  and  the  pope  seized  upon  Parma  and  Piacenza. 

The  loss  of  Milan  was  not  the  only  disaster  the  French  had  to 
undergo.  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  drove  John  d'Albret  from 
Navarre  and  annexed  that  kingdom.  Henry  VIII.  and  Maxi- 
milian invaded  France,  took  several  towns,  and  routed  some 
French  troops  at  Guinegate.  To  divert  the  attention  of  England 
James  IV.  of  Scotland  was  induced  to  cross  the  border,  but  he  was 
defeated  and  killed  at  Flodden.  Louis  XII.  was  compelled  to  make 
peace.  In  April,  1513,  he  concluded  a  truce  at  Orthez  with  Fer- 
dinand, leaving  Navarre  in  his  hands.  Peace  was  made  with 
England  in  1514,  and  Louis  married  Henry  VIII.'s  sister  Mary. 
He  did  not  long  survive  the  failure  of  his  Italian  policy,  and  ditd 
1  Jan.,  1515.  He  had  been  a  popular  king  of  France,  where  his 
easy  good  nature  and  his  economy  had  done  much  to  reconcile  the 
people  to  a  government  which  had  been  built  up  by  harsher  measures. 
But  he  wasted  the  resources  of  the  country  in  schemes  of  aggran- 
disement from  which  France  had  little  or  nothing  to  gain. 

Before  he  could  witness  the  final  humiliation  of  France,  Julius  II. 
had  died  (21  February,  1513).  He  was  guiltless  of  the  nepotism 
which  aroused  such  enmity  against  his  predecessors.  His  nephew, 
Francesco  della  Rovere,  obtained  Urbino  legally  as  the  nephew  of 
Guidobaldo  Montefeltro.  His  comparative  purity  of  motive  has 
obtained  for  Julius  a  reputation  which  he  hardly  deserves.  His 
restless  activity  involved  Italy  in  wars  which  produced  no  result 
commensurate  with  the  bloodshed.  It  is  true  that  the  French  were 
expelled,  but  only  by  establishing  the  power  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
author  of  the  League  of  Cambray  could  awaken  no  national  spirit  in 
Italy,  which  might  preserve  the  country  from  foreign  inroads  in  the 
future.  And  the  spectacle  of  a  pope  clad  in  armour  and  leading 
troops  to  the  siege  or  the  battle-field,  though  it  was  preferable  to 
that  of  a  pontiff  steeped  in  degrading  sensuality,  was  not  likely  to 
reconcile  to  the  papacy  the  awakening  opinion  of  Europe. 

§  7.  Julius  II.'s  successor,  Leo  X.,  was  Giovanni  de  Medici,  the 
second  son  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.  He  had  been  exiled  from 
Florence  on  the  downfall  of  his  brother  Piero.  After  that  event  the 
Florentines  had  established  a  republic  under  the  guidance  of  the  great 


a.d.  1515.  BATTLE  OF  MARIGNANO.  43 

reformer  Savonarola.  He  induced  them  to  form  a  great  council 
on  the  model  of  the  Venetian  constitution.  But  the  republican 
government  depended  too  much  for  its  hold  on  the  people  upon  the 
continued  influence  of  Savonarola.  That  influence  was  weakened 
by  disasters  in  foreign  politics,  especially  by  the  failure  of  the 
efforts  to  recover  Pi*a.  A  strong  party  was  formed  against  the 
preacher,  whose  character  was  not  robust  enough  to  stand  the  trials 
of  alternate  triumph  and  failure.  The  Pope,  whom  he  had  attacked 
with  vehemence,  excommunicated  him  as  a  heretic,  and  in  1498  he 
was  executed  before  the  Palazzo  Vecchio.  Florence  continued  the 
siege  of  Pisa,  which  absorbed  the  attention  and  resources  of  the 
city,  but  without  success.  The  head  of  the  government  was  Piero 
Soderini,  who  had  been  elected  gonfalouier  for  life.  But  intrigues 
outside  the  city  and  discontent  within  proved  fatal  to  Florentine 
independence.  After  the  expulsion  of  the  French,  Giovanni  do 
Medici  induced  the  Spaniards  to  attack  Florence.  The  city  was 
taken  (30  August,  1512)  and  the  Medici  were  restored  to  power. 
Piero's  son  Lorenzo  became  the  ruler  of  the  city  under  the  patronage 
of  his  uncle  Leo  X. 

§  8.  As  Louis  XII.  left  no  sons,  the  French  crown  passed  to 
Francis,  count  of  AngoulSme,  a  young  and  ambitious  prince.  II* 
married  his  predecessor's  daughter  Claude,  and  thus  prevented  the 
separation  of  Brittany,  of  which  she  was  the  heiress.  Francis  1.  was 
determined  to  wrest  the  duchy  of  Milan  from  Maximilian  Sforzo. 
Collecting  an  army  he  crossed  the  Alps  with  unex|>ected  rapidity, 
before  the  Swiss  were  prepared  to  oppose  him.  Like  his  predecessor, 
Francis  I.  was  supported  by  the  Venetians,  and  they  diverted  the 
attention  of  the  Spaniards.  Thus  the  burden  of  the  war  fell  upon 
the  Swiss,  who  were  routed  at  the  two  days'  battle  of  Marignano 
(13  and  14  September,  1515).  Genoa  had  already  been  captured, 
and  Maximilian  Sforza  now  abdicated  the  duchy  of  Milan,  and 
retired  with  a  pension  to  France,  where  he  died  in  obscurity  in  1530. 

This  third  conquest  of  Milan  by  the  French  concluded  for  a  time 
the  Italian  wars,  which  bad  continued  without  intermission  since 
1494.  Francis  made  peace  with  the  Swiss  at  Freiburg,  and 
resumed  the  old  relations  with  them,  which  had  been  interrupted 
by  the  rashness  of  Louis  XII.  With  Leo  X.  Francis  had  an 
interview  at  Bologna.  Parma  and  Piacenza  were  restored  to  Milan, 
and  the  king  promised  to  support  Lorenzo  de  Medici  in  Florence. 
But  the  most  important  result  of  the  interview  was  the  Concordat 
of  1516.  This  abolished  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  1438,  tho 
foundation  of  the  independence  of  the  Gallican  Church.  The  powers 
which  had  been  assumed  by  the  national  synods  under  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction  were  now  shared  between  the  pope  and   the 


44  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ii. 

king.  The  annates,  or  first  year's  revenue  of  a  new  benefice,  were 
restored  to  the  papacy,  but  the  king  obtained  the  right  of 
appointing  to  ecclesiastical  dignities.  Thus,  the  central  power  of 
the  monarchy  was  established  as  firmly  in  the  Church  as  it  had 
already  been  in  the  state. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic  was  alarmed  at  the  re-establishment  of  the 
French  power  in  Italy.  Dreading  an  attack  upon  Naples,  he  tried 
to  form  a  new  European  league  against  France.  But  his  death  in 
1516  gave  the  Spanish  crown  to  his  grandson  Charles,  with  whom 
Francis  I.  concluded  the  treaty  of  Noyon.  Thus  Italy  enjoyed  a 
brief  interval  of  peace,  to  be  followed  in  a  few  years  by  the  outbreak 
of  wars  on  a  larger  scale  than  ever. 


CHAPTER  III. 

RIVALRY  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  THE  HAPSBURGS— 
FIRST  PERIOD. 

§  1.  Contest  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.  for  the  Empire;  success  of 
Charles ;  grounds  of  quarrel  between  the  two  princes.  §  2.  Charles 
allies  himself  with  Henry  VIII.  and  Leo  X. ;  outbreak  of  the  war  in 
1520;  Italian  campaign  of  1521;  death  of  Leo  X.;  accession  of 
Adrian  VI.  and  Clement  VII.  §  3.  Defection  of  the  Constable  of 
Bourbon ;  campaign  of  1524 ;  failure  of  Charles'  invasion  of  France ; 
Francis  captured  at  Pavia.  §  4.  Reaction  caused  by  Charles'  success; 
treaty  of  Madrid ;  Francis  breaks  the  treaty  and  forms  a  league  against 
Charles.  §  5.  Campaign  of  1527 ;  sack  of  Rome ;  Lautrec  in  Italy, 
1528  ;  failure  of  French  siege  of  Naples.  §  6.  Treaties  of  Cambray  and 
Barcelona;  second  restoration  of  the  Medici  in  llaMMt.  §  7.  Ferdi- 
nand of  Austria  acquires  the  crowns  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary. 

§  1.  The  election  of  an  emperor,  in  1519,  to  succeed  Maximilian  I. 
involved  important  consequences  not  only  for  Germany  but  for  the 
whole  of  Europe,  Maximilian,  in  his  later  years,  had  endeavoured 
to  secure  the  crown  for  his  grandson  Charles.  But  the  electors 
were  by  no  means  anxious  to  submit  to  a  prince  who  was  already 
ruler  of  Spain,  the  Netherlands,  Naples,  Sicily,  and  the  New 
World,  and  who  now  succeeded  his  grandfather  in  the  duchy  of 
Austria.  They  were  also  unwilling  to  allow  the  imperial  crown  to 
become  hereditary  in  the  house  of  Hapsbur^,  which  had  already 
held  it  for  tliree  generations.  These  considerations  encou: 
Francis  I.  of  France  to  come  forward  as  a  candidate  for  the  ttnpftre, 
At  first  circumstances  seemed  to  combine  in  his  favour.  He  was 
still  in  the  height  of  his  military  fame  as  the  victor  of  Marignano, 
and  no  prince  seemed  so  capable  of  leading  the  forces  of  Europe 
against  the  Turks.  He  was  in  close  relations  with  the  Rhenish 
electors  whose  territories  bordered  on  his  own ;  and  since  the  treaty 
of  Bologna  he  had  been  on  the  best  terms  with  Pope  Leo  X.  He 
spared  no  bribes  and  promises  to  purchase  supporters,  but  before 
Ions  his  chances  began  to  dwindle.  Public  opinion  in  Germany 
would  be  outraged  by  the  election  of  a  foreigner,  and  the  electors, 
though  irresponsible,  could  not  wholly  disregard  this  opinion. 
Charles  was  a  German,  at  least  on  the  paternal  side,  and  as  duke  of 
Austria  he  was  a  German  prince.    The  managers  of  his  cause  were 


46  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  hi. 

no  less  lavish  in  money  and  promises  than  the  French  king.  The 
elector  Frederick  of  Saxony,  whose  character  gave  him  important 
influence,  and  who  might  have  obtained  the  vacant  dignity  for 
himself  had  he  wished,  declared  for  Charles.  One  by  one  the 
electors  began  to  desert  Francis  for  his  rival.  The  archbishop  of 
Trier  was  the  last  to  go  over,  and  on  the  28th  of  June,  1519, 
Charles  V.  was  unanimously  elected.  Thus  the  highest  dignity  in 
Christendom  was  conferred  upon  a  youth  of  nineteen,  whose  do- 
minions made  him  the  most  powerful  prince  that  had  ruled  in 
Europe  since  Charles  the  Great.  The  German  princes  were  not 
blind  to  the  risk  of  their  independence  in  the  choice  of  such  a 
ruler,  and  they  extorted  conditions  from  him  for  their  own  security. 
The  object  of  the  capitulation  which  Charles  had  to  sign  was  the 
establishment  of  those  constitutional  reforms  which  had  been 
attempted  under  Maximilian.  He  promised  to  renew  the  authority 
of  the  Imperial  Chamber,  and  by  creating  a  Council  of  Regency  to 
give  the  estates  a  share  in  the  executive  government.  These 
reforms  were  insisted  upon  at  the  Diet  of  Worms  in  1521,  after 
Charles'  arrival  in  Germany. 

It  was  obvious  from  the  first  that  a  war  must  break  out  between 
Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.  Not  only  had  the  contest  for  the  empire 
aroused  a  feeling  of  personal  enmity  between  them,  but  at  every 
point  at  which  their  territories  touched  there  were  causes  of  quarrel. 
In  Italy,  Charles  held  Naples  as  the  successor  of  Ferdinand,  but 
the  claims  of  Charles  VIII.  to  that  kingdom  had  descended  to 
Francis.  The  duchy  of  Milan  had  been  conquered  by  Francis  I., 
but  Milan  was  an  imperial  fief  and  he  had  never  received  any 
investiture  of  it.  Then  Charles  was  pre-eminently  a  Burgundian 
prince,  the  descendant  of  Charles  the  Bold  and  the  heir  to  his 
rivalry  with  France.  The  duchy  of  Burgundy  had  been  annexed 
by  Louis  XL,  but  the  representative  of  the  old  dukes  was  unlikely 
to  acquiesce  in  its  loss.  In  Flanders  and  Artois  also  there  were 
conflicting  claims.  On  the  side  of  the  Pyrenees,  Charles  retained 
Navarre,  from  which  Ferdinand  had  expelled  John  d'Albret.  The 
cause  of  the  exiled  family  had  been  warmly  espoused  by  the 
French  Court.  In  addition  to  these  isolated  grounds  of  dispute,  the 
rivalry  had  a  wider  aspect.  Charles'  power  was  dangerous  to 
the  independence  of  the  lesser  states  of  Europe.  Francis  obtained 
no  inconsiderable  increase  of  strength  by  acting  as  the  champion  of 
national  rights  against  a  claimant  to  universal  rule.  He  plays 
somewhat  the  same  part  in  the  16th  century  that  England  played 
in  the  Napoleonic  Avars. 

§  2.  War  being  recognised  as  inevitable,  the  two  princes  set  them- 
selves  to  secure  allies.     They  were  especially   anxious    for    the 


a.d.  1519-1523.      CHARLES  V.  AND  FRANCIS  I.  47 

support  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Pope  Leo  X.  Francis  invited  the 
English  king  to  that  famous  interview  which  is  known  as  the 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.  But  Charles  had  already  visited 
England  and  gained  over  both  Henry  and  his  all  powerful  minister 
Wolsey.  From  the  pomp  and  festivity  of  his  interview  with 
Francis,  Henry  VIII.  proceeded  to  meet  Charles  at  Gravelines,  and 
there  concluded  a  treaty  with  him.  Francis  relied  complacently  on 
the  support  of  Leo  X.,  but  Charles  could  make  offers  which  were 
irresistible  to  the  pope.  Leo  was  anxious  to  put  an  end  to  the 
spread  of  reforming  doctrines  in  Germany;  he  was  even  more 
anxious  to  recover  Parma  and  Piacenza,  which  had  been  annexed 
by  his  predecessor,  but  which  he  had  been  compelled  to  resign. 
Accordingly  a  treaty  was  concluded  between  pope  and  emperor,  by 
which  it  was  decided  to  expel  the  French  from  Milan,  and  to  give 
that  duchy  to  Francesco  Sforza,  the  second  son  of  Lodovico. 
Charles  took  the  Medici  family  under  his  protection,  and  Parma 
and  Piacenza  were  to  be  ceded  to  the  pope. 

The  war  was  commenced  in  Navarre,  whither  a  French  army 
was  despatched  to  espouse  the  cause  of  Henry  d'Albret  in  1520. 
The  campaign  is  notable  only  for  the  fact  that  at  the  siege  of 
Pampeluna,  Ignatius  Loyola,  then  a  young  Spanish  knight,  received 
a  severe  wound.  On  his  sick-bed  his  attention  was  drawn  to 
religion,  and  he  rose  from  it  to  become  the  founder  of  the  Jesuits. 
The  French  easily  overran  Navarre,  but  were  as  easily  driven  out 
again.  A  campaign  on  the  border  of  the"  Netherlands  was  equally 
indecisive.  In  Italy  alone  was  the  war  important.  There  the 
imperial  troops,  composed  of  Germans  and  SjKinianls  and  assisted 
by  the  Swiss  in  the  pay  of  the  pope,  drove  the  French  from  Milan. 
The  French  commander,  Lautrec,  who  showed  more  vigour  than 
ability,  attempted  to  recover  the  province,  but  was  defeated  at 
Bicocca,  and  forced  to  retire  from  Lombardy.  Thus  the  treaty 
between  Charles  and  Leo  was  fulfilled.  Parma  and  Piacenza  were 
annexed  to  the  papacy.  Milan  was  given  to  Francesco  Sforza,  who 
swore  fealty  to  the  emperor. 

The  news  of  the  success  of  his  troops  reached  Le)  X.  at  Rome 
just  before  his  death,  which  is  said  to  have  been  hastened  by 
excessive  joy.  His  successor  was  Adrian  VI.,  who  had  been 
Charles*  tutor  and  had  acted  as  regent  in  Spain  during  the  revolt  of 
the  communes.  Adrian  was  a  man  of  self-denying  integrity,  and 
projected  rtforms  in  the  Church  which,  if  carried  out,  might  have 
changed  the  history  of  Europe.  But  hid  schemes  made  him  un- 
popular in  Rome,  and  he  died  before  he  could  accomplish  anything 
(1523).  Imperial  influence  a^aiu  prevailed  with  the  cardinals,  and 
secured  the  election  of  Cardinal  Giulio  de  Medici,  the  nephew  of 


48  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  m. 

Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  and  hitherto  the  devoted  adherent  of 
Spain.     He  took  the  name  of  Clement  VII. 

§  3.  Francis  I.  was  deeply  chagrined  at  the  loss  of  Milan,  and  just 
when  his  affairs  appeared  most  desperate  he  was  threatened  with 
new  dangers  by  the  treachery  of  the  Constable  of  Bourbon. 
Louis  XI.  had  married  his  daughter  Anne  to  Peter  of  Beaujeu,  heir 
to  the  duchy  of  Bourbon,  on  condition  that,  in  default  of  male 
children,  the  duchy  should  pass  to  the  crown.  Thus  the  younger 
branch,  of  Montpensier,  was  to  be  disinherited.  When  duke  Peter 
died,  leaving  an  only  daughter  Susanna,  the  crown  might  have 
claimed  the  succession.  But  Louis  XII.,  less  anxious  about  the 
royal  rights,  married  Susanna  to  Charles  of  Montpensier,  who  thus 
became  duke  of  Bourbon,  and  was  made  by  Francis  I.  Constable 
of  France.  But  before  long  the  power  of  the  subject  became  an 
object  of  jealousy  to  the  king ;  and  the  Constable  also  quarrelled 
with  Francis' mother,  Louise  of  Savoy.  The  death  of  Susanna  gave 
Louise  a  claim  to  Bourbon  as  the  niece  of  Peter  of  Beaujeu.  The 
crown  could  base  still  more  sweeping  claims  on  the  treaty  extorted 
by  Louis  XL  Charles  of  Bourbon,  seeing  himself  in  danger  of 
being  stripped  of  his  territories,  determined  to  save  himself  by 
treason.  He  made  overtures  to  Charles  V.  and  Henry  VIII., 
offering  to  co-operate  with  them  in  an  invasion  of  France.  Henry 
hoped  to  realise  the  designs  of  his  predecessors  on  the  French 
crown ;  while  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Aries  was  to  be  revived  for 
Bourbon.  The  news  of  the  plot  reached  Francis  I.  as  he  was 
preparing  to  start  with  his  army  for  Italy.  He  at  once  hurried 
back,  and  Bourbon,  seeing  his  plans  discovered,  fled  to  join  the 
imperial  forces  in  Lombardy.  Instead  of  the  troops  he  had 
promised  he  brought  to  the  emperor  nothing  but  the  services  of  a 
proscribed  exile. 

Francis  allowed  his  army  to  cross  the  Alps  without  him  under 
an  incapable  favourite,  Bonnivet.  Had  the  latter  marched  straight 
upon  Milan  he  must  have  seized  the  defenceless  city.  But  his  delay 
gave  strength  and  courage  to  the  garrison,  and  winter  soon  put  an 
end  to  the  campaign.  Early  in  1524  the  imperialists  defeated  the 
French  on  the  Sesia,  where  the  Chevalier  Bayard  met  his  death. 
Bonnivet  was  compelled  to  withdraw  to  France. 

Emboldened  by  this  success  and  by  the  representations  of  Bour- 
bon, Charles  V.  now  determined  to  invade  France  and  to  crush  his 
rival.  An  army  under  Bourbon  and  Pescara  entered  Provence,  and 
laid  seige  to  Marseilles.  It  was  in  vain  that  Bourbon  urged  a 
march  towards  his  own  territories,  the  emperor  was  anxious  to 
acquire  a  port  which  would  give  him  an  easy  entrance  into  Fiance. 
Pestilence  decimated   the  besieging   forces,  and   the    advance  of 


A.D.  1523-1526.  BATTLE   OF  PA  VIA.  49 

Francis  from  Avignon  forced  them  to  a  hasty  and  disorderly  retreat. 
It  was  now  Francis'  turn  to  be  carried  away  by  success.  Regard- 
less of  the  advice  of  his  mother  and  his  wiser  counsellors,  he  again 
crossed  the  Alps  with  a  fine  army.  No  preparations  had  been  made 
for  resistance,  and,  marching  at  once  to  Milan,  he  made  himself 
master  of  the  city  without  opposition.  Instead  of  pursuing  and 
crushing  the  imperial  army  he  sat  down  to  besiege  Pavia.  The 
obstinate  defence  of  the  garrison  under  Antonio  da  Leyva  gave 
Bourbon  and  Pescara  time  to  collect  recruits.  In  1525  they  left 
their  camp  at  Lodi  and  advanced  to  the  relief  of  Pavia.  With 
rash  self-confidence,  Francis  not  only  weakened  his  army  by  send- 
ing 10,000  men  to  Naples,  but  also  determined  to  await  the  enemy 
in  his  entrenchments.  The  battle  which  ensued  was  as  fatal  to  the 
French  as  Poitiers  or  Agincourt.  Ten  thousand  men  fell  on  the 
field,  and  among  the  prisoners  was  the  king  himself. 

§  4.  This  overwhelming  success  produced  a  sudden  reaction  among 
the  emperor's  allies.  In  Italy  there  was  a  general  fear  lest  the 
Spanish  power  should  become  supreme.  The  Pope,  Clement  VII., 
who  owed  his  election  to  Charles,  and  whose  only  hope  of  restoring 
religious  unity  lay  in  the  emperor's  alliance,  allowed  himself  to  be 
influenced  by  his  interests  as  a  Medici,  and  became  a  bitter  enemy  of 
Spain.  Francesco  Sforza  felt  that  ho  was  only  a  puppet  in  Milan,  and 
was  eager  to  free  himself  from  imperial  tutelage.  Henry  VIII.,  who 
had  no  motive  beyond  his  own  aggrandisement,  urged  Charles  to  a 
joint  invasion  of  France,  hoping  to  place  the  crown  on  his  own 
head.  But  neither  Charles  nor  Bourbon  were  anxious  to  gratify 
English  ambition.  This  disappointment  opened  Henry's  eyes  to  the 
is  with  which  Charles*  success  threatened  Europe.  Wolsey 
was  already  alienated  by  the  successive  elections  of  Adrian  VI. 
and  Clement  VII.  to  the  papacy.  Louise  of  Savoy,  who  acted  as 
recent  in  France  during  her  son's  captivity,  was  keen  to  take 
advantage  of  the  change  in  political  opinion.  She  concluded  a 
truce  with  England  and  opened  diplomatic  relations  with  the 
pope.  She  even  applied  for  assistance  to  the  Turkish  sultan 
Solyman. 

Meanwhile,  regardless  or  ignorant  of  these  symptoms  of  hostility, 
Charles  thought  only  of  extorting  extreme  concessions  from  his 
captive  rival.  In  this  his  policy  was  short-sighted.  France  was 
not  conquered,  though  it  had  lost  its  king.  Terms  which  injured 
the  vital  interests  of  France  were  certain  not  to  be  carried  out,  and 
must  give  rise  to  further  hostilities.  Francis,  however,  eager  to 
gain  freedom,  accepted  the  treaty  of  Madrid  in  January,  1526.  By 
this  he  promised  to  restore  the  duchy  of  Burgundy,  to  give  up  his 
claims  upon  Naples,  Milan,  Flanders  and  Artois,  and  to  furnish  no 
4* 


50  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iii. 

more  assistance  to  Henry  d'Albret.  Two  of  his  sons  were  to 
become  hostages,  and  he  himself  was  to  marry  Charles'  sister,  the 
dowager  Queen  of  Portugal.  On  these  terms,  Francis  was  allowed 
to  return  to  France  in  March,  1526. 

Before  signing  the  treaty,  he  had  declared  his  acceptance  to  be 
compulsory  and  therefore  not  binding.  The  cession  of  Burgundy 
was  impossible,  and  he  at  once  determined  to  renew  the  war.  The 
hostility  to  the  emperor  which  prevailed  in  Italy  offered  him  great 
advantages.  Venice,  Milan  and  the  pope  became  members  of  a  new 
Holy  League  at  Cognac  (May,  1526),  with  the  object  of  compelling 
Charles  to  release  the  French  princes  and  to  give  Francesco  Sforza 
independent  possession  of  Milan.  Henry  VIII.  was  acknowledged 
as  protector  of  the  league. 

§  5.  Charles,  while  loudly  declaiming  against  the  faithlessness  of 
the  French  king,  took  measures  for  an  energetic  prosecution  of  the 
war.  Bourbon's  army  was  far  superior  to  that  of  the  league,  which 
was  commanded  by  the  duke  of  Urbino.  Francesco  Sforza  was 
speedily  forced  to  surrender,  and  his  duchy  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  imperialists.  Bourbon  now  received  large  reinforcements  of 
Protestant  troops  from  Germany  under  George  Frundsberg.  But 
the  emperor  sent  neither  instructions  nor  money  to  pay  the  troops. 
They  became  mutinous,  and  it  was  only  possible  to  pacify  them  by 
the  plunder  of  some  rich  city.  In  Bourbon's  circumstances  the 
boldest  policy  seemed  the  safest,  and  he  marched  straight  upon 
Rome.  Frundsberg  announced  his  intention  to  hang  the  pope. 
Clement  VII.,  trusting  to  the  sanctity  of  his  position,  made  no 
preparations  for  defence.  Bourbon  was  killed  at  the  first  onslaught, 
but  his  soldiers  avenged  his  death  by  the  capture  and  sack  of  the 
imperial  city.  The  new  commander,  Philibert  Prince  of  Orange, 
was  powerless  to  restrain  their  excesses,  and  Rome  suffered  more 
than  it  had  done  at  the  hands  of  Goths  and  Vandals  centuries 
before.  Clement  VII.,  beseiged  in  the  fortress  of  St.  Angelo,  was 
compelled  to  surrender  himself  a  prisoner.  The  Florentines  were 
emboldened  to  throw  off  the  despotism  of  the  Medici  and  to  restore 
the  republic. 

Charles' second  great  success  and  the  outrage  on  the  papal  dignity- 
produced  a  still  deeper  impression  than  the  victory  of  Pavia. 
Francesco  Sforza  and  the  Venetians  renewed  their  league,  which  was 
joined  by  Florence.  Francis  I.,  who  had  hitherto  done  nothing  for 
his  Italian  allies,  despatched  a  large  army  under  Lautrec  into  Italy. 
Lautrec  captured  Genoa,  where  he  restored  the  exiled  Fregosi  and 
Dorias,  and  might  have  conquered  Lombardy  with  ease.  But  the 
French  were  more  anxious  to  humiliate  the  emperor  than  to  restore 
Francesco  Sforza.     Regardless  of  the  entreaties  of  his  allies,  Lautrec 


a.d.  1526-1529.        TREATY   OF   CAMBRAY.  51 

marched  southwards.  The  news  of  his  approach  necessitated  the 
release  of  Clement  VII.,  who  fled  to  Orvieto.  With  great  difficulty 
the  Prince  of  Orange  induced  the  imperial  army  to  leave  its  comfort- 
able quarters  in  Rome,  and  threw  himself  into  Naples  just  before 
the  arrival  of  the  French.  Lautrec  at  once  blockaded  the  city, 
while  Andrea  Doria,  the  first  admiral  of  the  age,  cut  off  all  con- 
nection by  sea.  Naples  must  have  fallen  but  for  the  imprudent 
conduct  of  the  French  king,  who  determined  to  humble  Genoa  by 
making  a  great  port  of  its  old  rival  Savona.  Doria's  patriotism  was 
stronger  than  his  attachment  to  France.  He  entered  the  service  of 
Charles,  expelled  the  French  from  Genoa,  and  restored  the  indepen- 
dence of  his  native  city.  Thus  Naples  was  saved.  Pestilence 
attacked  the  besieging  army  and  carried  off  Lautrec.  The  remnant 
of  the  French  forces  was  forced  to  surrender  at  A  versa.  Francis 
made  another  effort  in  1529  to  retrieve  his  falling  fortunes  in  Italy. 
An  army  under  St.  Pol  invaded  Lombardy,  but  was  completely 
defeated  by  Antonio  da  Leyva. 

§  6.  These  French  reverses  produced  a  desire  for  peace,  to  which 
Charles,  hampered  by  want  of  money,  was  not  unwilling  to  accede. 
The  negotiations  were  managed  by  Louise  of  Savoy  and  Margaret, 
the  emperor's  aunt.  By  their  exertions  the  treaty  of  Cambray  was 
concluded  on  the  basis  of  the  former  treaty  of  Madrid.  Charles 
withdrew  his  claim  to  the  immediate  cession  of  Burgundy,  but  the 
other  articles  were  confirmed.  Francis  was  to  renounce  all 
pretensions  to  Milan,  Naples,  Genoa,  Flanders  and  Artois,  and  to 
complete  his  marriage  with  Bkooor  of  Portugal.  On  these  conditions 
his  sons  were  to  be  set  at  liberty. 

Before  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  Charles  had  come  to  terms 
with  the  pope  at  Barcelona.  Not  only  did  the  emjtfror  agree  to  the 
complete  restoration  of  the  States  of  the  Church,  but  he  also  took 
the  Medici  family  under  his  protection.  Florence  was  to  be  restored 
to  them,  and  Charles'  natural  daughter,  Margaret,  was  to  marry 
Alessandro  de  Medici.  Charles  now  left  Spain  to  visit  Italy  in 
person.  At  Bologna  he  received  the  imperial  crown  from  the  pope, 
the  last  emperor  who  was  so  crowned.  Francesco  Sforza  did 
homage  and  received  again  the  duchy  of  Milan.  Florence,  after  an 
obstinate  defence,  was  reduced  and  compelled  to  submit  to  Alessan- 
dro de  Medici.  After  thus  settling  Italian  affairs  with  the  high 
hand,  Charles  V.  proceeded  to  Germany. 

Thus  the  war,  which  had  Listed  with  but  slight  intermission  for 
nine  years,  ended  in  the  humiliation  of  Francis  I.  The  haughty 
victor  of  Marignano  was  driven  altogether  from  Italy.  The  loss  of 
Genoa  cut  off  all  direct  connection  between  France  and  the  peninsula, 
and  Francis'  heartless  desertion  of  his  allies  completely  alienated 


52  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  hi. 

the  Italians.  But  France  itself  had  suffered  less  than  its  ruler. 
The  strength  and  unity  of  the  kingdom  had  been  increased  by  the 
war,  and  had  manifested  itself  in  the  easy  repulse  of  hostile  invasions. 
The  interests  of  France  lay  in  the  maintenance  or  extension  of  its 
frontiers,  not  in  the  assertion  of  dynastic  claims  in  Italy.  The  loss 
of  Burgundy  would  have  been  a  vital  injury  to  France.  But 
Burgundy  was  retained,  and  this  in  itself  was  more  than  compensa- 
tion for  the  loss  of  Milan. 

■§  7.  The  House  of  Hapsburg  had  advanced  further  during  the 
war  on  its  peculiar  career.  It  had  obtained  that  supremacy  in  Italy, 
which  it  retained  with  small  profit  to  itself  or  its  subjects  for  three 
centuries.  Naples  and  Milan  were  under  its  direct  rule  ;  Florence 
and  the  papacy  were  dependent  allies.  Venice  alone  remained 
independent,  but  Venice  was  no  longer  what  it  had  been.  And 
while  establishing  their  power  over  Italy,  the  Hapsburgs  had  also 
extended  their  dominions  in  eastern  Europe.  In  1525,  Lewis,  the 
Jagellon  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  had  been  killed  in  the 
battle  of  Mohacz  with  the  Turks.  His  sister  was  married  to 
Charles'  brother  Ferdinand,  to  whom  the  emperor  had  handed  over 
the  Austrian  territories.  Partly  on  his  marriage  and  partly  on 
treaty  rights  Ferdinand  based  a  claim  to  the  vacant  crowns.  In 
Bohemia  the  dukes  of  Bavaria  were  encouraged  by  Clement  VII.  to 
become  his  rivals.  But  in  that  country  Hussite  traditions  were  still 
a  power,  and  Ferdinand's  religious  moderation  secured  him  the 
crown  against  the  harsh  orthodoxy  of  a  papal  nominee.  In  Hungary 
a  native  -noble,  John  Zapolya,  came  forward  to  claim  the  throne. 
Ferdinand  defeated  him,  and  received  the  crown  at  Stuhlweissen- 
burgh.  But  Zapolya's  cause  was  espoused  by  the  Turkish  sultan, 
who  utilised  the  opportunity  to  seize  great  part  of  Hungary.  The 
necessity  of  making  head  against  Turkish  aggression  was  not  the 
least  of  the  motives  which  induced  Charles  V.  to  conclude  the 
treaty  of  Cambray. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  REFORMATION. 

I.  Germany.— §  1.  Martin  Luther;  his  early  life;  protest  against  in- 
dulgences ;  Melancthon ;  Ulrich  von  Hutten ;  burning  of  the  papal 
bull.  §  2.  Policy  of  Charles  V.;  Diet  of  Worms;  Luther  in  the 
Wartburg.  §3.  Disturbances  in  Wittenberg;  Luther's  reappearance ; 
action  of  the  German  princes.  §  4.  Knights'  war  ;  reaction  against 
the  Reformation.  §5.  Revolt  of  the  peasants;  Luther's  attitude. 
§  6.  Charles  V.  quarrels  with  the  Pope ;  Diet  of  Speier ;  progress  of 
the  Reformation.  §  7.  Protest  of  Speier;  confession  of  Augsburg; 
League  of  Schmnlkalde;  Turkish  war;  treaty  of  Nuremberg.  II. 
Switzerland. — §  8.  Career  of  Zwingli.  §  9.  Quarrels  among  the 
Swiss  Cantons ;  death  of  Zwingli ;  differences  between  his  teaching  and 
that  of  Luther.  III.  Scandinavia. — §  10.  Weakness  of  the  Calmar 
Union;  deposition  of  Christian  II.  of  Denmark.  §  11.  Reign  of 
Frederick  I.;  Reformation  in  Denmark  under  Christian  III.  §  12. 
Blood-bath  of  Stockholm ;  revolt  of  Sweden  under  Gustavus  Vasa. 
§  13.  Political  motives  for  Swedish  Reformation  ;  Diet  of  Westeras ; 
hereditary  monarchy  established.  IV.  John  Calvin  and  tiii 
formation  in  Geneva. — §  14.  Political  condition  of  Geneva ;  teaching 
of  Farel.  §  15.  Calvin  arrives  in  Geneva;  harshness  of  his  system ; 
period  of  exile.  §  16.  Calvin  returns  to  Geneva;  peculiarities  of  his 
doctrine  and  institutions ;  persecution  of  his  opponents ;  historical 
importance  of  Calvini-m. 

I.  Germany. 

§  1.  The  revolt  against  mediaeval  restraints  upon  freedom  of  thought 
had  been  commenced  by  the  Italians  in  the  so-called  Renaissance; 
it  was  completed  by  the  Germans  in  the  Reformation.  The  Italian 
humanists  had  been  inevitably  compelled  to  question  many  of  the 
received  dogmas,  and  to  ridicule  established  superstitions.  But 
they  were  content  with  negative  criticism  ;  they  had  not  sufficient 
earnestness  to  insist  on  any  positive  reform.  That  the  renaissance 
spirit  was  compatible  with  acquiescence  in  existing  abuses  is  obvious 
from  the  fact  that  Leo  X.,  the  representative  patron  of  literature 
and  art,  was  himself  pope,  that  the  refined  sensualist,  who  devoted 
himself  with  equal  zest  to  the  pleasures  of  the  intellect  and  of  the 
table,  was  eager  to  suppress  religious  innovation  with  fire  and 
sword.    It  was  reserved  for  the  more  serious  Germans  to  extend  the 


54  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

humanist  teaching  to  religion,  and  thus  to  further  the  emancipa- 
tion of  Europe. 

Martin  Luther,  whose  name  stands  for  ever  connected  with  the 
great  movement  of  which  he  was  the  leader,  was  born  at  Eisleben 
on  the  10th  of  November,  1483.  His  father  was  a  poor  miner,  and 
his  youth  was  one  of  hardship  and  suffering.  His  education  began 
at  the  school  of  Mansfeld,  and  he  always  spoke  with  horror  of  the 
severity  of  his  teachers.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  sent  to 
another  school  at  Eisenach,  where  he  found  a  more  comfortable 
home  with  relations  of  his  mother.  His  father  was  by  this  time 
in  easier  circumstances,  and  he  was  able  to  support  his  son  at  the 
University  of  Erfurt,  then  the  centre  of  the  humanist  teaching  in 
Germany.  But  Luther's  religious  nature  preserved  him  from  the 
indifference  so  often  the  result  of  this  teaching ;  he  refused  to 
comply  with  his  father's  desire  that  he  should  become  a  lawyer, 
and  in  1505  he  entered  an  Augustine  monastery.  This  was  an 
all-important  step  in  his  life.  All  real  vigorous  reform  must 
proceed  from  within.  A  humanist  reformation,  imposed  by  the 
culture  of  the  outside  world,  could  have  had  none  of  that  deep 
moral  feeling  which  characterised  the  influence  of  Luther. 

In  his  monastic  retirement  Luther  devoted  himself  to  study, 
especially  of  the  Bible  and  the  works  of  Augustine.  Here  he  first 
arrived  at  the  unconscious  perception  of  the  wide  differences 
between  the  old  Christianity  and  the  secular  church  which  had 
grown  up  from  it.  In  1508  he  was  transferred  to  Wittenberg,  to 
become  a  professor  in  the  new  university,  which  had  been  founded 
there  in  1502  by  Frederick  the  Wise  of  Saxony.  Luther's  vigorous 
personality  and  eloquence  soon  made  him  a  power  in  Wittenberg 
and  a  favourite  at  the  elector's  court.  The  duty  of  teaching  com- 
pelled him  to  formulate  his  opinions,  and  to  get  rid  of  the 
mysticism  which  had  hitherto  blinded  him.  But  he  was  not 
yet  conscious  of  any  opposition  to  the  church  of  which  he  was  a 
member.  In  1512  he  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Nome  with  feelings 
of  the  most  profound  reverence,  though  the  contact  with  Italian 
corruption  and  immorality  was  not  without  influence.  After  his 
return  he  was  employed  in  developing  his  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith,  which  was  opposed  not  so  much  to  the  dogmas  as  to  the 
practices  of  Roman  Catholicism. 

Just  at  this  time  he  was  brought  face  to  face  with  the  most 
flagrant  abuse  in  the  church,  the  sale  of  indulgences.  The  doctrine 
of  indulgences  was  based  on  the  theory  that  the  merits  of  the 
whole  church  exceeded  the  sins  of  individual  members,  and  that 
therefore  there  was  a  surplus  stock  of  grace,  which  was  at  the 
disposal  of  the  pope  as  head  of  the  Church.     In  earlier  times,  such 


a.d.  1517.  MARTIN   LUTHER.  55 

indulgences  bad  only  been  granted  on  condition  of  confession  and 
the  performance  of  penance.  A  possible  penance  was  the  payment 
of  money,  and  as  the  Church  became  more  and  more  secular,  this 
had  become  the  most  satisfactory  to  the  Roman  Curia.  The 
prevailing  sentiment  of  the  hierarchy  was  expressed  by  a  chamber- 
lain of  Innocent  VIIL,  who  said,  "God  desireih  not  the  death  of  a 
sinner,  but  rather  that  he  should  pay  and  live."  Leo  X.,  reduced 
to  great  straits  by  his  building  projects  and  by  his  war  with  the 
duke  of  Urbino,  sent  three  commissions  into  Germany  to  raise 
money  by  the  sale  of  indulgences.  The  most  shameless  of  the 
itinerant  vendors  of  pardon,  Tetzel,  appeared  in  Saxony,  and 
Luther  was  convulsed  with  indignation.  On  31st  of  October,  1517, 
he  nailed  ninety-five  theses  on  the  door  of  the  parish  church  of 
Wittenberg.  In  these  he  maintained  that  repentance  was  a 
necessary  conJition  of  pardon,  and  that  without  it  the  pope's 
indulgence  was  altogether  impotent. 

It  was  accident  that  made  Luther's  first  quarrel  with  Rome  turn 
on  the  question  of  indulgences ;  but  it  was  a  very  fortunato 
accident,  because  it  secured  for  him  the  support  of  the  German 
princes.  Their  interests  were  naturally  opposed  to  the  papal 
MUM  tions,  and  they  bitterly  resented  the  transit  of  their  subjects' 
money  across  the  Alps.  At  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Basel  they 
had  made  vigorous  efforts  to  put  a  stop  to  the  abuse,  but  they  had 
been  foiled  by  the  treachery  of  Frederick  III.  They  were  now 
eager  to  back  up  the  intrepid  monk  whose  convictions  were  so 
allied  with  their  interests.  At  the  diet  of  Augsburg  (1518), 
attempts  were  made  to  induce  the  emperor  to  sanction  the  general 
opposition  to  the  papacy.  But  Maximilian,  anxious  to  conciliate 
the  pope,  that  he  might  cease  to  oppose  his  grandson's  election, 
refused  to  listen  to  tho  princes,  and  thus  lost  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  the  empire  at  the  head  of  the  great  movement, 
and  of  restoring  the  unity  of  Germany. 

The  Church  was  by  no  means  without  defenders ;  both  in  Italy 
and  in  Germany  theologians  arose  to  confute  Luther.  The  att«  n- 
tion  of  the  popo  was  called  to  a  controversy  which  affected  so 
closely  the  revenues  of  the  hierarchy.  Attempts  were  made  to 
bring  Luther  to  reason  by  remonstrance.  The  Cardiiial-legafe 
Cajetan  summoned  him  to  Augsburg,  but  the  haughty  ecclesiastic 
failed  to  overawe  the  intrepid  monk.  Another  attempt  was  made 
by  Carl  von  Miltitz,  a  man  of  the  world  rather  than  a  churchman. 
He  succeeded  in  inducing  Luther  to  promise  silence,  on  condition 
that  his  opponents  should  aUo  abstain  from  controversy  till  tho 
matter  was  conclusively  settled.  From  this  promise  Luther  was 
freed  by  the  indiscreet  conduct  of  Eck,  a  member  of  the  orthodox 


56  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

university  of  Ingolstadt.  He  issued  a  treatise  in  which  he  attacked 
Luther's  positions,  and  the  latter  came  forward  to  answer  him  in  a 
public  discussion  at  Leipzig  (June  1519).  No  agreement  could 
result  from  the  discussion.  Eck  relied  upon  the  authority  of 
recent  councils  ;  Luther  on  the  Bible  and  the  early  Fathers.  The 
chief  result  of  the  controversy  was  Luther's  avowal  that  several 
of  the  Hussite  doctrines  which  had  been  condemned  at  Constance 
were  fundamentally  Christian.  By  thus  denying  the  infallibility 
of  a  general  council,  Luther  took  the  first  step  in  a  complete 
rupture  with  the  Church. 

Just  before  this  Luther  had  been  joined  by  an  important  ally, 
Melancthon,  who  became  professor  of  Greek  at  Wittenberg. 
Melancthon  was  a  relative  and  pupil  of  Reuchlin,  and  had 
already  won  reputation  as  a  rising  scholar.  His  zealous  co- 
operation was  of  the  utmost  service  to  Luther.  The  settlement 
of  the  reformed  doctrines  w7as  mainly  the  work  of  Melancthon, 
whose  theology  was  more  scholarly  and  accurate  than  that  of  his 
comrade.  On  the  other  hand,  the  practical  tasks  and  the  resistance 
to  outside  attack  fell  mostly  to  the  more  robust  and  independent 
Luther. 

Hitherto  it  had  been  doubtful  what  attitude  would  be  assumed  by 
the  German  humanists  towards  the  Reformation.  This  was  settled 
by  the  conduct  of  the  poet  and  satirist  Ulrich  von  Hutten.  At  first 
he  had  regarded  the  dispute  with  contempt  as  a  monkish  quarrel : 
but  as  he  became  conscious  of  the  magnitude  of  the  question,  and 
appreciated  Luther's  commanding  attitude,  he  threw  himself  heart 
and  soul  into  the  cause.  He  desired  to  free  Germany  altogether 
from  its  thraldom  to  the  papacy.  He  gave  up  writing  Latin  and 
employed  his  native  tongue,  whose  power  he  had  first  learned  from 
the  works  of  Luther.  A  greater  man  than  Hutten,  Erasmus,  was 
also  at  first  inclined  to  favour  the  reformers.  He  advised  the  elec- 
tor of  Saxony  not  to  withdraw  his  support  from  Luther,  whose  only 
fault  was  that  "  he  had  hit  the  pope  on  the  crown  and  the  monks  on 
the  belly." 

Meanwhile  Eck,  finding  that  his  rival  had  not  been  silenced  by 
the  Leipzig  discussion,  determined  to  resort  to  other  measures. 
Collecting  Luther's  writings,  he  carried  them  to  Rome,  and  there 
laid  them  before  a  commission  appointed  by  the  pope.  There  was 
no  doubt  of  its  decision,  and  Leo  X.  issued  a  bull  excommunicating 
Luther  and  his  adherents  and  ordering  his  books. to  be  burnt.  Eck 
himself  was  authorised  to  carry  the  bull  to  Germany,  whither  he 
returned  in  triumph.  But  his  reception  was  not  enthusiastic.  The 
Germans  were  not  inclined  to  respect  a  decision  which  had  been 
come  to  in  Italy,  at  the  instigation  of  a  rival,  and  without  hearing 


a.d.  1521.  THE  DIET  OF  WORMS.  57 

the  accused.  Luther  was  prepared  with  his  answer.  He  issued  an 
appeal  "to  the  nobility  of  the  German  nation,"  and  he  attacked  the 
papal  authority  in  "The  Babylonish  Captivity  of  the  Church." 
Then  on  the  10th  December  1520  he  went  in  procession  to  the 
market-place  at  Wittenberg,  and  there  publicly  burnt  the  pope's 
bull.  The  elector  of  Saxony,  following  the  advice  of  Erasmus,  had 
already  resolved  that  the  bull  should  not  be  executed  in  his 
territories. 

§  2.  Thus,  then,  the  schism  had  been  completed, and, with  a  courage 
which  captivated  the  people,  Luther  had  broken  down  the  bridge 
behind  him.  He  was  at  war  with  the  Church,  and  ecclesiastical 
weapons  had  failed  against  him.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  appeal 
to  the  secular  arm. '  At  this  conjuncture  the  newly  elected  emperor 
Charles  V.  made  his  first  appearance  in  Germany.  Everything 
seemed  to  depend  upon  the  will  of  a  youth  not  yet  of  age.  The 
religious  policy  of  Charles  V.  has  been  a  matter  of  dispute  :  but  the 
fact  is  that  he  had  no  religious  policy  at  all.  His  religion  was  that 
of  his  ancestors,  and  he  never  gave  sufficient  thought  to  it  to  desire 
either  to  change  or  to  defend  it.  His  policy  was  dictated  solely  by 
political  interests,  and  varied  with  those  interests.  The  cause  of  his 
failure  lay  in  the  fact  that,  having  no  real  religious  convictions 
himself,  he  had  no  conception  of  the  influence  of  such  convictions  on 
others. 

The  diet  of  Worms  met  on  28th  of  January,  1521.  After  settling 
political  questions,  its  attention  was  directed  to  religions  differences. 
Luther  appeared  before  the  diet  to  defend  his  views.  Hutten  wrote 
to  the  emperor  urging  him  to  make  no  concessions  to  Rome.  But 
Charles  V.  was  moved  neither  by  the  heroic  firmness  of  the  monk 
nor  by  the  eloquence  of  the  poet.  He  wished  to  secure  the  alliance 
of  Leo  X.  against  Francis  I.  This  could  only  be  done  by  yielding 
to  the  pope*8  desire  to  put  down  reform.  Accordingly  the  edict  of 
Worms  was  issued,  which  declared  Luther  a  heretic  and  placed  him 
under  the  imperial  ban. 

The  imperial  edict  was  not  a  whit  more  efficacious  than  the 
papal  bull.  Luther  himself  had  left  Worms  before  its  issue,  and  on 
his  return  journey  he  had  been  sei2ed  by  the  emissaries  of  the 
friendly  elector  of  Saxony  and  had  been  concealed  in  the  castle  of 
the  Wartburg.  There  he  employed  himself  in  study  and  in  the 
famous  translation  of  the  Bible,  which  not  only  created  German 
prose,  but  also  made  religion  the  property  of  the  people,  instead  of 
being,  as  before,  the  monopoly  of  the  priests.  His  disappearance, 
which  was  at  first  kept  a  profound  secret,  produced  a  marvellous 
impression  in  Germany.  It  was  feared  that  he  had  fallen  a  victim 
to  the  enmity  of  the  church,  and  indignation  at  his  supposed 


58  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  iv 

martyrdom  increased  the  number  of  sympathisers  and  adherents. 
As  the  news  leaked  out  that  he  was  alive  and  in  safety,  there  was  a 
general  feeling  of  joyful  relief.  Partly  through  popular  literature, 
partly  through  the  devoted  energy  of  preachers,  the  Lutheran  doc- 
trines were  spread  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Germany. 
The  most  orthodox  princes  were  unable  to  suppress  the  obnoxious 
but  contagious  heresy. 

§  3.  In  Wittenberg,  which  was  now  more  than  ever  the  centre  of 
reform,  and  which  offered  a  safe  refuge  to  religious  exiles,  the 
absence  of  Luther  gave  rise  to  grave  dangers.  His  place  was  taken 
by  Carlstadt,  a  zealous  reformer  but  a  man  of  little  strength  of 
character.  He  allowed  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  the  desire 
for  extreme  and  unnecessary  changes.  Among  the  numerous  exiles 
who  came  to  Wittenberg  were  the  so-called  "  prophets "  of 
Zwickau,  Claus  Storch  and  his  followers,  who  urged  the  people  to 
the  wildest  excesses.  Carlstadt  fell  completely  under  their  influence. 
Riots  ensued,  in  which  the  images  in  the  churches  were  destroyed. 
There  was  danger  that  the  elector  Frederic  would  feel  himself 
compelled  to  oppose  a  movement  which  produced  such  anarchy. 

The  news  of  these  events  drew  Luther  from  his  retirement.  At 
the  ri-k  of  his  life  he  returned  to  Wittenberg.  In  a  series  of 
six  sermons  he  preached  the  necessity  of  moderation,  and  con- 
demned the  conduct  of  the  popular  leaders.  His  influence  pre- 
vailed. The  "  prophets  "  departed  from  Wittenberg,  and  order  was 
restored. 

Charles  V.  had  left  Germany  after  the  diet  of  Worms.  During 
his  absence  the  government  was  in  the  hands  of  a  Council  of  Regency, 
which  had  been  created  by  the  diet.  For  the  first  time  Germany 
was  subject  to  a  national  and  representative  government.  The 
princes  who  formed  a  majority  in  the  council  were  by  no  means 
influenced  by  the  same  motives  as  the  emperor.  In  spite  of  the 
entreaties  of  the  orthodox  duke  George  of  Saxony,  they  allowed  the 
edict  of  Worms  to  fall  into  oblivion.  Their  motive  in  this  was  not 
an  inclination  to  Lutheranism.  Most  of  them  feared  that  in  the 
excited  condition  of  the  people  severe  measures  might  produce  an 
outbreak.  And  they  were  actuated  by  that  jealousy  of  papal 
interference  which  had  been  more  or  less  powerful  among  the 
German  princes  since  the  time  of  Lewis  the  Bavarian  (1314-1317). 
The  Imperial  Chamber,  which  had  been  re-constituted  in  1521,  took 
no  steps  to  enforce  the  edict,  and  disregarded  the  urgent  appeals  of 
pope  Adrian  VI.  The  diet  of  Nuremberg  (1523)  presented  to  the 
pope  a  hundred  gravamina  complaining  of  the  abuses  of  the 
ecclesiastical  system.  Thus,  while  the  emperor,  for  political 
reasons,  condemned  Luther,  the  German  nation  adopted  his  cause 


a.i>.  1522-1523.  THE   KNIGHTS'   WAR.  59 

as  their  own.  Before  long  Luther  was  able  to  leave  the  Wartburg 
and  to  again  appear  in  public  with  perfect  safety. 

§  4.  But,  in  spite  of  these  encouragements,  his  position  was  one 
of  great  difficulty.  He  had  been  able  to  resist  the  tendency  to 
religious  extravagance,  but  he  was  unable  to  check  the  political 
aspirations,  which  were  in  some  respects  the  result  of  his  teaching. 
Luther  himself  was  a  steadfast  opponent  of  anything  like  armed 
resistance  to  authority ;  but  his  views  on  this  point  were  by  no 
means  shared  by  all  his  followers.  There  were  two  great  move- 
ments at  this  time,  which  directly  grew  out  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Reformation,  the  knights'  war,  and  the  peasant  revolt.  With  both 
of  them  Luther  could  not  but  partly  sympathise,  yet  he  was 
compiled  to  disapprove  of  them  because  they  relied  for  success 
upon  force. 

The  knights,  or  lesser  German  nobility,  occupied  an  anomalous 
position.  While  they  claimed  to  be  independent  of  any  power 
except  the  emperor,  they  were  excluded  from  all  share  in  the  diets. 
They  had  thus  no  common  political  interests  with  any  other  order, 
and  constantly  fought  for  their  own  hand.  They  were  especially 
opposed  to  the  famwMJag  poworof  tin-  princes^  whom  they  regarded 
as  tin  ir  natural  enemies.  The  spokMBMB  of  the  knightly  order  at  this 
time  was  Ulrich  von  Hutten.  He  had  been  bitterly  disappointed  by 
Charles  V.'s  conduct  at  Worms ;  and  he  now  conceived  the  idea  of 
placing  the  knights  at  the  hi  ad  of  the  national  opposition  to  ton  IgD 
and  papal  interference.  With  the  strength  thus  obtained  they 
would  be  able  to  overt  brow  the  supremacy  of  the  princes.  He  gained 
over  to  his  riewi  Fianz  von  Sickingen,  the  owner  of  numerous 
castles  on  the  Rhine  and  the  commander  of  an  independent  army  of 
personal  followers.  Had  they  made  their  movement  immediately 
aft i -r  the  diet  of  Worms,  it  might  have  been  successful.  But 
Sickingen  was  then  negotiating  with  the  ♦  mperor  about  assuming 
the  command  of  an  army  against  Francis  I.,  and  the  opportune 
moment  was  allowed  to  pass.  But  in  1522  the  war  was  commenced 
with  an  attack  on  the  elector  of  Trier.  It  was  expected  that  he 
would  be  easily  subdued.  But  Luther's  resolute  opposition  to  war- 
like measures  withheld  general  supi*>rt  from  the  knights,  and  the 
keen-sighted  princes  armed  at  once  in  defence  of  the  interests  of 
their  order.  Sickingen  was  repulsed  from  Trier  and  besieged  in  his 
strong  castle  of  Landstuhl.  Its  mediaeval  defences  were  battered 
down  by  artillery,  and  Sickingen  died  as  his  enemies  entered  the 
fortress  (1523).  Hutten  escaped  and  fled  to  Switzerland,  where  he 
died  soon  afterwards.  The  princes,  aided  by  the  modern  system 
of  warfare,  gained  a  great  victory,  and  the  knights,  "  an  army  of 
officers  without  soldiers,"  were  deprived  of  all  poliiical  importance. 


60         ,  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

The  lmights'  war  and  its  failure  produced  a  reaction  which  was 
unfavourable  to  the  progress  of  the  Reformation.  In  spite  of  the 
moderation  'displayed  by  Luther,  the  disorder  was  attributed  to 
his  teaching.  Hitherto  Germany  had  been  united  in  the  demand 
for  reform  in  the  Church,  but  a  party  was  now  formed  which  was 
opposed  to  all  reform.  This  was  aided  by  the  policy  of  the  new 
pope,  Clement  VII.,  who  sent  cardinal  Campeggio  to  Germany  to 
take  advantage  of  the  growing  dislike  of  revolutionary  progress. 
The  legate  failed  in  his  demand  for  the  enforcement  of  the  edict  of 
Worms,  but  he  succeeded  in  coming  lo  terms  with  the  dukes  of 
Bavaria,  the  archduke  of  Austria,  and  most  of  the  south  German 
prince;?.  At  a  convention  at  Ratisbon  (1524)  a  few  superficial 
reforms  were  made  and  the  power  of  the  princes  in  Church  matters 
was  extended.  On  these  terms  it  was  agreed  to  take  measures  for 
the  suppression  of  the  Lutheran  heresy.  Thus  the  pope  suceeded 
in  dividing  Germany  into  two  hostile  camps.  In  Austria,  Bavaria 
and  other  provinces  the  reformers  were  persecuted  and  driven  into 
exile.  At  the  same  time  the  power  of  the  Council  of  Regency  and 
of  the  Imperial  Chamber,  which  depended  upon  German  unity,  was 
lessened,  and  the  constitution  of  these  assemblies  altered. 

§  5.  Thus  the  central  authority  was  weakened  just  at  a  time  when 
it  was  most  wanted  to  preserve  order.  For  the  Catholic  reaction 
gave  new  strength  to  the  radical  party,  and  brought  Luther's 
moderate  policy  into  discredit.  Carlstadt  became  again  the  preacher 
of  extreme  measures.  Expelled  through  Luther's  influence  from 
Saxony,  he  wandered  through  southern  Germany  teaching  revolu- 
tionary doctrines  to  the  lower  classes.  He  had  an  able  assistant  in 
this  work  in  Thomas  Munzer,  the  most  violent  of  the  anabaptist 
prophets  of  Zwickau.  These  men  found  a  welcome  reception  among 
the  down-trodden  class  of  peasantry.  Of  all  classes  in  Germany 
the  most  depressed  and  enslaved  was  the  Bauer  or  peasant.  Unlike 
the  English  villein,  he  had  as  yet  made  no  step  towards  the 
acquisition  of  personal  liberty.  He  was  the  chattel  cf  his  master, 
and  he  had  no  legal  or  constitutional  remedy  against  oppression. 
Armed  rebellion  was  his  only  resource.  Already  isolated  move- 
ments had  taken  place  in  Kempten  (1492),  in  Elsass  (1490),  and  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Black  Forest  (1513).  These  had  all 
been  put  down  with  the  strong  hand,  and  the  condition  of  the 
peasant  was  made  even  harder  than  before.  But  towards  the  end  of 
1524  a  general  rising  of  peasants  commenced,  on  a  far  larger  and  more 
important  scale  than  before.  The  Bundschuhe,  the  peasants'  standard, 
was  first  raised  in  Swabia,  and  their  demands  were  formulated 
in  twelve  articles.  These  are  worth  recording  for  their  moderation, 
and  because  they  give  the  best  clue  to  the  grievances  complained  of, 


a.d.  1525.  THE  PEASANT  REVOLT.  61 

The  influence  of  the  Reformation  is  to  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  each 
article  is  supported  by  reference  to  the  scriptures. 

1.  The  congregation  are  to  elect  their  minister. 

2.  The  great  tithe  (of  corn)  is  to  be  paid,  but  the  small  tithes  (of 
animals)  are  to  be  abolished. 

3.  The  peasants  are  to  be  free,  and  no  longer  bondsmen. 

4.  Game,  fowls,  and  fish  are  to  be  free  as  God  created  them. 

5.  Fuel  from  the  woods  to  be  free  to  all. 

6.  Compulsory  service  to  be  no  longer  unlimited. 

7.  All  service  beyond  the  contract  to  be  paid  for  in  wages. 

8.  Rents  to  be  regulated  afresh  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  the 
land. 

9.  Arbitrary  punishments  to  be  put  an  end  to. 

10.  Common  pastures  and  fields  to  be  restored. 

11.  Heriots  to  be  abolished. 

12.  These  propositions  to  be  tested  by  Scripture,  and  if  fouud 
contrary  to  that  they  are  not  to  stand. 

These  articles,  moderate  as  they  were,  were  promptly  rejected  by 
the  ruling  classes,  and  the  revolt  spread.  The  north  of  Germany 
was  alone  exempt  from  the  general  anarchy  and  bloodshed.  The 
peasants*  demands  were  not  everywhere  so  reasonable  as  in  Swabia. 
Jn  Thuringia  especially,  where  Munzer  was  supreme,  the  wildest 
ideas  prevailed.  There  was  no  concerted  action  among  the  peasants, 
and  they  were  no  match  for  the  united  forces  of  the  princes.  If 
the  knights  had  been  an  army  of  officers  without  soldiers,  the 
peasants  were  an  army  of  soldiers  without  officers.  Every  win- re 
the  revolt  was  put  down  witli  nurciless  severity.  By  the  end  of 
1686  the  peasants'  war  was  at  an  end. 

This  result  was  due  in  great  measure  to  Luther's  influence. 
Himself  a  peasant's  son,  he  might  have  been  expected  to  sympathise 
with  the  sufferings  of  the  class  from  which  ho  had  sprung  ;  and  at 
the  beginuing  of  the  revolt  he  wrote  a  guarded  letter  in  which  he 
expressed  such  sympathy,  though  he  advised  the  most  cautions 
measures.  This  encouraged  the  peasants  to  hope  that,  if  not  with 
them,  he  would  at  any  rate  not  be  against  them.  But  after  the  war 
had  commenced  Luther  wrote  another  and  very  violent  letter,  in 
whieh  he  urged  the  princes  to  cut  down  the  misguided  men  who 
had  ventured  to  take  the  redress  of  their  grievances  into  their  own 
hands.  Thus  ho  definitely  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  ruling  classes, 
a  fact  which  influenced  the  whole  course  of  the  German  Reforma- 
tion. At  this  critical  conjuncture,  Frederick  the  Wise  of  Saxony, 
the  rnli-litm.  1  patron  and  supporter  of  Luther,  died  (1525).  Ee 
was  succeeded  in  the  electorate  by  his  brother  John,  who  was  a  still 
more  zealous  partisan  of  the  reformers. 


62  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

§  6.  The  revolt  of  the  peasants  naturally  strengthened  the 
hands  of  the  conservative  German  princes.  George  of  Saxony  en- 
deavoured to  form  a  league  of  north  German  princes  on  the  basis 
of  the  convention  of  Ratisbon  of  1523.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
Charles  V.  concluded  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  in  which  it  was 
arranged  that  he  and  Francis  should  co-operate  in  the  suppression 
of  heresy.  Had  Charles  now  appeared  in  Germany  and  definitely 
assumed  the  championship  of  the  Catholic  faith,  the  progress  of 
reform  might  have  been  stayed.  But  the  treaty  of  Madrid  was 
never  carried  out,  and  at  Cognac  the  pope  joined  Francis  against 
the  emperor.  This  quarrel  between  Charles  and  Clement  VII.  was 
of  the  highest  importance  for  Germany.  At  the  Diet  of  Speier  in 
June,  1526,  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  emperor's  opinions 
had  changed  ;  and  a  ] -3. ess  was  issued  which  enacted  that  as  regards 
the  edict  of  Worms  and  religious  disputes,  "  each  state  so  live  rule 
and  conduct  itself  as  it  shall  be  ready  to  answer  to  God  and  his 
Imperial  Majesty." 

This  recess  may  be  regarded  as  completing  the  first  stage  of  the 
Reformation.  The  Lutherans  hud  failed  in  securing  the  united 
support  of  Germany ;  but  there  was  henceforward  no  prospect  of 
bringing  them  back  to  the  old  faith.  Germany  stood  divided  into 
two  hostile  camps ;  and  the  religion  of  each  state  was  to  be  settled 
by  the  will  of  its  ruler,  a  principle  which  was  afterwards  formulated 
in  the  words,  cujus  regio  ejus  religio.  It  has  often  been  said  that 
the  Reformation  completed  the  disunion  of  Germany,  but  this  is 
hardly  true  without  limitations.  The  disunion  existed  long  before. 
The  Reformation  did  at  first,  in  1521,  offer  a  prospect  of  restoring 
unity.  This  might  have  been  accomplished  had  the  emperor  been 
alive  to  the  interests  of  Germany.  But  Charles  V.  was  a  Burgundian 
or  a  Spaniard  rather  than  a  German.  He  allowed  the  opportunity 
to  pass,  and  German  divisions  were  not  only  renewed  but  intensified 
by  religious  differences. 

Though,  after  the  diet  of  Speier,  reform  was  confined  within  narrower 
limits,  yet  within  those  limits  it  continued  to  progress.  Luther  broke 
completely  with  the  old  church  by  throwing  off  his  monastic  vows 
and  marrying  a  nun,  Catharine  Boria  (1526).  The  reformed  states 
set  to  work  to  form  independent  churches  on  the  basis  of  the  new 
doctrines.  Services  were  conducted  in  German.  Monasteries  were 
suppressed  and  their  revenues  devoted  to  religion  or  education, 
though  in  some  cases  they  were  diverted  to  secular  uses.  Luther's 
Bible  and  hymns  were  everywhere  adopted.  The  lead  in  these 
changes  was  taken  by  Saxony  under  the  elector  John,  and  by  Hesse 
under  the  young  and  enthusiastic  landgrave  Philip.  Other  states 
were  not  slow  to  follow  their  example.     The  imperial  cities,  headed 


a.d.  1526-1530.     THE   LEAGUE  OF  SCHMALKALDE.        63 

by  Augsburg,  Ulm,  &c,  eagerly  adopted  the  new  doctriues.  In 
Brandenburg,  margrave  George  became  a  convert.  His  brother 
Albert  was  grand-master  of  the  Teutonic  order ;  but  in  1525  ho 
transformed  Prussia  into  a  secular  duchy  and  acknowledged  the 
suzerainty  of  the  king  of  Poland.  The  Reformation  was  also 
introduced  into  Brunswick,  Luneburg,  Anhalt,  Silesia,  East  Fries- 
land,  and  Schleswig-Holstein. 

§  7.  But  the  position  of  the  reformed  states  was  as  yet  far  from 
secure.  The  orthodox  princes,  especially  duke  George  of  Saxony  and 
the  dukes  of  Bavaria,  were  eager  to  repress  the  progress  of  reform, 
and  the  emperor  had  yet  to  declare  his  will  on  the  matter.  As  long 
as  he  was  engaged  in  war  with  the  pope  there  was  no  fear  of  his 
interference.  But  in  1529  he  came  to  terms  with  Clement  VII., 
and  at  this  juncture  another  diet  met  at  Speier  (21  February). 
The  imperial  commissioners  made  no  secret  of  their  master's 
designs.  Their  proposal  was  to  disregard  the  edict  of  1526  and  to 
return  to  the  edict  of  Worms  which  had  never  been  executed.  The 
influence  of  the  emperor,  who  had  just  been  so  successful  in  his 
Italian  war,  was  sufficient  to  induce  a  majority  to  support  this. 
But  the  minority  issued  a  protest,  signed  by  John  of  Saxony, 
George  of  Brandenburg,  Ernest  of  LUneburj:,  Philip  of  Hesse, 
Wolfgang  of  Anbalt,  and  the  representatives  of  fourteen  cities. 
From  this  time  the  reforming  party  received  the  name  of  Pro- 
testants. 

Charles  V.  now  appeared  in  person  in  Germany,  prepared  to 
enforce  obedience  to  his  views,  and  to  carry  out  his  agreement  with 
the  pope.  A  diet  met  at  Augsburg,  and  the  emperor  entered  the 
city  with  mediaeval  pomp.  His  remonstrances  with  the  protesting 
princes  produced  no  eflect,  as  they  refused  to  sacrifice  their  con- 
victions. The  protectant  creed  was  drawn  up  by  Melancthon  in 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg.  All  efforts  to  bring  about  a  recon- 
ciliation between  the  rival  beliefs  failed.  Ultimately  an  edict  was 
drawn  up  which  forbade  the  teaching  of  protectant  doctrines,  and 
commanded  all  men  to  submit  to  the  established  church.  Charles 
promised  to  induce  the  tope  to  summon  a  general  council  which 
should  decide  religious  differences. 

The  Protestants  could  not  accept  this  decree,  and  they  felt 
certain  that  it  would  be  enforced  by  arras.  In  the  winter  of  1530 
they  met  together  at  Schmalkalde  and  there  concluded  a  league  for 
mutual  defence.  Germany  seemed  on  the  verge  of  civil  war,  but  it 
was  averted  for  a  time  by  an  invasion  of  the  Turks,  who  besieged 
Vienna.  Charles  could  not  afford  to  forfeit  the  support  of  the 
Protestant  princes,  and  this  they  were  willing  and  anxious  to  give. 
'11k  repulse  of  the  Turks  restored  matters  to  their  former  condition. 


64  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

but  Charles  was  again  inclined  to  peace  by  the  desire  to  secure  the 
election  of  his  brother  Ferdinand  as  king  of  the  Romans.  And  in 
1532  the  Turkish  sultan  renewed  his  invasion.  This  led  to  the 
conclusion  of  a  peace  at  Nuremberg,  which  stipulated  that  until  the 
meeting  of  a  general  council  no  one  should  be  molested  on  account 
of  his  religion,  and  that  all  processes  against  Protestants  begun  in 
the  Imperial  Chamber  should  be  stopped.  In  return  for  these 
concessions  the  Protestants  furnished  a  large  contingent  to  the 
imperial  army.  Charles  himself  assumed  the  command,  his  first 
experience  as  a  military  leader.  The  Turks  refused  to  risk  a  battle 
and  after  a  brief  campaign  retired. 

Thus  the  two  parties  in  Germany  remained  unreconciled  and 
both  unsubdued.  The  Protestants  had  obtained  some  security  for 
their  belief,  but  this  was  avowedly  only  temporary.  From  this 
time  their  history  depends  mainly  on  the  European  complications 
in  which  Charles  V.  was  again  involved.  The  elector  John  of 
Saxony  died  in  1532,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  John  Frederick, 
who  rivalled  his  father  in  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  reform. 


II.  Switzerland. 

§  8.  The  Swiss  confederation  had  become  practically  free  from  all 
subjection  to  the  empire  in  the  time  of  Maximilian.  The  supreme 
authority  was  in  the  hands  of  the  federal  council,  while  each  canton 
enjoyed  a  large  amount  of  democratic  freedom.  This  constitution 
made  the  Swiss  as  a  body  more  enlightened  than  the  population  of 
any  other  European  state.  The  humanist  teaching  found  ready 
acceptance  among  them,  and  through  it  they  were  prepared  to 
welcome  proposals  of  reform. 

What  Luther  was  in  Germany,  Ulrich  Zwingli  was  in  Switzer- 
land. He  was  born  on  the  1st  of  January,  1484,  the  son  of  the 
chief  magistrate  of  the  village  of  Wildhaus.  He  was  educated  at 
Berne  where  the  new  classical  learning  was  taught,  and  in  1499  he 
proceeded  to  the  University  of  Vienna.  After  taking  his  degree  he 
entered  the  church,  and  became  curate  of  Glarus.  From  the  first 
he  established  his  reputation  as  an  enlightened  student  and  teacher 
of  theology.  Like  Luther  he  made  a  careful  study  of  the  epistles 
of  St.  Paul,  and  learnt  from  them  many  of  the  same  doctrines  as 
the  German  reformer.  As  army  chaplain  he  accompanied  the 
Swiss  troops  in  the  Italian  campaign  of  1515,  and  there  first  learnt 
his  abhorrence  of  the  system  which  allowed  his  countrymen  to  be 
hired  out  to  fight  the  battles  of  European  princes.  In  1519  he 
became  curate  of  Zurich,  where  he  entered  upon  his  reforming  career. 
The  sale  of  indulgences  roused  his  wrath,  and  he  induced  the  canton 


a.d.  1484-1531.  ULRICH   ZWINGLI.  65 

of  Zurich  to  refuse  admission  to  the  papal  emissary,  Bernhardin 
Samson.  But  his  first  real  collision  with  the  papacy  arose  in  1521, 
when  Leo  X.  sent  to  Switzerland  to  raise  forces  for  the  war  against 
the  French.  He  was  unable  to  prevent  the  levy  of  troops,  but  his 
patriotic  feeliugs  led  him  to  make  bitter  complaints  against  the 
Roman  pontiff.  From  this  time  his  teaching  became  bolder.  He 
attacked  the  church  rules  of  fasting  and  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy. 
He  urged  the  people  to  base  their  belief  on  the  Scriptures  alone  and 
not  on  human  institutions.  His  doctrines  led  to  a  quarrel  with  the 
bishop  of  Constance,  in  whose  diocese  Zurich  lay.  The  canton 
supported  Zwingli,  and  in  1525  definitely  threw  off  the  authority 
of  the  bishop.  As  there  was  no  temporal  prince,  the  settlement 
of  ecclesiastical  affairs  devolved  naturally  upon  the  congregation. 
From  Zurich  the  reform  spread  to  Berne,  Basel  and  other  cantons. 

§  9.  As  political  motives  had  from  the  first  influenced  Zwingli,  so 
his  reforms  continued  to  have  a  political  tendency.  He  wished  to 
reorganise  the  federal  constitution.  At  present  the  four  forest 
cantons,  Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  and  Lucerne,  had  as  many 
votes  in  the  federal  diet  as  the  other  cantons,  though  the  latter 
were  larger  and  more  numerous.  Zwingli  wished  to  put  an 
end  to  this  anomalous  state  of  things  and  to  establish  equality  of 
votes.  But  this  produced  a  natural  opposition  amoig  the  cantons 
whose  interests  were  threatened.  They  adhered  obstinately  to  the 
orthodox  religion,  as  the  best  security  for  their  political  power. 
The  differences  could  only  be  settled  by  arms,  and  Zwingli  had 
none  of  Luther's  objections  to  their  employment.  In  1529  the  war 
broke  out  and  the  four  cantons  were  defeated.  By  the  peace  of 
Cappel  they  were  compelled  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  a 
rule  was  made  that  in  each  canton  the  religion  should  be  that  of 
the  majority  of  the  congregations.  This  treaty  could  not  be  lasting 
on  account  of  the  determination  of  the  forest  cantons  to  maintain 
their  political  predominance.  A  dispute  between  Zurich  and 
Berne,  both  of  whom  claimed  the  dignity  of  metropolis,  encouraged 
their  opponents  to  renew  the  war.  In  October,  1531,  the  citizens 
of  Zurich  were  completely  defeated  at  Cappel,  and  Zwinpli  himself 
was  slain.  The  second  peace  of  Cappel  (November,  1531)  so  far 
confirmed  the  previous  treaty  that  it  allowed  each  canton  to  settle  its 
own  religious  affairs  without  external  interference.  Thus  in  Switzer- 
land, as  in  Germany,  the  Reformation  produced  religious  disunion. 

The  doctrines  of  Zwingli  were  not  identical  with  those  of  Luther. 
They  differed  mainly  on  the  subject  of  the  communion.  Luther 
adopted  a  mystical  explanation  of  the  real  presence  which  was  not 
easily  intelligible,  and  which  was  an  evident  compromise.  Zwingli, 
i  logical  and  consistent,  declared  againat  transubstantiatiun 
5 


66  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

altogether,  and  considered  the  words  on  which  it  was  based  to  be 
merely  symbolic.  This  gave  rise  to  a  quarrel  between  the  two 
reformers,  and  Luther,  ever  prone  to  sacrifice  courtesy  to  conviction, 
spoke  of  his  Swiss  fellow-worker  in  terms  which  did  little  credit  to 
his  heart  or  his  understanding.  There  was  also  another  important 
difference  between  the  German  and  Swiss  Reformations  which  arose 
out  of  the  differing  political  constitution  of  the  two  countries. 
Lutheranism  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  territorial  princes: 
Zwingli  established  the  supremacy  of  the  congregation. 

III.  Scandinavia. 

§  10.  In  1397  che  three  Scandinavian  kingdoms,  Denmark,  Sweden 
and  Norway,  had  been  united  at  the  union  of  Calmar  by  Margaret, 
daughter  of  the  Danish  king  Waldemar  III.  Such  a  union  seemed 
natural  and  inevitable,  but  it  was  unsuccessful,  because  it  was  based 
merely  upon  dynastic  iuterests  and  paid  no  regard  to  the  feelings  of 
the  people.  Though  ruled  by  one  sovereign,  the  three  kingdoms 
remained  isolated  from  each  other  ;  and  the  king  of  Denmark  was 
practically  powerless  in  Sweden  and  Norway.  Besides  this,  within 
each  kingdom  the  royal  power  was  weakened  by  the  independence 
of  the  church  and  the  nobles.  They  possessed  private  jurisdiction, 
the  right  of  taxation  and  coinage,  and  escheated  property  fell  not 
to  the  crown,  but  "to  the  community  of  nobles.  The  Scandinavian 
Reformation  was  essentially  a  political  movement.  It  had  its  origin 
in  these  political  conditions,  and  it  prepared  the  way  for  the  simul- 
taneous development  of  the  central  power  and  of  national  unity. 

In  1513  Christian  II.  of  the  house  of  Oldenburg  obtained  the 
three  crowns.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  ability,  but  was 
endowed  with  a  headstrong  temper  and  little  foresight.  Under  the 
influence  of  his  mistress,  or  rather  of  her  mother,  a  native  of  demo- 
cratic Friesland,  he  set  himself  to  break  the  overwhelming  power 
of  the  nobles,  and  to  make  himself  supreme.  In  Sweden  he  over- 
threw the  aristocratic  government  of  the  Stures  (1520),  but  his 
tyrannical  and  brutal  conduct  gave  rise  to  a  revolt  which  was 
attended  with  important  consequences.  In  Denmark  he  set  him- 
self to  raise  the  middle  and  lower  classes  as  a  counterpoise  to  the 
nobles.  He  encouraged  commerce  and  manufactures,  and  endea- 
voured to  break  off  the  oppressive  mercantile  monopoly  of  the 
Hanse  towns.  At  the  same  time  he  tried  to  ally  himself  with 
German  Protestantism,  and  induced  his  uncle,  the  elector  of 
Saxony,  to  send  a  Lutheran  preacher  to  Denmark.  But  his 
arbitrary  conduct  produced  a  general  indignation  which  blinded 
men's  eyes  to  measures  tending  to  real  advancement.     The  death 


a.d.  1520-1533.      REFORMATION  IN  DENMARK.  67 

of  his  mistress,  which  he  attributed  to  poison,  aroused  all  the  worst 
passions  of  his  nature.  The  nobles  and  clergy,  who  saw  their 
independence  threatened,  took  advantage  of  the  king's  unpopularity 
to  excite  a  revolt.  They  obtained  support  from  Ltibeck,  the  head 
of  the  Hanseatic  league.  Christian  II.  was  driven  from  Denmark 
in  1523,  and  the  crown  was  conferred  on  his  uncle,  Frederick,  duke 
of  Schleswig-Holstein. 

§  11.  Frederick  I.  was  a  Protestant,  and  had  already  introduced  the 
reformed  religion  into  his  own  duchies.  But  he  was  compelled  \o 
accept  a  capitulation  in  which  he  swore  to  do  nothing  to  the  pre- 
judice of  Roman  Catholicism.  While  keeping  the  letter  of  his  oath, 
he  did  nothing  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  Reformation,  which 
made  rapid  strides.  In  1527  a  diet  at  Odensee  gave  formal  tolera- 
tion to  Lutheranism,  at  least  until  the  meeting  of  a  general  council. 
But  the  progress  of  the  new  doctrines  aroused  the  jealousy  of  the 
powerful  clergy,  and  Christian  II.,  who  had  returned  to  the  orthodox 
faith,  was  encouraged  in  1531  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  the  crown. 
But  trfe  undertaking  failed,  Christian  was  compelled  to  surrender, 
and  remained  a  prisoner  till  his  death  in  1559. 

On  the  death  of  Frederick  I.,  in  1533,  tie  two  religious  parties  in 
Denmark  measured  their  strength.  The  Catholics  supported  his 
second  son  John,  while  the  Protestants  rallied  round  the  elder 
brother  Christian.  Ultimately,  mainly  by  the  assistance  of  Sweden, 
Christian  III.  obtained  the  crown.  In  his  reign  the  Reformats  n 
was  completely  carried  out.  The  nobles  assisted  the  king  to  over- 
throw and  despoil  the  church.  The  fall  of  one  of  the  greftfl 
independent  powers  in  the  state  led  to  the  foundation  of  a  strong 
national  monarchy  in  Denmark. 

§12.  Meanwhile  in  Sweden  a  great  revolution  had  taken  place. 
Christian  II.  had  hoped  to  crush  for  ever  Swedish  indepen 
After  the  defeat  of  the  aristocratic  government,  he  had  massaei 
the  nobles  at  Stockholm  in  cold  blood.  Thus  he  thought  to  deprive 
the  people  of  their  natural  leaders:  he  even  dreamt  that  the  lower 
classes  would  be  conciliated  by  the  fall  of  their  oppr.  m  rm  In  this 
he  was  completely  mistaken.  The  news  of  the  bloody  massacre 
produced  for  the  first  time  a  real  national  spirit  in  Sweden.  Hatred 
of  the  Danes  and  a  desire  to  free  themselves  from  the  unnatural 
union  overpowered  all  other  considerations.  The  npreoi  ntstj 
this  new  spirit  was  Gustavus  Erichsen,  who  received  from  his  coat 
of  arms  the  surname  of  Vusa.  Himself  of  noble  descent,  he  had  lieen 
carried  by  Christian  II.  into  Denmark  as  a  hostage  in  1518.  From 
this  imprisonment  he  escaped  in  1520,  only  to  hear  the  news  of  the 
massacre,  in  which  his  father  and  all  his  other  relatives  had  fallen. 
From  this  time  he  <  life  to  the  work  of  vengeance. 


68  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

A  price  was  placed  upon  his  head,  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty 
that  he  escaped  from  his  enemies  to  find  a  refuge  among  the  loyal 
peasants  of  Dalecarlia  in  the  north  of  Sweden.  There  he  lived  for 
nearly  a  year,  sharing  the  occupations  of  the  rough  people  among 
whom  he  dwelt  and  gradually  maturing  his  schemes.  In  1521  he 
collected  round  him  some  hundreds  of  faithful  peasants,  and  with 
this  small  force  he  commenced  his  great  work — the  emancipation 
of  Sweden.  National  wrongs  and  aspirations  brought  to  his  standard 
crowds  of  inexperienced  but  determined  soldiers  as  he  marched 
southwards.  He  took  Westeras  and  Upsala,  and  advanced  upon 
Stockholm.  But  the  capital,  garrisoned  by  Danish  troops,  resisted 
all  his  efforts,  when  suddenly  in  1523  cnme  the  news  of  Christian 
II.'s  expulsion  from  Denmark.  The  Stockholm  garrison  withdrew, 
Gustavus  Vasa  was  crowned  king  of  Sweden  (June  7th),  and 
entered  his  capital  in  state. 

§  13.  But  he  was  as  yet  only  on  the  threshold  of  his  difficulties. 
He  had  obtained  a  crown,  but  no  real  power  with  it.  The  nobles 
regarded  him  with  jealousy  as  an  equal  who  had  been  raised  above 
them  by  the  favour  of  the  populace.  The  country  was  unaccustomed 
to  the  restraints  of  orderly  government.  During  the  long  anarchy 
the  church  and  the  nobles  had  acquired  all  the  power  and  nearly 
all  the  wealth  of  the  country.  Moreover  Gustavus'  relations  with 
Denmark  were  doubtful.  The  support  of  Liibeck  was  necessary 
for  him,  but  Liibeck  was  also  the  ally  of  Frederick  I.  If  the  latter 
insisted  on  the  renewal  of  the  Union  of  Calmar,  how  would  Sweden 
be  able  to  resist  him  ?  This  difficulty  was  removed  by  the  modera- 
tion of  Frederick  I.,  who  allowed  Liibeck  to  negotiate  the  treaty 
of  Malmoe  (1524).  By  this  Sweden  was  declared  independent, 
with  the  exception  of  the  southern  provinces,  which  remained 
united  to  Denmark.    Thus  the  Union  of  Calmar  came  to  an  end. 

Gustavus  Vasa  was  now  left  free  to  complete  his  work  of  estab- 
lishing a  strong  monarchy  in  Sweden.  His  first  necessity  was  a 
sufficient  revenue,  because,  besides  the  expenses  of  government,  he 
was  heavily  in  debt  to  Liibeck.  He  could  not  afford  to  quarrel  with 
the  nobles,  who  were  already  sufficiently  hostile  to  him.  He  could 
wring  no  more  from  the  peasants,  who  had  given  their  all  in  his 
cause.  In  these  straits  he  adopted  a  very  simple  policy.  He  de- 
termined to  introduce  the  Reformation  into  Sweden,  not  from 
religious  but  from  political  motives.  This  would  enable  him  to 
overthrow  the  church,  and  to  obtain  for  the  crown  a  large  part  of 
the  clerical  revenues.  Out  of  .these  he  would  be  able  to  improve  the 
position  of  the  lower  classes,  and  if  necessary  to  conciliate  the  nobles. 
But  there  were  still  great  difficulties  in  the  way.  The  nobles  were 
sure  to  see  in  any  attack  on  the  church  a  scheme  against  themselves, 


a.d.  1520-1527.  GUSTAVUS  VASA.  69 

as  their  property  was  held  by  no  better  title.  And  the  uncultured 
peasants,  loyal  as  they  had  proved  themselves,  were  still  devoted  to 
their  ancient  religion.  It  was  necessary  to  proceed  with  great 
caution.  Lutheran  preachers  were  allowed  full  liberty  of  teaching, 
though  Gustavus  was  careful  not  to  avow  himself  as  their  partisan. 
But  his  designs  were  seen  through,  and  a  revolt  broke  out  in  1526, 
which  was  suppressed. 

In  1527  Gustavus  Vasa  summoned  a  diet  at  Westeras,  at  which 
not  only  nobles  and  clergy,  but  also  representatives  of  the  townsmen 
and  peasants  were  present.  Before  this  assembly  the  king  laid  hi3 
plans.  They  met  with  determined  opposition.  Prepared  for  this, 
Gustavus  with  theatrical  promptness  announced  his  determination 
to  resign  the  crown.  The  diet,  astounded  by  this  sudden  move,  and 
conscious  of  the  anarchy  which  must  result  from  such  a  step,  yielded 
to  his  demands.  Four  articles  were  issued,  which  are  the  foundation- 
stone  of  the  new  Swedish  monarchy  : — 

1.  All  estates  are  jointly  bound  to  oppose  all  rebellion  and  to 
defend  the  government  from  external  and  internal  enemies. 

2.  The  king  is  allowed  the  free  disposal  of  clerical  and  monastic 
property. 

3.  The  nobles  have  the  right  to  take  possession  of  all  their  property 
which  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  church  since  1454. 

4.  Preachers  shall  have  freedom  to  announce  the  pure  word  of 
God,  and  the  Gospel  shall  be  read  in  all  Christian  schools. 

Thus  the  Reformation  was  accomplished  in  Sweden,  and  was  based 
in  the  first  place  on  political  necessity.  It  was  not,  as  in  Germany 
and  in  Switzerland,  first  taught  to  the  people  and  afterwards  adopted 
by  the  government.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  introduced  by  the 
crown  to  further  its  own  interests.  lhmef<»rwanl  the  clergy  with- 
drew from  the  Swedish  diets.  The  king  had  been  com  jelled  to 
purchase  the  support  of  the  nobles  by  dangerous  concessions,  and 
thus  to  increase  a  power  which  he  wished  to  lessen.  In  spite  of  this, 
Gustavus  gave  a  national  existence  to  Sweden,  and  established  on  a 
firm  basis  the  royal  power,  which  (1544)  was  made  hereditary  for  his 
descendants. 

IV.  John  Calvin  and  the  Reformation  in  Geneva. 

§  14.  Geneva,  situated  on  the  border  between  the  German  and 
Romance  nations,  was  suhj«?ct  in  the  sixteenth  century  to  a  triple 
authority.  The  sovereignty  tested  with  the  bishop :  but  the  duke  of 
Savoy  had  certain  rights  over  the  city,  and  the  burghers  claimed  to 
exercise  municipal  self-government.  Charles  III.  of  Savoy  (1504- 
1553)  wished  to  annex  Geneva  to  his  duchy,  and  for  this  purpose  he 


70  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

gained  over  the  bishop.  The  independent  burghers  formed  an 
opposition  party  which  leaned  for  support  on  the  neighbouring 
Swiss  Confederation.  Hence  they  received  the  name  of  "  Eid- 
genossen "  or  "  Huguenots,"  while  the  supporters  of  the  duke  were 
nicknamed  "  Mamelukes."  The  conflict  lasted  ten  years,  and  ended 
in  the  victory  of  the  liberal  party,  who  received  powerful  support  from 
Berne.  The  influence  of  Berne,  which  had  adopted  the  doctrines 
of  Zwingli,  and  the  natural  impulse  of  opposition  to  episcopal 
authority,  encouraged  the  development  of  religious  reform  in 
Geneva.  The  new  doctrines  found  an  active  and  energetic  teacher 
in  Guillaume  Farel,  a  native  of  Gap  in  Dauphine.  In  1435  the 
mass  was  abolished  by  order  of  the  municipal  council,  and  those  who 
refused  to  accept  the  change  went  into  exile.  These  events  gave  new 
ardour  to  the  enemies  of  the  city.  The  bishop  laid  Geneva  under  an 
interdict,  and  Charles  III.,  supported  by  the  Catholic  exiles,  made  a 
last  effort  to  restore  his  authority.  But  Geneva,  again  assisted  by 
Berne,  successfully  defended  itself,  and  the  conquest  of  Savoy  by  the 
French  relieved  them  from  further  danger  on  the  side  of  the  duke. 

Thus  in  1536  Geneva  became  an  independent  municipality,  and 
had  adopted  Protestantism  on  account  of  its  connection  with  the 
cause  of  liberty.  But  the  work  of  reform  was  by  no  means 
completed.  Constant  party  conflicts  had  accustomed  the  citizens 
to  anarchy  and  disorder.  The  magistrates  wished  to  take  the 
government  both  of  Church  and  State  into  their  own  hands,  and  to 
employ  religion  for  political  ends.  Farel  and  his  followers  had  been 
successful  in  destroying  the  old  faith  :  they  had  not  the  requisite 
qualities  for  giving  an  orderly  constitution  to  a  new  church.  It  was 
at  this  crisis  that  John  Calvin  appeared  in  Geneva. 

§  15.  Calvin,  the  leader  of  the  second  generation  of  reformers,  was 
born  in  1509  at  Noyon  in  Picardy.  Destined  by  his  father  for  the 
legal  profession,  he  received  an  excellent  education  at  Paris,  Bonrges 
and  Orleans.  It  was  at  Orleans  that  he  turned  his  attention  to 
theology,  and  became  acquainted  with  the  works  of  the  German 
reformers.  Of  these  he  was  no  slavish  disciple,  but  with  their 
assistance  he  constructed  an  independent  theological  system.  The 
persecutions  of  1534  drove  him  from  France,  and  he  continued  his 
studies  in  Italy  and  Germany.  In  1536  he  produced  his  greatest  work, 
the  Institutio  Christanaz  Beligionis,  which  he  wrote  in  Latin  and 
afterwards  translated  into  French.  In  the  same  year  he  came  to 
Geneva,  where  he  was  detained  against  his  will  by  the  urgency  of 
Farel,  who  was  eager  to  secure  so  able  a  colleague.  In  Geneva 
Calvin  set  to  work  to  found  a  Christian  church  on  the  basis  laid 
down  in  the  "  Institutes."  But  the  harshness  of  his  system,  and 
the   haughty   supremacy    which    he    assumed,  provoked    violent 


a.d.  1536-1541.  CALVIN  IN  GENEVA.  71 

opposition.  Men  were  not  yet  willing  to  sacrifice  that  freedom  of 
life  which  was  attainable  under  the  new  municipal  government. 
They  inveighed  against  the  "new  papacy,"  and  received  support 
from  Berne,  which  wished  to  retain  its  influence  over  the  liberated 
state.  Calvin  and  Farel,  who  refused  to  make  the  slightest  con- 
cessions, were  in  1538  condemned  to  exile.  Calvin  now  resumed 
his  literary  activity,  and  for  the  next  three  years  resided  chiefly  in 
Strasburg. 

§  16.  But  it  was  soon  discovered  that  his  presence  was  indispeusable 
to  Geneva.  The  Roman  Catholics  were  encouraged  by  these  internal 
dissensions  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  the  city.  An  address  was 
issued  by  Cardinal  Sadolet,  to  which  Calvin  wrote  a  conclusive 
answer  from  Strasburg.  This  achievement  increased  the  number  of 
his  partisans,  who  strenuously  urged  his  recall.  And  the  growing 
influence  of  Berne  was  alarming  to  the  patriotic  supporters  of 
independence.  Thus  political  combined  with  religious  motives  to 
induce  the  magistrates  to  invite  Calvin  to  return.  It  was  with 
great  reluctance,  and  only  as  he  believed  in  obedience  to  a  divine 
call,  that  he  at  last  accepted  the  invitation.  On  the  13th  September, 
1541,  he  returned  to  Geneva  amidst  general  rejoicing.  From  this 
time  he  devoted  himself  with  unequalled  energy  to  the  teaching  of 
his  doctrines  and  the  foundation  of  a  new  church  organisation. 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Calvinistic  doctrines  was  the 
development  to  its  logical  extreme  of  the  Augustinian  doctrine  of 
predestination.  Men  were  divided  from  their  birth  into  two 
great  classes,  those  who  were  destined  to  be  saved  and  those  who 
were  doomed  to  destruction.  But  as  it  was  impossible  to  divide 
these  classes  in  this  world,  Calvin  admitted  to  membership  of  the 
church  all  who  were  willing  to  conform  to  its  rules.  In  his 
opposition  to  Roman  Catholicism  Calvin  was  far  more  irrecon- 
cilable than  Luther.  He  rejected  transubstantiation  altogether,  as 
well  as  all  ritualistic  forms  and  church  festivals.  Simplicity  and 
seriousness  were  his  highest  idea,  and  he  made  no  provision  for 
recreation  of  any  kind.  The  whole  hierarchical  organisation  of 
the  old  church,  with  its  symbols  and  ceremonials,  found  in  Calvin 
a  most  bitter  and  decided  enemy. 

Still  more  than  in  doctrine  did  Calvin  differ  from  Luther  in  his 
conception  of  the  constitution  of  the  church.  The  German  reformer 
had  allowed  religious  supremacy  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
princes,  who  alone  had  power  to  wield  it.  The  system  of  Calvin 
was  far  more  democratic.  He  regarded  the  congregation,  the 
community  of  believers,  as  the  only  source  of  authority  upon  earth. 
But  he  would  tolerate  none  of  the  anarchy  which  might  arise  from 
a  democratic  constitution.     The  executive  power  was  vested  in  an 


72  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  iv. 

elected  consistory,  consisting  of  the  clergy  and  twelve  lay  elders. 
To  prevent  the  election  of  unfit  persons,  the  clergy  were  compelled 
to  pass  a  strict  examination,  and  the  elders  could  only  be  chosen 
from  members  of  the  two  councils.  The  consistory  was  not  only 
the  chief  ecclesiastical  authority,  it  was  also  the  supreme  tribunal 
for  the  regulation  of  morals.  Under  Calvin's  influence  the  strictest 
laws  were  enacted  and  enforced.  Dancing  and  card-playing  were 
forbidden  under  severe  penalties,  and  adulter}'  was  punished  by 
death.  Calvin  attached  the  greatest  importance  to  the  education 
of  the  young.  Regular  grades  of  schools  were  established,  which 
taught  in  turn  all  the  branches  of  knowledge  known  to  those  times. 
This  made  Geneva  the  educational  centre  of  western  Christendom, 
and  extended  the  influence  of  Calvinism  far  beyond  the  city-walls. 

Calvin  was  not  able  to  complete  his  work  without  opposition. 
A  party  was  formed  which  aimed  at  a  relaxation  of  ecclesiastical 
strictness,  and  wished  to  bring  the  church  under  the  control  of  the 
state.  These  men,  who  were  known  as  the  "Libertines,"  found 
numerous  followers  even  among  the  municipal  councils.  But 
Calvin  was  able  to  maintain  his  supremacy,  mainly  by  the  support 
of  the  numerous  French  exiles  who  flocked  to  Geneva.  He  treated 
his  opponents  with  merciless  severity.  Servetus,  a  Spaniard  who 
came  to  Geneva  in  1553,  and  who  was  opposed  to  Calvin  only  on 
doctrinal  points,  was  publicly  burnt  as  a  heretic.  It  was  un- 
fortunate that  the  Protestants  could  not  extend  to  others  that 
toleration  which  they  so  convincingly  demanded  for  themselves. 
In  spite  of  his  prodigious  power,  Calvin  lived  himself  in  poverty 
till  his  death  in  1564,  when  his  work  w?»s  continued  by  his  devoted 
disciple,  Theodore  Beza. 

Calvin's  doctrines  were  destined  to  exercise  an  influence  quite 
out  of  proportion  to  the  sphere  of  his  personal  activity.  Their 
democratic  and  aggressive  character,  while  it  made  them  especially 
abhorrent  to  established  governments,  equally  fitted  them  to  be 
the  religion  of  opponents  of  those  governments.  Lutheranism, 
both  in  Germany  and  in  England,  had  strengthened  the  princely 
power ;  Calvinism,  in  Scotland  and  the  Netherlands,  was  destined 
to  attack  and  overthrow  that  power.  Calvinism  was  the  creed  of 
rebels ;  it  discarded  altogether  Luther's  teaching  as  to  the  evils  of 
employing  force.  Its  influence  is  to  be  traced  in  the  teaching  of  John 
Knox,  in  the  heroic  resistance  of  the  northern  Netherlands  to  Spain, 
in  the  prolonged  struggle  of  the  French  Huguenots,  and  among  the 
English  Pun  tans,  who  organised  the  Great  Rebellion  and  founded  a 
mighty  power  beyond  the  Atlantic.  Calvin  was  to  the  Romance  and 
western  nations  what  Luther  and  Melancthon  were  to  the  Germans. 


CHAPTER  V. 

RIVALRY  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  THE  HAPSBtTRGS.— 
SECOND  PERIOD. 

§  1.  Charles  V.'s  intervention  in  Tunis.  §  2.  Francis  I.  intrigues  against 
Charles;  allies  himself  with  Clement  VII.,  Henry  VIII.,  James  V.,  and 
Solyman.  §  3.  Outbreak  of  the  war  in  1536 ;  French  conquest  of  Savoy ; 
Charles  invades  Provence ;  his  failure.  §4.  Campaign  of  1537 ;  truce 
of  Nice  ;  interview  at  Aigues-Mortes ;  death  of  Alessandro  de  Medici ; 
accession  of  Cosimo,  the  first  grand  duke  of  Tuscany.  §  5.  Charles  V. 
humbles  the  Castilian  Cortes ;  suppression  of  the  revolt  of  Ghent. 
§  6.  Charles  V.'s  disaster  off  Algiers ;  Francis  1.  renews  the  war;  cam- 
paigns of  1542  and  1543 ;  treaty  of  Crespy.  §  7.  End  of  Francis  I.'» 
reign  ;  its  importance  in  the  history  of  France. 

§  1.  After  settling  German  affaire  by  the  treaty  of  Nuremberg, 
Charles  V.  proceeded  to  Italy,  where  he  renewed  his  alliance  with 
the  pope  and  the  other  states.  Thence  he  went  by  sea  to  Barcelona, 
and  his  attention  was  soon  drawn  to  affaire  in  Africa.  Thero  was 
considerable  danger  that  the  Turks  might  attain  that  supremacy 
on  the  Mediterranean  coasts,  which  had  belonged  to  the  Moham- 
medans centuries  before.  Chaireddin  or,  as  he  was  usually  called, 
Harbarossa,  the  son  of  a  potter  in  Lesbes,  had  taken  up  the  trade 
of  a  corsair  in  conjunction  with  his  brothers,  and  had  made  him- 
self master  of  Algiers.  Feeling  unable  to  support  this  power  by 
himself,  he  submitted  to  the  sultan  Solyman,  who  appointed  him 
commander  of  the  Turkish  fleet.  In  his  new  capacity  he  interfered  in 
a  disputed  succession  to  the  throne  of  Tunis.  Supporting  the  cause 
of  Alraschid,  he  drove  the  rival  claimant,  Muley  Hassan,  from 
the  kingdom.  Thei  turning  against  Alraschid,  he  annexed  Tunis 
to  the  dominions  of  the  Sultan.  Muley  Hassan  meanwhile  had 
fled  to  Spain  to  implore  the  assistance  of  the  emperor.  Collecting 
a  large  fleet  under  the  command  of  Andrea  Doria,  Charles  V.  sailed 
to  the  African  coast  in  1535,  defeated  Barbarossa,  and  restored  the 
exiled  prince  to  the  throne  of  Tunis  as  a  vassal  of  Spain. 

§  2.  While  the  emperor  was  thus  employed  in  upholding  the  cause 

of  Christendom  against  the  infidels,  his  power  was  threatened  by 

the  intrigues  of  his  rival,  the  French  king.     It  was  impossible  for 

Francis  I.  to  accept  with  contentment  the  provisions  of  the  treaty 

5* 


74  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  v. 

of  Cambray.  Above  all,  he  was  determined  not  to  resign  his 
pretensions  to  the  duchy  of  Milan,  but  to  take  the  earliest  opportu- 
nity of  re-asserting  them.  With  this  end  in  view,  he  tried  to 
detach  the  pope  from  his  alliance  with  the  emperor.  He  offered  to 
marry  his  second  son,  Henry  of  Orleans,  to  Catharine  de  Medici, 
daughter  of  Clement  VII.'s  cousin  Lorenzo.  In  spite  of  Charles' 
efforts  to  prevent  it,  this  marriage,  fraught  with  important  conse- 
quences to  France,  was  concluded.  But  none  of  the  anticipated 
advantages  were  reaped  from  it,  because  in  1534  Clement  VII. 
died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Paul  III.  In  spite  of  this  disappoint- 
ment Francis  continued  his  intrigues.  He  endeavoured  to  secure 
the  alliance  of  Francesco  Sforza,  who,  though  duke  of  Milan 
and  married  to  Charles'  niece,  was  anxious  to  free  himself  from 
imperial  tutelage.  Maraviglia  or,  as  the  French  call  him,  Merveille 
was  despatched  from  France  to  Milan  as  French  envoy.  But  the 
intrigue  was  discovered  by  the  imperialists,  and  Francesco  Sforza 
was  compelled  to  put  Maraviglia  to  death.  This  breach  of  the  law 
of  nations  gave  Francis  I.  what  he  desired,  a  pretext  for  war.  He 
formed  a  new  standing  army  of  42,000  infantry,  and  looked  round 
for  alliances  against  the  emperor.  He  entered  into  close  relations 
with  Henry  VIII.,  and  with  James  V.  of  Scotland.  He  was 
especially  anxious  to  gain  over  the  German  Protestants ;  he 
invited  Melancthon  to  Paris,  and  opened  negotiations  with  the 
League  of  Schmalkalde.  But  within  his  own  kingdom  he  was  the 
persecutor  of  Protestants,  and  the  German  princes  refused  to  trust 
him.  To  compensate  himself  for  this  he  outraged  the  sentiments 
of  Christian  Europe  by  forming  an  alliance  with  the  Turkish  sultan 
Solyman. 

§  3.  In  the  midst  of  these  warlike  preparations,  Francis'  position 
was  completely  altered  by  the  death  of  Francesco  Sforza  (Oct.  1536). 
This  of  course  deprived  him  of  his  pretext  for  war  in  the  death  of 
Maraviglia,  but  to  make  up  for  this  he  revived  his  claim  to  the 
duchy  of  Milan.  At  the  beginning  of  1536  a  large  French  army 
was  collected  on  the  frontiers,  but  instead,  of  invading  Milan  it 
attacked  Charles  III.  of  Savoy,  whose  only  offence  was  that,  having 
married  the  emperor's  sister,  he  had  deserted  the  French  alliance 
for  that  of  Charles.  Savoy  and  Piedmont  were  speedily  conquered, 
but  the  attack  on  Milan  was  still  postponed.  Charles  V.  proposed 
a  compromise,  and  offered  to  give  the  vacant  duchy  to  Francis' 
third  son,  the  duke  of  Angouleme.  Francis  demanded  it  for  his 
second  son,  the  duke  of  Orleans  ;  but  as  being  nearer  to  the  crown, 
and  as  the  husband  of  Catharine  de  Medici,  he  was  unacceptable  to 
the  emperor.  By  these  negotiations  Charles  obtained  time  to  raise 
money  and  troops.     In  June  1536  he  appeared  in  Rome,  and  there 


a.d.  1533-1538.      CHARLES  V.   IN   PROVENCE.  75 

denounced  Francis'  conduct  in  the  most  violent  terms,  and  chal- 
lenged him  to  single  combat.  At  the  head  of  a  large  army  he 
prepared  to  invade  France.  The  treachery  or  incapacity  of  the 
Marquis  of  Saluces,  the  French  commander  in  Piedmont,  gave  him 
an  easy  passage  through  that  province.  On  the  25th  of  July,  the 
anniversary  of  his  defeat  of  Barbarossa,  he  crossed  the  frontier  and 
entered  Provence.  His  object  was  to  bring  the  French  king  to  a 
decisive  engagement.  But  Francis  I.  pursued  a  more  cautious 
policy  than  could  have  been  expected  of  him.  Occupying  strong 
fortified  positions  at  Avignon  and  Valence,  he  devastated  the 
country  before  them,  and  stood  strictly  on  the  defensive.  The 
conduct  of  these  military  operations  was  left  to  the  Marshal  de 
Montmorency,  who  had  suggested  them.  Want  of  provisions  and 
consequent  disease  soon  produced  their  effect  on  the  imperial  army. 
With  his  officers  and  soldiers  dying  around  him,  and  impregnable 
fortresses  in  front,  Charles  had  nothing  left  but  to  retreat  to 
Genoa.  There  he  took  ship  for  Barcelona,  and  hastened  to  hide 
his  disgrace  from  the  eyes  of  Europe.  During  the  campaign  the 
dauphin  had  died,  and  Henry  of  Orleans  became  heir  to  the  French 
throne. 

§  4.  At  the  beginning  of  1537  Francis  I.,  declaring  the  treaty  of 
Cambray  to  be  at  an  end,  summoned  "Charles  of  Austria"  to 
appear  before  the  parliament  of  Paris,  as  being  a  French  vassal  in 
Flanders  and  Artois.  On  his  non-appearance,  these  provinces  were 
declared  to  be  forfeited  to  France.  The  campaign  which  followed 
this  meaningless  mediaeval  ceremony  was  unimportant.  An  inva- 
sion of  Picardy  was  ended  by  the  exertions  of  the  regent  in  the 
Netherlands,  Mary  of  Hungary,  who  obtained  a  truce  for  ten  months 
extending  to  her  territories  only.  On  the  side  of  Italy,  the  French 
re-conquered  Piedmont,  and  Solyraan,  in  accordance  with  his  treaty, 
sent  Barbarossa  to  ravage  the  coasts  of  Naples.  But  Francis' 
consciousness  of  the  odium  which  the  Turkish  alliance  brought 
upon  him  inclined  him  to  peace,  and  he  postponed  the  threatened 
invasion  of  Milan.  Paul  III.  eagerly  undertook  the  task  of 
mediation.  Charles  V.  was  anxious  to  put  a  stop  to  the  Turkish 
advance,  and  in  1538  a  truce  for  ten  years  was  arranged  at  Nice,  by 
which  each  party  kept  his  conquests.  Thus  the  unfortunate  duke  of 
Savoy  remained  excluded  from  his  territories,  which  he  had  done 
nothing  to  forfeit.  Soon  afterwards  Charles,  on  his  return  journey 
to  fSpain,  was  driven  by  a  storm  to  Aigues-Mortes.  Francis 
hurried  to  meet  him,  and  the  two  rivals,  so  lately  engaged  in  open 
war  and  apparently  imbued  with  deadly  enmity  for  each  other, 
passed  three  days  together  on  terms  of  chivalrous  cordiality. 

Besides  negotiating  the  truce  of  Nice,  Paul  III.  advanced  the 


76  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  v 

interests  of  his  family  by  securing  for  his  grandson,  Ottavio  Farnese, 
the  hand  of  the  emperor's  natural  daughter,  Margaret.  She  was 
the  widow  of  Alessandro  de  Medici,  the  last  male  of  the  direct 
descendants  of  Cosimo,  the  founder  of  the  house.  Alessandro  was 
murdered  in  1437  by  his  kinsman  Lorenzino,  who  hoped  to 
supplant  him,  but  who  was  driven  by  sudden  terror  to  take  refuge  in 
Venice.  The  government  of  Florence  now  fell  to  Cosimo  de  Medici, 
the  representative  of  a  collateral  line  descended  from  Lorenzo, 
brother  of  the  elder  Cosimo.  He  subsequently  annexed  Siena  and 
southern  Tuscany  to  Florence,  and  thus  founded  the  grand-duchy 
of  Tuscany,  which  was  held  by  his  descendants  till  1737. 

§  5.  After  the  striking  interview  at  Aigues-Mortes,  Charles  V. 
proceeded  to  Spain,  where  a  dispute  with  the  Castilian  Cortes 
enabled  him  to  humble  that  ancient  assembly.  Henceforth  the 
nobles  and  clergy  were  excluded,  as  paying  no  taxes,  and  the  Cortes 
consisted  only  of  the  deputies  of  eighteen  cities,  who  could  offer  no 
determined  resistance  to  the  royal  power  (1539).  About  the  same 
time  Charles  received  news  of  a  revolt  in  Ghent,  the  most  flourishing 
city  in  Flanders.  The  Flemish  cities  had  found  their  old  indepen- 
dence sadly  curtailed  when  they  fell  under  the  powerful  dukes  of 
Burgundy ;  but  their  lot  was  still  worse  under  the  house  of  Haps- 
burg.  In  1536  the  city  of  Ghent,  relying  on  its  ancient  privileges, 
refused  to  contribute  to  a  tax  demanded  by  Mary  of  Hungary. 
The  Regent  at  once  ordered  the  arrest  of  all  citizens  of  Ghent 
throughout  the  Netherlands.  An  appeal  to  the  emperor  being 
disregarded,  the  Gantois  took  up  arms,  established  their  indepen- 
dence, and  wrote  to  Francis  I.  to  offer  him  their  aid  in  becoming 
sovereign  of  the  Netherlands.  This  offer  was  refused  by  Francis, 
who,  under  the  influence  of  Montmorency,  was  now  as  anxious  to  be 
on  good  terms  with  Charles  as  he  had  previously  been  to  quarrel 
with  him.  Hoping  to  establish  a  claim  on  the  emperor's  gratitude, 
he  divulged  the  whole  negotiations,  and  gave  him  a  free  passage 
through  France  to  Flanders.  In  France,  Charles  was  treated  with 
magnificent  hospitality,  and  conciliated  his  host  by  a  pretended 
intention  to  give  Milan  to  the  dauphin  Henry,  formerly  duke  of 
Orleans.  Arrived  in  Flanders,  Charles  V.  promptly  put  down  the 
rebellion  and  deprived  the  Gantois  of  all  their  ancient  privileges. 
Having  thus  gained  his  end,  he  refused  to  acknowledge  his 
obligations  to  France,  and  denied  having  made  any  promise  about 
Milan.  Francis  I.  found  himself  duped ;  he  had  lost  the  support 
of  Ghent,  and  was  no  nearer  to  the  acquisition  of  Milan.  Mont- 
morency, on  whom  the  blame  of  his  short-sighted  confidence  fell, 
was  degraded  from  office,  and  the  king  lay  in  wait  for  the  first 
opportunity  to  renew  his  war  against  the  emperor. 


A.D.  1538-1544.      RENEWAL   OF   THE  WAR.  77 

§  6.  Meanwhile  Charles  passed  from  Flanders  to  Germany,  and 
thence  to  Italy,  intent  on  a  new  expedition  to  Africa.  The  corsairs 
had  resumed  their  incursions  on  the  Mediterranean  coast,  and  there 
was  no  prospect  of  peace  and  order  until  the  pirate  state  of  Algiers 
was  reduced.  With  a  magnificent  fleet  and  army  Charles  set 
sail  for  Algiers  in  October,  1541.  But  he  found  more  formidable 
opponents  in  winds  and  waves  than  in  the  infidels.  A  preat  storm 
shattered  his  fleet,  and  drove  him  with  a  small  remnant  of  his  forces 
to  Spain. 

This  disaster,  the  greatest  which  Charles  had  yet  experienced, 
gave  fresh  courage  to  Francis  I.  It  also  gave  him  an  opportunity 
of  renewing  that  alliance  with  the  Sultan  which  had  been  broken 
off  in  1538.  A  Spanish  renegade,  Rincon,  was  despatched  to 
Constantinople,  but  on  his  passage  through  Lombardy,  he  was  seized 
by  the  Marquis  del  Guasto,  governor  of  Milan,  and  put  to  death. 
This  gave  Francis  his  desired  pretext  for  hostilities.  An  alliance 
with  the  duke  of  Cleve,  to  whom  Charles  V.  refused  the  investiture 
of  Guelders,  offered  the  French  great  advantages  in  an  attack  on 
the  Netherlands.  James  V.  of  Scotland  was  closely  allied  with 
France,  having  married  first  Francis'  daughter  Madeleine,  and 
afterwards  Mary  of  Guise.  The  Scandinavian  countries  now  began 
to  play  a  part  in  European  history,  and  both  Christian  I  If.  of 
Denmark  and  Gustavus  I.  of  Sweden  made  treaties  with  France. 
Henry  VIII.,  however,  jealous  of  French  influence  in  Scotland, 
refused  to  renew  his  alliance,  but  the  Sultan,  who  was  at  this  time 
gaining  great  successes  in  Hungary,  was  more  complaisant. 

Francis  declared  war  in  1542,  raised  five  large  armies,  and  made 
a  simultaneous  attack  upon  the  Netherlands  and  Roussillon. 
Charles  duke  of  Orleans,  the  commander  of  the  former  expedition, 
tired  of  a  campaign  of  sieges,  hurried  off  suddenly  to  the  Pyrenees, 
where  he  heard  that  his  brother,  the  dauphin,  was  going  to  fight  a 
pitched  battle.  But  the  invasion  of  Roussillon  was  foUed  by  the 
resistance  of  Perpignan  ;  and  the  French  retired  into  quarters 
without  any  success  proportioned  to  their  exertions.  In  1543 
Charles  V.  arrived  in  Germany  determined  to  reduce  the  duke  of 
Cleve.  The  latter  applied  for  aid  to  the  League  of  Schmalkalde, 
but  Charles  was  lucky  enough  to  gain  over  Philip  of  Hesse,  and 
the  application  was  refused.  Cleve  was  conquered  and  the  duke 
forced  into  humiliating  submission,  while  Francis  made  no  effort 
to  assist  him  till  too  late.  An  attack  upon  Nice,  the  last 
possession  of  the  duke  of  Savoy,  by  the  combined  French  and 
Turkish  fleets  was  unsuccessful.  In  1544  Charles  arranged  with 
Henry  VIII.  a  simultaneous  invasion  of  France.  The  English 
king  crossed  over,  but   instead  of  advancing   towards   Paris  he 


78  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  v. 

laid  siege  to  Boulogne,  which  did  not  surrender  till  September. 
Charles,  disregarding  the  fact  that  his  army  in  Piedmont  suffered 
a  severe  defeat  at  Cerisoles,  invaded  Champagne.  He  advanced 
within  two  days'  march  of  Paris,  which  was  thrown  into  the 
utmost  consternation,  when  Charles  evinced  a  sudden  desire  for 
peace.  His  motives  are  not  easy  to  follow,  but  he  probably  was 
indignant  that  Henry  VIII.  failed  to  fulfil  his  engagement ;  and  he 
also  wished  to  end  the  dreaded  alliance  between  French  and  Turks, 
and  to  have  his  own  hands  free  to  settle  matters  with  the  German 
Protestants.  Francis  was  no  less  willing  to  come  to  terms,  and 
the  treaty  of  Crespy  was  concluded  (10  September,  1544).  By 
this  all  conquests  made  since  the  truce  of  Nice  were  restored. 
Francis  renounced  all  claims  to  Naples,  Flanders  and  Artois,  and 
Charles  consented  to  a  formal  renunciation  of  the  Duchy  of 
Burgundy.  Besides  this,  the  emperor  promised  the  hand  of  his 
daughter  or  his  niece  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  who  was  to  receive 
as  his  wife's  dowry  either  the  Netherlands  and  Franche-Comte, 
or  the  duchy  of  Milan.  On  the  completion  of  this  compact 
Francis  was  bound  to  restore  Savoy  and  Piedmont  to  Charles  III. 

§  7.  This  treaty  which  gave  unexpectedly  good  terms  to  France, 
brings  to  an  end  the  direct  rivalry  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I. 
The  latter's  remaining  years  were  mainly  occupied  with  a  war  against 
Henry  VIII.,  which  was  carried  on  partly  in  Scotland  and  partly 
round  Boulogne.  Boulogne  was  at  last  surrendered  under  Edward  VI. 
and  peace  made  between  England  and  France.  Francis  was  dis- 
appointed in  the  advantages  which  were  held  out  by  the  treaty  of 
Crespy.  The  duke  of  Orleans,  his  favourite  son,  died  (September, 
1545)  before  either  of  the  proposed  marriages  had  been  completed. 
Francis  attempted  to  revive  his  own  pretensions  to  Milan,  but  the 
emperor  disregarded  them.  He  was  compelled  to  content  himself 
with  retaining  Savoy  and  Piedmont,  which  he  was  no  longer  bound 
to  surrender.  On  the  31st  of  March,  1547,  Francis  I.  died  at  the 
age  of  53,  after  a  stormy  reign  of  32  years. 

Francis  I.  was  too  absorbed  in  foreign  politics  to  pay  much 
attention  to  domestic  affairs,  yet,  in  spite  of  this,  his  reign  is  a 
period  of  considerable  importance  in  the  development  of  France 
The  king  failed  to  attain  his  dynastic  objects.  He  never  acquired 
Naples,  and  he  was  forced  to  relinquish  Milan.  But  he  was  very 
successful  in  defending  the  French  frontiers,  and  in  creating  a 
national  spirit  which  aimed  at  their  extension.  Under  Francis, 
too,  the  central  power  of  the  crown  was  vastly  increased.  The 
church  was  rendered  subject  by  the  Concordat  of  1516.  The 
estates  were  of  little  importance  and  were  hardly  ever  summoned. 
Even  local  and  municipal  independence  was  restricted  or  carefully 


a.d.  1544-1547.        DEATH  OF   FRANCIS  I.  79 

watched.  Large  revenues  were  derived,  not  only  from  the  faille, 
but  also  from  the  sale  of  offices  and  from  the  clergy.  A  native 
infantry  was  formed  on  a  larger  scale  than  had  previously  existed. 
And  the  king  was  not  unpopular,  but  was  served  with  willing 
devotion.  His  magnificent  court,  his  patronage  of  art  and  litera- 
ture, and,  above  all,  his  martial  spirit,  made  him  the  true  reflex  and 
representative  of  the  national  life.  Maximilian  I.  once  declared 
that  the  emperor  was  a  king  of  kings,  because  no  one  felt  bound  to 
obey  him ;  that  the  king  of  Spain  was  a  king  of  men,  because, 
though  opposed,  he  was  still  obeyed ;  but  the  French  king  was  a 
king  of  beasts,  for  no  one  dared  to  oppose  him. 

Francis  I.  was  the  originator  of  the  traditional  French  policy, 
afterwards^  so  successfully  pursued  by  Richelieu,  of  being  Protestant 
abroad  and  Catholic  at  home.  His  tivalry  to  the  house  of  Haps- 
burg  made  him  anxious  to  conciliate  the  League  of  Schmalkalde, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  was  careful  to  repress  every  tendency  to 
reform  in  his  own  kingdom.  He  aroused  the  anger  of  the  ]<ope  by 
his  alliance  with  the  heretic  Henry  VIII.,  but  he  made  amends  by 
a  furious  persecution  of  French  Protestants.  In  his  later  years  his 
measures  became  more  and  more  barbarous,  and  one  of  his  last  acts 
was  the  wholesale  extermination  of  the  Vaudois  (April,  1545). 
Among  the  Frenchmen  who  were  driven  by  his  severity  into  exile 
was  John  Calvin,  the  apostle  of  Geneva. 


80  MODERN  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHARLES  V.  AND  THE  GERMAN  REFORMATION.     RENEWED 
WAR  WITH  FRANCE.     1532-1559. 

§  1.  Progress  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany  after  the  treaty  *of  Nurem- 
berg ;  the  Anabaptists  in  Miinster.  §  2.  Attempted  compromise  ;  Diet 
of  Ratisbon  ;  its  failure ;  the  archbishop  of  Cologne.  §  3.  Charles 
prepares  for  a  struggle  against  the  Protestants ;  secures  the  adhesion 
of  Maurice  of  Saxony  ;  death  of  Luther  ;  Schmalkaldic  war ;  battle  of 
Muhlberg.  §  4.  Council  of  Trent ;  the  emperor  quarrels  with  Paul 
III. ;  the  Interim.  §  5.  Charles'  attempt  to  establish  despotism  ; 
reaction  in  Germany  ;  conduct  of  Maurice  of  Saxony.  §  6.  The  German 
princes  obtain  assistance  from  Henry  II.  of  France  ;  Charles  narrowly 
escapes  capture  at  Innspruck  ;  treaty  of  Passau  ;  French  capture  Metz, 
Toul,  and  Verdun.  §  7.  Charles  fails  in  the  siege  of  Metz  ;  Albert  of 
Brandenburg ;  death  of  Maurice  of  Saxony  at  Sievershausen ;  his 
character.  §  8.  Religious  peace  of  Augsburg.  §  9.  Charles  V.  dis- 
pirited by  his  failures ;  his  abdication.  §  10.  Pope  Paul  IV. ;  he 
provokes  France  to  make  war  with  Philip  II.  ;  Alva  in  Italy  ;  success 
of  the  Spaniards.  §  11.  War  on  the  French  frontier  ;  Spanish  victories 
at  St.  Quentin  and  Gravel ines;  capture  of  Calais  by  Guise;  treaty  of 
Cateau-Cambresis  ;  importance  of  the  treaty. 

§  1.  The  treaty  of  Nuremberg  (1532)  secured  toleration  for  the 
German  Protestants,  and  imposed  no  restrictions  upon  the  extension  of 
their  power.  The  emperor  was  unsuccessful  in  his  efforts  to  induce 
the  pope  to  summon  a  general  council,  and  the  renewal  of  the  war 
with  France  kept  him  from  any  interference  in  the  affairs  of  Germany. 
The  Catholic  princes  were  not  united,  and  there  was  no  armed 
power  in  the  country  which  could  hope  to  compete  with  the  League 
of  Fchmalkalde.  Circumstances  were  thus  very  favourable  for  the 
Protestants,  and  they  soon  gained  an  important  victory  in  Wurtem- 
berg.  Duke  Ulrich  of  Wurtemberg  had  been  expelled  in  1519, 
and  his  territories  had  since  then  been  administered  by  the  House 
of  Hapsburg.  But  during  his  exile  Ulrich  had  shown  an  inclination 
to  adopt  the  reformed  doctrines,  and  his  son  Christopher,  who  had 
none  of  his  father's  unpopularity,  was  a  decided  Protestant.  On 
the  motion  of  Philip  of  Hesse,  and  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  their   cause  was  adopted   by  the   League   of 


ad.  1532-1539.  PROGRESS  OF  GERMAN  PROTESTANTISM.  81 

Schmalkalde.  The  dissolution  of  the  Swabian  League  early  in 
1434  gave  the  desired  opportunity.  By  a  sudden  invasion  the 
Austrian  troops  were  overpowered,  Wurtemberg  was  restored  to 
Ulrich,  and  the  Lutheran  church  established  in  the  duchy.  Ferdi- 
nand of  Austria,  taken  completely  by  surprise,  was  compellt  d  to 
sanction  these  events  by  the  peace  of  Kadan  (1434).  This  was  a 
very  great  success.  Protestantism  was  introduced  in  the  midst  of 
the  south  German  states,  and  the  House  of  Hapsburg  suffered  a 
severe  defeat. 

In  this  year  the  anabaptists  established  themselves  at  Munster 
under  John  of  Leyden.  They  taught  the  most  extreme  doctrines, 
such  as  the  community  of  property  and  of  women,  and  the  city 
became  the  scene  of  anarchy  and  the  most  insane  excesses.  The 
movement  was  put  down  by  force  in  1435  and  the  ringleaders 
executed.  The  reaction  caused  by  these  unfortunate  events  did 
little  to  stay  the  progress  of  reform.  In  the  next  two  years  Protes- 
tantism was  accepted  in  Baden,  Anhalt,  Augsburg,  and  a  number 
of  towns  both  in  northern  and  southern  Germany.  But  in  1439 
occurred  the  greatest  extension  of  tho  new  doctrines,  owing  to 
dynastic  changes  in  Albert ine  Saxony  and  Brandenburg.  George 
duke  of  Saxony  had  been  as  keen  a  supporter  of  orthodoxy  as  his 
relatives  of  the  Ernestine  branch  were  of  Lutheranism.  So  averse 
was  he  to  religious  changes  that  he  endeavoured  by  will  to  dis- 
inherit his  brother  Henry  and  to  leave  his  dominions  to  the 
Hapsburgs.  But  all  his  efforts  proved  fruitless,  and  on  his  death  (17 
April,  1539)  Henry  obtained  undisturbed  possession  of  the  duchy 
of  Saxony,  where  he%  Introduced  the  new  faith  to  which  he  already 
belonged.  Joachim  I.,  margrave  of  Brandenburg,  had  endeavoured 
to  preserve  the  Catholic  religion,  and  had  married  his  two  sons, 
Joachim  and  John,  to  Catholic  princesses.  But  after  his  death 
(1435)  John,  who  obtained  Brandenburg-Neumark,  at  once  joined 
tho  League  of  Schmalkalde  and  established  the  reformed  church. 
The  elder  brother,  Joachim  II.,  who  succeeded  to  the  electorate, 
proceeded  more  cautiously.  While  he  himself  remained  a  Catholic, 
he  offered  no  impediment  to  the  teaching  of  the  reformers;  and 
finally,  in  1439,  consented  to  the  definite  adoption  of  Protestantism. 
Thus  the  Reformation  was  successfully  established  in  almost  the 
whole  of  northern  and  central  Germany.  In  the  south,  Austria, 
Bavaria,  the  Palatinate,  and  the  Rhenish  electorates,  remained 
orthodox,  while  in  the  north  Catholicism  could  reckon  only  one 
supporter,  Henry  duke  of  Brunswick. 

§  2.  The  progress  of  the  Reformation  was  regarded  with  serious 
misgivings  by  Charles  V.  The  political  uuity  of  Germany  was  one 
of  his  chief  objects,  but  it  could  never  be  attained  without  religious 


82  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  vi. 

unity.  In  the  face  of  the  danger  threatened  both  by  France  and 
the  Turks,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  alienate  the  Protestants  by 
coercion.  Measures  of  conciliation  were  therefore  tried,  but  as  yet 
they  had  been  unsuccessful.  The  pope,  Paul  III.,  made  tentative 
offers  of  a  council  in  some  Italian  town,  but  the  German  princes 
were  resolute  in  their  refusal.  The  Vice-Chancellor  Held,  acting  as 
Charles'  agent,  so  far  from  being  able  to  reconcile  opposing  parties, 
only  formed  a  separate  league  of  Catholic  princes  at  Nuremberg  in 
1539.  Thus  Germany  was  divided  into  two  hostile  camps,  and 
Held's  conduct  only  lessened  the  chances  of  a  reconciliation.  But 
in  1543  Charles  himself  appeared  in  Germany  to  conduct  his  own 
affairs.  At  the  diet  of  Ratisbon  a  serious  effort  was  made  to 
bring  about  a  compromise.  Circumstances  never  appeared  so 
promising.  The  pope  was  represented  by  the  most  moderate  of  the 
cardinals,  Contarini,  the  representative  of  a  party  at  Rome  which 
desired  to  reform  the  church.  Luther  was  not  present,  and  his 
place  was  taken  by  the  more  conciliatory  Melancthon.  The 
Catholics  too  put  forward  their  more  moderate  theologians,  Gropper 
and  Pflng.  But,  in  spite  of  this,  religious  differences  proved  too 
wide  to  be  bridged  over.  Charles  was  convinced  that  nothing  was 
to  be  gained  by  his  present  policy,  and  nothing  was  left  for  him 
but  the  employment  of  force.  Henceforth  this  necessity  was  more 
and  more  impressed  upon  him  ;  but  as  yet  circumstances  compelled 
him  to  temporise.  The  Turks  were  on  the  point  of  annexing 
Hungary,  and  the  Protestants  must  be  conciliated  at  all  cost.  The 
diet  therefore  ended  by  confirming  the  treaty  of  Nuremberg, 
putting  an  end  to  all  processes  against  Protestants,  and  admitting 
members  of  both  creeds  to  the  Imperial  Chamber. 

The  Protestant  princes  were  completely  blinded  as  to  the 
emperor's  real  designs ;  they  regarded  the  recess  of  the  diet  as  a 
permanent  security.  Henry  of  Brunswick,  who  had  obtained  a 
decree  against  the  town  of  Goslar,  refused  to  obey  the  recess.  The 
league  of  ISchmalkalde  took  up  arms  against  him  and  drove  him 
from  his  territories,  where  Protestantism  was  at  once  established. 
This  event  caused  great  uneasiness  to  the  emperor,  which  was  in- 
creased by  occurrences  in  Cologne.  The  aged  archbishop,  Hermann 
von  der  Wied,  hitherto  a  moderate  member  of  the  Catholic  party, 
gradually  manifested  his  inclination  to  go  over  to  the  reformed  faith. 
In  spite  of  remonstrances  from  the  chapter  and  the  municipal 
authority,  he  sanctioned  grave  religious  alterations  and  allowed  full 
liberty  to  the  Protestant  preachers.  This  attitude  on  the  part  of  a 
great  prince  of  the  church  aroused  the  gravest  misgivings.  At 
present  Charles'  hands  were  tied  by  the  war  with  France,  but  in  1544 
the  peace  of  Crespy  set  him  free,  and  he  set  out  for  Germany 


a.d.  1541-1546.      THE  SCHMALKALDIC  WAR.  83 

determined  to  put  down  the  League  of  Schmalkalde  and  to  establish 
at  the  same  time  unity  and  submission  to  the  central  power. 

§  3.  Although  his  mind  was  now  fully  made  up,  Charles  proceeded 
wilh  the  utmost  caution,  and  concealed  his  real  designs  as  long  as 
possible.  The  king  of  France  was  pledged  by  the  peace  of  Crespy 
to  assist  in  the  putting  down  of  heresy,  and  a  secret  treaty  was 
easily  concluded  with  the  pope.  On  the  support  of  the  Catholic 
princes  the  emperor  could  rely,  but  he  was  also  able  to  gain  over 
some  of  the  Protestants.  To  them  he  was  careful  to  represent  that 
his  objects  were  political,  not  religious,  that  he  had  no  desire  to 
repress  reform,  but  only  to  put  down  the  haughty  and  independent 
League  of  Schmalkalde.  John  and  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  iudignant 
at  the  treatment  of  Henry  of  Brunswick,  readily  joined  the  emperor. 
But  a  more  important  ally  was  Maurice  duke  of  Saxony.  He  had 
succeeded  his  father  in  1541,  and,  though  an  avowed  Protestant,  he 
soon  adopted  an  independent  attitude.  In  1542  he  withdrew  from 
the  League  of  Schmalkalde,  though  he  still  promised  his  aid  if  the 
interests  of  religion  were  threatened.  But  with  him,  as  with 
Charles  V.,  religion  was  altogether  subordinate  to  j>olities  ;  his  guiding 
motive  was  personal  ambition.  Jealousy  of  the  Ernestine  branch 
of  his  family  and  desire  of  territorial  aggrandisement  combined  to 
induce  him  to  join  the  emperor,  with  whom  he  concluded  a  close 
alliance.  Meanwhile  the  Protestant  leaders  were  quite  in  the  dark 
as  to  Charles'  designs.  While  he  was  collecting  au  army,  he  continued 
to  hold  diets,  where  schemes  of  compromise  were  discussed,  though 
on  each  occasion  the  Catholics  adopted  a  bolder  and  more  aggressive 
tone. 

Before  the  final  overthrow  of  the  peace,  which  he  had  so  consistently 
enjoined,  Martin  Luther  died  on  18th  February,  1546.  In  July 
Charles  declared  war  by  issuing  the  imperial  ban  against  the  leaders 
of  the  League  of  Schmalkalde.  They  now  collected  their  forces,  and 
if  they  had  attacked  the  emperor  at  once  they  must  have  been 
victorious.  But  they  were  weakened  by  the  evil  results  of  a  divided 
command.  Philip  of  Hesse,  the  most  active  and  able  of  the  Pro- 
testant princes,  urged  an  immediate  attack,  but  he  was  foiled  by  the 
opposition  of  his  cautious  and  irresolute  colleague,  the  elector  of 
Saxony.  This  gave  Charles  time  to  receive  reinforcements  from 
Italy  and  the  Netherlands,  though  he  continued  to  avoid  a  battle. 
Meanwhile  Maurice,  in  conjunction  with  Ferdinand  of  Austria,  in- 
vaded the  Saxon  electorate,  which  was  speedily  overrun.  This  news 
at  once  dispersed  the  army  of  the  League,  and  the  elector  John 
Frederick  hurried  to  the  defence  of  his  own  dominions.  Charles  V., 
taking  advantage  of  the  confusion  among  his  enemies,  reduced 
southern  Germany  to  subjection.     Meanwhile  John  Frederick  had 


84  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  vi. 

turned  the  tables  on  Maurice  by  attacking  the  duchy  of  Saxony, 
where  Dresden  and  Leipzig  alone  held  out.  In  April,  1547,  Charles 
marched  to  the  assistance  of  Maurice,  and  mainly  through  the  latter's 
strategy  won  a  complete  victory  at  Muhlberg.  The  elector  himself 
was  taken  prisoner.  After  suffering  brutal  treatment  he  was  com- 
pelled to  sign  the  capitulation  of  Wittenberg,  by  which  he  resigned 
his  electoral  title  and  his  territories  to  the  emperor.  These  were 
conferred  by  Charles  upon  Maurice  as  the  reward  of  his  services, 
and  thus  the  Saxon  electorate  was  transferred  from  the  Ernestine  to 
the  Albertine  line.  A  few  weeks  later  Philip  of  Hesse  was  compelled 
to  surrender,  his  personal  safety  being  guaranteed  by  Maurice  and 
the  elector  of  Brandenburg.  But  Charles,  disregarding  this,  threw 
him  into  prison.  Henry  of  Brunswick  was  released  from  captivity 
and  restored  to  his  duchy. 

§  4.  By  these  great  successes  Charles  realised  his  grand  object 
and  became  supreme  in  Germany.  He  could  now  insist  upon  that 
religious  uniformity  on  which  he  intended  to  base  political  cen- 
tralisation. But  just  at  this  moment,  when  everything  seemed 
favourable,  he  forfeited  the  most  necessary  alliance,  that  of  the 
pope.  Paul  III.  was  anxious  to  suppress  Protestantism,  but  he 
was  unwilling  to  see  Charles  powerful  enough  to  dictate  to  the 
papacy.  Every  advantage  gained  by  the  emperor  terrified  the  pope. 
The  Council  of  Trent  had  been  summoned  in  1545,  but  against 
Charles'  wishes  questions  of  practical  reform  were  postponed  to 
doctrinal  matters,  and  these  were  settled  in  the  most  uncompromising 
form.  In  March,  1547,  in  defiance  of  imperial  remonstrances,  the 
council  was  transferred  from  Trent  to  Bologna.  Before  the  battle  of 
Muhlberg  the  papal  contingent  was  withdrawn  from  the  imperial 
army.  In  his  indignation,  Charles  despatched  an  embassy  to  Bologna 
in  January,  1548,  to  declare  that  all  proceedings  of  the  council  were 
null  and  void.  Other  circumstances  occurred  to  inflame  the  quarrel. 
Paul  Ill.'s  son  Piero  Luigi  Farnese  had  been  invested  with  the  cities 
of  Parma  and  Piacenza.  His  tyranny  made  him  detested,  and  he 
was  assassinated.  The  governor  of  Milan  at  once  took  possession 
of  Piacenza  in  the  emperor's  name.  Paul  III.  accused  Gonzaga  of 
complicity  in  his  son's  murder,  and  called  upon  Charles  to  invest 
his  grandson  Ottavio  Farnese  with  Parma  and  Piacenza.  This  being 
refused,  the  pope  declared  the  two  cities  reunited  to  the  holy  see, 
thus  making  the  emperor  guilty  of  an  attack  upon  the  church. 

This  bitter  quarrel  with  the  pope,  and  the  impossibility  of 
obtaining  a  satisfactory  council,  compelled  Charles  V.  to  settle  the 
religious  affairs  of  Germany  by  himself.  In  May,  1548,  he  brought 
before  the  diet  of  Augsburg  the  system  of  faith  to  be  observed  in 
Germany,  which,  from  its  avowedly  temporary  character,  was  called 


a.d.  1547-1548.  THE  INTERIM.  85 

the  Interim.  The  doctrines  contained  in  it  were  substantially 
Catholic,  but  to  the  Protestants  were  conceded,  among  other  points, 
the  communion  in  both  kinds  and  the  marriage  of  the  clergy. 
This  high-handed  attempt  on  the  part  of  a  temporal  prince  to 
formulate  a  religious  creed  excited  the  greatest  astonishment  in 
Germany,  while  it  further  exasperated  the  pope.  But  by  a  dexterous 
manoeuvre  on  the  part  of  the  archbishop  of  Mainz  it  was  accepted  by 
the  astounded  diet.  The  Interim  shows  clearly  how  Charles'  head  had 
been  turned  by  his  success,  and  how  little  conception  he  had  of  tho 
real  meaning  and  force  of  religious  belief.  It  was  almost  equally 
distasteful  to  both  Catholics  and  Protestants,  and,  though  formally 
adopted  by  several  priucts,  it  was  hardly  anywhere  really  enforced. 
Maurice  of  Saxony  was  tho  first  to  protest  against  it,  and  in  many 
l>arts  of  Germany  it  could  only  be  introduced  by  force  of  arms. 

§  5.  If  Charles  V.'s  religious  policy  was  unpopular,  his  other 
measures  were  far  more  so.  His  treatment  of  the  imprisoned  princes 
tatf  ;\n  outrage  not  only  on  justice  but  on  humanity.  And  the  ]x>litical 
changes  which  he  introduced  roused  feelings  of  profound  niittrust. 
The  diet  of  Augsburg,  meeting  just  after  the  emperor's  great  suc- 
cesses, was  numerously  attended  by  prelates  and  princes  who  had 
little  courage  to  oppose  his  will.  Almost  all  his  proposals  were 
accepted.  The  Imperial  Chamber  was  reconstituted  and  tho 
appointment  of  its  members  vtsted  in  the  emperor.  The  Nether- 
lands were  united  with  the  empire  as  a  tenth  circle,  while  they 
retained  their  old  iustitutions.  A  new  military  treasury  was 
formed  under  the  complete  control  of  the  emperor.  Thus  C  harles  V. 
succeeded  in  establishing  a  central  authority  which  none  of  his 
predecessors  had  possessed  for  centuries. 

But  princely  independence  was  too  firmly  rooted  in  Germany  to 
submit  without  a  struggle.  Charles'  high-handed  measures  produced 
a  reaction.  Of  this  the  representative  was  Maurice  of  Saxony.  He 
(blind  that  he  had  purchased  the  electorate  at  the  price  of  universal 
unpopularity.  He  had  aided  to  subject  Germany  to  a  Bpmiffa 
despot,  whose  troops  conducted  themselves  ns  in  a  conquered  country. 
And  his  compliance  had  secured  him  no  influence  with  the  emperor; 
he  could  not  even  obtain  the  release  of  his  father-in-law,  the 
landgrave  of  Hesse,  whose  continued  imprisonment  was  a 
upon  his  honour.  To  regain  his  lost  reputation  he  determined  to 
become  the  champion  of  German  independence,  and  to  strengthen 
this  cause  by  linking  it  with  that  of  religious  freedom.  But  he  was 
careful  to  disguise  his  change  of  policy  until  circumstances  were 
ripe  for  action. 

Meanwhile  Charles  V.,  blind  to  the  -growing  reaction,  was 
determined  to  complete  his  schemes.    The  Interim   was  insisted 


86  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  vi. 

upon.  Even  Maurice  felt  compelled  to  accept  it,  though  it  was 
modified  for  Saxony  by  Melancthon.  The  south-German  cities  which 
opposed  its  introduction  were  subdued  by  Spanish  soldiers,  and  the 
municipal  government  altered  to  suit  the  emperor's  wishes.  But 
in  northern  Germany,  where  the  lead  was  taken  by  Magdeburg,  for 
a  time  the  metropolis  of  Protestantism,  the  opposition  was  less 
easily  suppressed.  Charles  was  encouraged  in  his  designs  by  the 
death  of  his  enemy  Paul  III.  (1549)  and  the  electon  of  his  easy- 
going successor  Julius  III.  The  new  pope  was  willing  to  resume 
the  Council  of  Trent,  to  which  Charles  looked  for  a  confirmation  of 
his  ideas  of  religious  unity. 

§  6.  The  emperor  now  aimed  at  making  his  vast  power  perpetual 
by  securing  the  succession  of  his  son  Philip  to  the  empire.  But  here 
he  was  confronted  by  the  steady  opposition  of  his  brother  Ferdinand, 
who  was  already  king  of  the  Romans,  and  who  refused  to  yield  to 
the  pretensions  of  his  nephew.  This  dispute  encouraged  Maurice  of 
Saxony  to  develop  his  schemes.  H3  refused  to  appear  at  the  diet  of 
Augsburg,  because  the  landgrave  was  not  released.  He  had  accepted 
the  task  of  forcing  the  Interim  on  Magdeburg,  and  laid  siege  to  the 
city.  But  this  was  intended  only  as  a  blind ;  he  did  not  press  the 
siege,  while  he  used  it  as  a  pretext  for  collecting  an  independent 
army.  He  was  joined  by  the  margraves  of  Brandenburg,  by 
William  of  Hesse,  Philip's  son,  and  by  John  Albert  of  Mecklenburg. 
These  princes  made  overtures  to  Henry  II.  of  France,  and  on  15th 
January,  1552,  concluded  with  him  the  treaty  of  Friedewalde.  By 
this  the  French-speaking  cities  of  Metz,  Toul,  Verdun  and  Cambray 
were  to  be  ruled  by  Henry  as  imperial  vicar,  and  he  undertook  in 
return  to  assist  the  princes  in  their  war  against  the  emperor.  In 
consequence  of  this  treaty  the  French  king  assumed  the  title  of 
Defender  of  the  Liberties  of  Germany. 

Just  before  this,  Magdeburg  had  surrendered  to  Maurice  on  easy 
terms.  In  March,  1552,  he  was  able  to  commence  the  war.  He 
took  Augsburg  and  restored  the  Lutheran  Church.  While  engaged 
in  a  conference  with  Ferdinand  at  Linz,  he  heard  that  the  emperor 
was  collecting  troops.  Determined  to  strike  a  speedy  blow,  he 
marched  towards  Tyrol,  took  the  fortress  of  Ehrenberg,  which 
commanded  the  pass,  and  arrived  at  Innspruck  only  a  few  hour3 
after  Charles  had  fled  in  haste.  But  for  a  mutiny  among  the 
troops  at  Ehrenberg  the  emperor  must  have  been  captured.  As  it 
was  the  late  tyrant  of  Germany  became  suddenly  a  powerless  exile 
in  Styria.  Utterly  humbled  and  dispirited,  he  left  the  necessary 
negotiations  to  Ferdinand,  who  concluded  the  treaty  of  Passau  in 
July,  1552.  The  elector  of  Saxony  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse 
were  to  be  released ;  the  Lutherans  were  to  be  allowed  undisturbed 


a.d.  1549-1553.        MAURICE   OF  SAXONY.  87 

exercise  of  their  religion,  and  to  be  admitted  to  the  Imperial 
Chamber;  a  diet  was  to  meet  in  six  months  to  arrange,  if  possible, 
a  permanent  settlement.  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  who  was  still  in 
arms  as  the  ally  of  Maurice,  was  to  be  admitted  to  peace  on  these 
terms.  Charles,  not  without  great  reluctance,  consented  to  sign  the 
treaty.  The  supremacy  so  lately  established  in  Germany  was 
shattered,  and  the  schemes  which  seemed  so  near  success  were  for 
ever  foiled.  The  Council  of  Trent,  which  had  met  again  in  1551, 
separated  in  fright  at  the  news  of  the  confederates*  advance. 

Maurice's  marvellous  success  was  sullied  by  his  unpatriotic  con- 
cessions to  the  French.  In  all  probability  he  never  contemplated  a 
permanent  annexation  of  the  "  three  bishoprics  n  to  France.  His  idea 
was  that  the  interests  of  the  French  king  and  the  German  princes, 
as  opponents  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  were  identical,  and  that  in 
humbling  that  house  they  could  work  harmoniously.  But  Henry 
II.  was  less  disinterested  than  was  announced  in  his  mauifesto.  No 
sooner  had  Maurice  taken  the  field  than  the  constable  Montmorency 
with  a  large  force  entered  Lorraine,  and  speedily  occupied  Toul, 
Verdun  and  Nancy.  The  guardianship  of  the  young  duke  of 
Lorraine  was  taken  from  his  mother,  Charles  V/s  niece,  aid  given  to 
the  count  of  Vaudemont,  an  adherent  of  France.  Metz,  the  grand 
object  of  the  campaign,  was  taken  only  by  a  deceitful  stratagem,  and 
Henry  II.  entered  it  in  triumph  (April,  1552)  The  fortress  which 
had  hitherto  been  the  outpost  of  Germany  was  henceforward  to  be 
the  great  defence  of  France.  The  command  was  given  to  the 
ablest  of  French  soldiers,  Francis  of  Guise.  There  was  no  mention 
made  of  the  imperial  vicarship  or  of  a  reservation  of  the  rights 
of  the  empire,  which  had  been  stipulated  in  the  treaty  of  Friede- 
walde. 

f  7.  The  news  of  these  events  aroused  Charles  V.  to  indignation 
that  the  son  of  his  old  rival  should  gain  successes  where  Francis  I.  had 
failed.  Leaving  affairs  in  Germany  to  take  their  course,  he  collected 
an  army  and  advanced  against  Metz  in  October,  1552.  On  the 
way  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  gain  over  Albert  of  Brandenbnrg, 
who  remained  in  arms  in  spite  of  the  peace  of  Passan,  and  who  had 
lately  been  in  close  alliance  with  France.  The  ability  and  energy 
of  Francis  of  Guise  defeated  all  Charles*  efforts  to  take  Metz.  The 
bitter  cold  of  winter  proved  very  fatal  to  the  Spanish  ami  Italian 
soldiers.  In  January,  1553,  it  was  found  necessary  to  retire.  Thus 
the  grand  border  fortresses  of  Metz,  Toul  and  Verdun  passed  from 
Germany  to  France,  to  become  the  basis  of  later  acquisitions  in 
the  same  direction.  Their  loss  was  the  natural  fmit  of  German 
disunion. 

This  great  reverse,  combined  as  it  was  with  a  Turkish  invasion 


88  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  vi. 

in  the  east  and  considerable  losses  in  Itily,  seems  to  have  reduced 
Charles  V.  to  reckless  despair.  Ho  no  longer  cared  to  pursue  a 
consistent  policy,  when  success  appeared  so  hopeless.  He  was  not 
unwilling  to  avenge  himself  on  Germany  by  sowing  the  seeds  of 
civil  war.  Regardless  of  all  his  duties  as  a  ruler,  he  encourage  1  the 
lawless  actions  of  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  who  supported  himself  by 
constant  warfare.  Thus  he  alienated  all  the  German  princes,  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant.  His  brother  Ferdinand  was  determined 
to  support  order  and  to  carry  out  the  treaty  of  Passau.  A  league 
of  princes  was  formed  at  Heidelberg  with  these  objects  in  view. 
They  were  determined  not  to  continue  the  connection  with 
Spain  by  electing  Philip,  and  to  exclude  Spanish  influence  from 
the  government  of  Germany.  But  Charles  V.  was  wholly  un- 
influenced by  this,  and  continued  his  connection  with  the  disturbers 
of  the  public  peace. 

It  became  necessary,  if  the  peace  of  Passau  were  to  have  any 
effect,  to  oppose  Albert  of  Brandenburg  by  force.  Maurice  of 
Saxony,  who  was  more  responsible  for  the  treaty  than  any  one  else, 
and  who  regarded  the  margrave  as  a  personal  rival,  undertook  the 
task.  He  entered  Brunswick,  where  Albert  had  allied  himself  with 
the  enemies  of  duke  Henry,  and  won  a  complete  victory  at  Sievers- 
hausen  (July,  1553).  But  in  the  battle  he  received  a  musket 
wound  which  proved  fatal.  Maurice  was  only  in  his  thirty-second 
year,  yet  he  had  played  a  great  part  in  a  crisis  of  German  history. 
He  defeated  and  humbled  the  greatest  potentate  in  Europe  at  a 
time  when  the  world  seemed  to  be  at  his  feet.  He  freed  Germany 
from  the  dreaded  despotism  of  the  foreigner.  Had  he  lived  longer 
much  of  the  mystery  which  shrouded  his  character  would  have 
been  cleared  away.  The  Protestants,  in  spite  of  his  services,  always 
regarded  him  with  suspicion,  and  this  was  well  justified.  He  had 
no  real  sympathy  for  the  religion  to  which  he  belonged.  His 
motives  were  purely  political,  and  his  two  main  objects  were  his  own 
aggrandisement  and  the  independence  of  the  princely  class  of  which 
he  was  a  member.  It  was  fortunate  for  his  reputation  that  with 
his  last  projects  the  interests  of  Germany  were  bound  up  ;  had  he 
died  just  after  the  Schmalkaldic  war  he  would  have  come  down  to 
history  merely  as  a  successful  traitor.  Maurice  of  Saxony  must  be 
regarded  as  the  aptest  German  pupil  of  that  school  of  politicians 
and  diplomatists  which  had  been  founded  in  Italy  and  whose  creed 
is  formulated  in  the  Prince  of  Machiavelli.  Maurice  was  succeeded 
by  his  brother  Augustus.  John  Frederick  made  a  last  effort  to 
induce  Charles  V.  to  restore  him  to  his  electorate.  Augustus, 
more  moderate  than  his  brother,  made  concessions  of  territory 
which  satisfied  his  Ernestine  relatives.      But  the  electorate  and 


a.d.  1555.        RELIGIOUS  PEACE  OF  AUGSBURG.  89 

duchy  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Albertine  line,  to  aevelop 
ultimately  into  the  kingdom  of  Saxony. 

§  8.  Maurice's  death  did  not  terminate  the  war,  but  rather  en- 
couraged the  aggressions  of  Albert  of  Brandenburg.  The  task  of 
opposing  him  now  devolved  on  the  aged  Henry  of  Brunswick,  who 
became  reconciled  with  his  subjects,  and  at  last  granted  toleration  to 
the  Lutheran  religion.  Albert,  defeated  in  several  engagements,  wai 
compelled  in  1554  to  retire  to  France,  where  he  entered  the  service 
of  Henry  II.  The  diet,  which  had  been  stipulated  in  the  treaty  of 
Fassau,  but  which  had  been  delayed  by  the  prolonged  hostilities, 
met  at  last  in  February,  1555,  at  Augsburg,  under  the  presidency 
of  Ferdinand  of  Austria.  Its  ta^k  was  to  arrange  a  permanent 
religious  peace.  The  toleration  secured  to  the  Lutherans  at  Passau 
was  confirmed.  The  Public  Peace  was  renewed,  and  the  Imperial 
Chamber  was  to  contain  members  of  both  creeds  in  equal  proportion. 
But  a  great  difficulty  arose  as  to  the  disposal  of  Church  property.  In 
the  Lutheran  States  this  property  had  been  secularised,  and  it  was 
arranged  that  all  secularisations  which  had  taken  place  before  1552 
should  be  confirmed.  But  the  Catholics  were  resolute  to  prevent 
any  similar  alienations  from  their  church  in  the  future.  Their 
insisted  on  the  so-called  Ecclesiastical  Reservation,  by  which  if  any 
prelate  went  over  to  the  reformed  church  he  should  resign  his  office 
and  all  the  patronage  connected  with  it  The  Protestants  refused 
to  accept  this;  and  as  no  agreement  could  be  arrived  at,  Ferdinand 
took  the  matter  into  his  own  hands.  The  Ecclesiastical  Reserva- 
tion was  included  in  the  treaty,  but  the  protest  of  the  Protestants 
was  also  included. 

Thus  the  religious  peace  of  Augsburg  could  not  be,  as  intended, 
a  permanent  settlement  of  the  questions  at  issue.  The  fixing  of 
an  arbitrary  date,  1552,  as  the  limit  of  the  progress  of  reform  was 
too  artificial  to  be  really  binding.  The  treaty  was  the  work  of  the 
priuccs,  and  paid  no  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  people.  It  did 
not  concede  individual  freedom  of  conscience,  but  only  the  right  of 
the  prince  to  fix  the  religion  of  his  subjects.  The  principle  estab- 
lished was  the  cujus  rtgio  ejus  rdigio  which  was  laid  down  first  at 
the  diet  of  Speier  in  1526.  And  the  toleration  which  was  the  great 
gain  from  the  treaty  applied  only  to  adherents  of  the  confession  of 
Augsburg,  i.e.  the  Lutheran  Protestants.  There  was  no  concession 
made  to  the  followers  of  Zwingli  or  Calvin,  who  were  now  the  most 
active  and  progressive  of  the  Protestant  sects.  But  in  spite  of  these 
defects  the  treaty  of  Augsburg  was  the  basis  of  religious  and 
political  life  in  Germany  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  its 
omissions  were  hardly  realised  till  they  gave  birth  to  the  Thirty 
Years'  War. 
0 


90  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  vl 

§  9.  Charles  V.  was  at  this  time  in  Brussels,  the  capital  of  the 
Netherlands,  where  he  had  been  born,  and  which  he  always  preferred 
to  his  other  dominions.  His  health  was  already  broken,  and  the 
news  of  the  treaty  of  Augsburg  announced  to  him  the  failure  of  his 
dearest  schemes.  Not  only  were  all  hopes  of  reviving  German 
unity  and  establishing  a  strong  Hapsburg  monarchy  at  an  end,  but 
the  Netherlands,  which  he  had  united  to  the  empire  in  1548,  were 
separated  again  by  the  Augsburg  diet.  The  princes  were  resolutely 
opposed  to  all  the  dynastic  designs  of  their  Spanish  ruler.  Outside 
Germany,  too,  events  occurred  which  added  to  Charles'  despair.  He 
had  been  forced  to  conclude  the  truce  of  Vaucelles  with  Henry  II., 
and  thus  virtually  to  give  his  sanction  to  French  aggressions.  The 
marriage  of  his  son  Philip  to  Mary  Tudor,  by  which  it  had  been 
hoped  to  obtain  for  the  Hapsburgs  another  crown,  had  turned  out 
ill.  Philip  was  unpopular  in  England,  and  all  Mary's  hopes  of  an 
heir  proved  disappointments.  To  propitiate  the  Deity  the  queen 
encouraged  that  persecution  of  the  Protestants  which  assuredly 
did  nothing  to  conciliate  the  people  to  Spanish  rule ;  and  m  Rome 
pope  Julius  III.  died  in  1555,  and  was  succeeded  by  Paul  IV.,  the 
determined  opponent  of  the  Hapsburgs. 

All  these  events  combined  to  induce  Charles  to  carry  out  a 
design  already  entertained  of  retiring  from  the  cares  of  government. 
On  25th  October  he  appeared  in  the  grand  hall  at  Brussels,  leaning  on 
the  shoulder  of  William  of  Orange,  and,  amidst  the  tears  of  the 
spectators,  formally  resigned  the  Netherlands  and  the  Italian 
provinces  to  his  son  Philip.  In  January,  1556,  the  crown  of  Spain 
was  similarly  transferred.  An  embassy  was  sent  to  Germany  to 
announce  his  abdication  of  the  empire,  arid  to  commend  his  brother 
Ferdinand  to  the  electors.  In  September,  1556,  Charles  sailed  to 
Spain  and  retired  to  San  Juste,  where  a  retreat  had  been  already 
prepared  for  him.  There  he  lived,  still  concentrating  his  attention 
on  European  politics,  till  his  death  on  the  21st  of  September,  1558. 

§10.  Philip  !  I.  immediately  on  his  accession  found  himself  con- 
fronted by  a  gnat  European  war.  This  was  brought  on  by  the  head- 
strong violence  of  pope  Paul  IV.  The  hereditary  attachment  of  his 
family  (Carafta)  to  the  Angevin  cause,  personal  enmity  to  Charles  V., 
and  the  desire  to  free  Italy  from  the  Spaniard,  all  combined  to 
inspire  the  aged  pope  with  the  bitterest  antipathy  to  the  Hapsburgs. 
This  was  increased  by  the  intelligence  that  Ferdinand,  in  the 
treaty  of  Augsburg,  had  consented  to  give  toleration  to  the  German 
Protestants.  Paul  IV.  refused  to  confirm  the  treaty  ;  in  his  blind 
rage  he  even  refused  to  support  Mary  Tudor  in  her  efforts  to  restore 
Roman  Catholicism  in  England.  He  determined  to  reverse  the 
policy  of  Julius  II.,  and  to  call  the  French  into  Italy  to  expel 


k.v.  1555-1558.      BATTLE  OF   ST.   QUENTIN.  91 

the  Spaniards.  By  holding  out  hopes  of  the  conquest  of  Naples, 
and  by  gaining  over  the  influential  family  of  Guise,  he  induced 
Henry  II.  to  break  the  truce  of  Vaucelles,  and  to  conclude  an 
alliance  with  the  papacy.  The  duke  of  Guise  was  sent  with  an 
army  iuto  Italy.  His  opponent  was  the  duke  of  Alva,  whom 
Philip  appointed  governor  of  Naples. 

It  was  the  irony  of  fate  which  involved  Philip  II.  and  Alva  in  a 
war  with  the  head  of  the  church  of  which  they  were  dc 
adherents.  Alva  was  completely  successful,  and  might  have  taken 
Rome,  but  his  reverence  for  the  pope  forbade  him.  This  allowed 
Guise  to  raise  new  troops  in  France  and  Switzerland,  with  which 
he  returned  to  Italy  and  attacked  Naples.  In  his  straits  Philip 
had  to  secure  allies  by  concessions.  Ottavio  Farnese  of  Parma  was 
reconciled  to  Spain  by  the  restoration  of  Piacenza.  Cosimo  de 
Medici  was  allowtd  to  annex  Siena  and  thus  to  complete  the  grand 
duchy  of  Tuscany.  But  the  French  were  completely  unsuccessful. 
The  heroic  defence  of  Civitella  frustrated  all  Guise's  attempts  to 
take  the  town.  Alva  again  entered  the  papal  states  and  advanced 
to  the  walls  of  Rome.  Paul  IV.  was  at  last  compelled  to  treat, 
but  the  religious  devotion  of  his  enemies  enabled  the  defeated 
pope  to  dictate  his  own  terms.  Alva  appeared  in  Rome  as  a 
suppliant  instead  of  a  conqueror,  and  in  his  master's  name  entreated 
absolution  for  the  offence  of  defending  himself  against  an  un- 
provoked attack.  This  was  the  last  attempt  to  shake  the  Siianish 
supremacy  in  Italy. 

§  11.  Meanwhile  war  had  also  broken  out  on  the  French  frontier, 
and  Phflip  II.  had  used  his  influence  over  Mary  to  involve  England 
in  the  war  against  France.  The  Spanish  army  was  placed  under 
the  command  of  Emmanuel  Philibert  of  Savoy,  who  bad  a  private 
quarrel  with  France  for  the  recovery  of  his  paternal  duchy.  He 
laid  siege  to  St.  Quentin,  which  was  defended  by  the  illustrious 
Admiral  Coligny.  The  French  commander,  Montmorency,  advanced 
to  his  relief,  and  the  pitched  battle  which  ensued  ended  in  the 
complete  defeat  of  the  French.  Philip  himself,  who  took  no  part 
in  the  war,  now  appeared  in  the  camp,  where  his  caution  prevented 
the  victory  from  being  followed  up.  Had  the  duke  of  Savoy 
in  u<  hed  at  once  upon  Paris,  the  capital  could  hardly  have  made 
any  resistance.  But  the  delay  gave  the  French  time ;  the  duke  of 
Guise  returned  from  Italy,  and  in  1558  he  gained  a  brilliant 
success,  no  less  than  the  conquest  of  Calais,  the  last  of  the  great 
English  possessions  on  French  soil.  It  was  to  no  purpose  that  the 
count  of  Egraont  won  a  signal  victory  over  a  detachment  of  tho 
French  army  at  Gravelines  (July,  1558).  Philip  was  determined 
to  make  peace,  and  he  was  confirmed  in  this  by  the  death  of  his 


92  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  vi 

wife,  and  the  accession  of  her  sister  Elizabeth  to  the  English 
throne.  In  1559  the  important  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis  was 
concluded.  The  chief  difficulties  which  arose  were  connected  with 
Calais  and  the  duchy  of  Savoy.  These  were  at  last  compro- 
mised ;  Savoy  and  Piedmont  were  restored  to  Emmanuel  Philibert, 
the  son  and  heir  of  the  ejected  duke  Charles,  with  the  exception 
of  five  fortified  places  which  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  French ; 
Calais  was  ceded  to  the  French  king  for  eight  years,  but  at  the  end 
of  that  period  it  was  to  be  restored  to  England  under  penalty  of 
forfeiting  500,000  crowns.  The  other  terms  were  easily  settled. 
The  French  restored  all  places  which  they  held  in  Italy  and  the 
Low  Countries,  while  the  Spaniards  evacuated  their  conquests  in 
Picardy.  To  confirm  the  peace  between  the  two  countries,  Philip  II. 
married  Henry  II.'s  daughter  Elizabeth,  who  had  previously  been 
destined  for  his  son,  Don  Carlos.  The  advantage  remained  on  the 
side  of  Philip,  who  regained  nearly  200  fortresses,  while  he  had  to 
surrender  only  five  or  six.  The  treaty  was  very  unpopular  in 
France,  and  the  Guises  especially  declaimed  against  it  as  the  work 
of  Montpensier. 

The  peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis  closed  the  long  series  of  wars 
which  had  commenced  with  the  accession  of  Charles  V.  to  the 
empire  in  1519.  It  marks  an  epoch  in  the  international  relations 
of  the  European  states.  France  had  succeeded  in  its  task  of 
resisting  the  formation  of  a  Hapsburg  monarchy  which  threatened 
the  independence  of  Europe.  Germany  and  Spain  are  henceforward 
separated.  For  some  time  after  this  religious  rather  than  political 
differences  divide  Europe;  and  when  something  like  the  old 
rivalry  re-commences  at  the  close  of  the  century,  it  takes  the  form 
of  a  national  duel  between  Spain  and  France. 

For  forty  years  the  dominant  personality  in  Europe  had  been 
Charles  V.  His  disappearance  necessarily  effected  a  great  change. 
European  history  loses  its  unity  when  it  ceases  to  group  itself 
round  one  central  figure.  With  the  great  emperor  vanished  all 
prospect  of  a  compromise  between  the  two  rival  faiths.  Hence- 
forth Roman  Catholicism  hardens  itself  in  its  remaining  strongholds, 
and  prepares  not  only  to  repress  all  attempts  at  internal  change, 
but  also  to  carry  on  a  determined  war  against  the  hostile  Protestant 
separatists. 


CHAPTER  V1L 

THE  COUNTER-REFORMATION. 

§  1.  Protestant  doctrines  in  Italy;  their  failure  to  produce  a  schism  ;  they 
help  to  reform  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  §  2.  New  religious  orders ; 
the  Jesuits ;  causes  of  their  success.  §  3.  The  Inquisition  and  the 
Index.  §  4.  The  Council  of  Trent;  its  three  sessions;  general  result 
of  the  Council.  §  5.  Altered  character  of  the  Popes ;  Pius  V. ; 
Gregory  XIII. ;  Sixtus  V. ;  his  domestic  administration. 

§  1.  The  Reformation  is  usually  regarded  as  a  movemen  t  which  was 
confined  to  the  northern  nations  of  Europe.  But  it  also  exercised 
a  considerable  influence  in  Italy,  the  stronghold  of  the  papal  power. 
The  Italian  Renaissance  had  produced  among  its  pupils  a  nega- 
tive and  somewhat  contemptuous  attitude  towards  religion,  and 
this  was  confirmed  by  continual  contact  with  the  most  flagrant 
ecclesiastical  abuses.  But  there  were  not  wanting  earnest-mioded 
men  who  were  anxious  to  remove  rather  than  to  satire  these  abuses, 
and  who  were  actuated  by  the  true  spirit  of  the  Reformat  ion.  It 
has  been  conclusively  shown  that  Luther's  s;  ecial  doctrine,  that  of 
justification  by  faith,  found  numerous  adherents  in  Italy.  It  was 
held  by  Contarini,  Sadolet,  Bemboand  other  cardinals  of  the  church. 
It  was  preached  in  Naples  by  Juan  Valdez,  a  Spaniard,  in  Siei.a  ly 
Bernardino  Ochino,  and  in  Lucca  by  Peter  Martyr.  An  anonymous 
work,  "Of  the  Benefits  of  Christ's  Death,"  which  maintained  this 
doctrine,  was  published  in  1540  and  obtained  a  very  large  circulate  <n. 
As  compared  with  this  doctrinal  agreement,  practical  reforms  were 
far  simpler  and  were  urged  with  greater  unanimity. 

The  natural  impulse  of  these  reforming  tendencies  was  to  bring 
about  some  compromise  with  Protestantism  and  so  to  preset  ve 
the  unity  of  the  church.  This,  as  has  been  seen,  was  attempted 
at  the  diet  of  Ratisbon  in  1541,  where  the  ]>ope  was  represented 
by  cardinal  Contarini.  But  several  causes  combined  to  frustrate 
the  attempt.  The  desire  for  reform  was  confined  to  the  cultivated 
classes  in  Italy,  and  found  little  adherence  among  the  jeople.  The 
traditional  policy  of  the  papacy  was  opposed  to  any  concessions 
which  might  strengthen  its  old  rival,  the  empire.    And  the  influence 


94  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  vii. 

of  the  French  king  was  employed  to  prevent  a  reconciliation 
between  Charles  V.  and  the  German  Protestants.  The  prospect 
of  a  compromise  thus  proved  hopeless,  and  the  reforming  tendencies 
took  another  direction.  An  attempt  was  made  to  purify,  and  so 
to  strengthen  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  that  it  might  be  able  to 
confront  its  Protestant  enemies  on  an  equal  footing.  It  is  this 
movement  which  has  received  the  name  of  the  Counter-Reformation. 

§  2.  The  spirit  of  the  movement  is  manifested  in  the  numerous 
orders  which  were  formed  in  the  16th  century  to  renew  that  purity 
and  self-sacrifice  which  had  once  characterised  the  older  orders,  but 
had  been  lost  in  their  degradation.  Such  were  the  Theatines,  founded 
in  Rome  by  Caraffa,  and  the  Barnabites,  a  Lombard  order  in  Milan. 
But  by  far  the  most  active  and  important  of  these  new  associations 
was  that  of  the  Jesuits.  Their  founder  was  Ignatius  Loyola,  a 
Spanish  knight,  born  in  the  year  1491.  At  the  siege  of  Pampeluna 
in  1521  he  was  crippled  by  a  cannon  shot.  During  the  forced 
inaction  of  his  illness  he  read  the  legends  of  the  saints,  which 
exerted  a  marvellous  influence  on  his  excitable  and  visionary  nature. 
He  determined  to  emulate  their  achievements,  and  to  resign  his 
dreams  of  military  glory  for  the  more  heroic  service  of  the  Virgin. 
After  numerous  pilgrimages  he  took  up  his  abode  in  Paris,  and 
there  in  middle  age  set  to  work  to  complete  his  neglected  education. 
Among  his  fellow  students  he  found  and  gained  over  the  men  who 
were  to  assist  him  in  his  great  task.  These  were  Francis  Xavier,  Iago 
Lainez,  Salmeron  and  Bobadilla,  all  Spaniards,  and  Peter  Faber, 
a  Savoyard.  In  1534  these  enthusiasts  bound  themselves  by  an 
oath  to  sever  themselves  from  the  world  and  to  devote  their  lives 
to  the  service  of  the  church.  Two  years  later  they  appeared  in 
Rome,  and  after  many  rebuffs  and  difficulties  they  obtained  from 
pope  Paul  III.  the  bull  which  constituted  them  "The  Order  of 
Jesus."  (27th  Sept.  1540.)  To  their  three  vows  of  chastity 
poverty  and  obedience  they  added  an  oath  to  carry  out  the  com- 
mands of  the  pope  without  hesitation  or  delay.  Thus  the  papacy, 
at  a  time  when  Europe  seemed  to  be  slipping  from  its  grasp,  re- 
ceived the  voluntary  assistance  of  a  body  of  devoted  men,  who  were 
destined  to  revive  its  power  and  influence.  The  order  obtained  the 
right  to  elect  their  own  general,  and  their  choice  fell  at  once  upon 
their  founder.  On  Loyola's  death  in  1556,  he  was  succeeded  by 
Lainez,  a  man  of  far  less  mystical  enthusiasm,  but  endowed  with 
greater  administrative  ability.  To  him  the  order  owes  the  con-, 
stitution  which  has  made  it  the  wonder  and  the  model  of  later 
associations. 

The  secret  of  the  success  of  the  Jesuits  lay  in  their  complete 
severance  from  all  ordinary  ties,  from  home,  family  and  friendship, 


a.d.  1534-1542.      FOUNDATION   OF  THE   JESUITS.  95 

and  their  entire  devotion  to  the  interests  of  their  order.  Obedience 
was  the  cardinal  duty  which  swallowed  up  all  other  motives. 
They  renounced,  on  taking  the  vows,  all  right  of  private  judgment, 
and  blindly  submitted  themselves  to  the  orders  of  their  superiors. 
The  order  was  divided  into  grades  of  varying  authority,  but  the 
whole  formed  one  vast  machine  which  was  wielded  at  will  by  the 
general.  To  enable  the  Jesuits  to  devote  themselves  to  their 
special  work,  they  were  relieved  from  the  ordinary  duties  of 
monastic  orders.  Ill  us  they  were  not  bound  to  the  performance  of 
the  routine  religious  exercises  of  each  day.  Paul  IV.  wished  to 
withdraw  this  privilege,  but  Lainez  refused  to  submit,  and  the 
danger  was  removed  by  the  pope's  death.  From  the  first  the 
Jesuits  occupied  a  unique  position  among  religious  associations. 
They  aroused  none  of  the  prejudices  which  had  now  grown  up 
against  monks,  and  they  could  appeal  to  a  wider  circle  of  sym- 
pathies. To  ordinary  men  and  women  they  appeared  as  men  of 
the  world  rather  than  ecclesiastics.  Nothing  was  too  high  or  too 
low  for  them.  Politics  occupied  great  part  of  their  attention,  and 
here  they  conspicuously  displayed  that  subordination  of  the  means 
to  the  end  which  has  since  been  a  ground  cf  accusation  against 
them.  But  for  a  time  they  were  very  successful,  and  became 
influential  advisers  of  kings  and  ministers.  They  also  exercised 
great  influence  through  the  confessional,  that  most  potfiit  instru- 
ment of  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood  But  tluir  j>ower  was 
made  durable  not  so  much  by  their  activity  as  preachers  and 
confessors,  nor  even  by  the  political  doctrines  which  they  skilfully 
varied  to  suit  different  countries  and  peoples,  as  by  their  devotion 
to  education.  The  Jesuit  schools  became  the  best  in  Europe. 
The  thoroughness  of  the  system  which  they  formulated,  and  the 
fact  that  they  taught  gratis,  enabled  them  to  supersede  the  huma: 
teachers,  who  had  hitherto  claimed  a  monopoly  of  learning  and 
enlightenment  By  gaining  over  the  youth  of  Catholic  count; 
they  secured  their  hold  over  future  generations.  The  papacy  owed 
a  great  debt  to  the  order  of  Loyola,  which  carried  on  a  crusade  against 
Protestantism  with  the  military  devotion  and  enthusiasm  that 
characterised  its  founder. 

§  3.  The  Counter-Reformation  was  compelled,  by  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation,  to  suppress  the  reforming  tendencies  in  Italy  to 
which  it  owed  its  origin.  In  1542  Paul  III.,  the  very  pope  who  had 
shown  the  greatest  inclination  to  reform,  established  the  Inquisition 
in  Rome  on  the  Spanish  model.  The  bull  appointed  six  cardinals, 
of  whom  Caraffa  was  the  most  prominent,  and  empowered  them  to 
try  all  matters  of  faith  and  to  inflict  the  penalties  of  death  and 
confiscation  upon  heretics.    These  powers   were    exercised   with 


96  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  vii 

unflinching  severity.  The  most  conspicuous  reformers,  as  Bernar- 
dino Ochino  and  Peter  Martyr,  left  Italy.  Not  content  with 
persecuting  the  professors  of  heretical  doctrines,  it  was  determined 
to  suppress  the  books  in  which  those  doctrines  were  maintained. 
The  first  Index,  or  list  of  proscribed  writings,  was  published  in 
Rome  by  Paul  IV.,  who,  as  cardinal  Caraffa,  had  been  the  guiding 
spirit  of  the  Inquisition.  A  regular  book-police  was  instituted,  and, 
supported  by  the  secular  authorities,  its  work  was  carried  out  with 
marvellous  efficiency.     . 

§  4.  There  was  one  demand  of  the  reform iug  party  which  could  not 
be  wholly  refused,  but  which  produced  in  the  end  very  unexpected 
results.  This  was  the  summons  of  a  general  council.  The  pope 
hesitated  for  a  long  time  to  comply  with  this  request,  though  it 
was  advanced  even  by  Catholic  princes.  At  last,  at  the  urgent 
instance  of  Charles  V.,  Paul  III.  summoned  a  council  to  meet  in  Trent 
at  the  end  of  1545.  The  first  session  was  short,  and  was  deprived 
of  importance  by  a  quarrel  between  the  emperor  and  the  pope. 
Charles  V.  wished  the  council  to  make  such  reforms  in  the  church 
as  would  enable  him  to  come  to  terms  with  the  German  Protes- 
tants. The  pope's  object,  on  the  other  hand,  was  to  strengthen  his 
own  authority  and  to  condemn  all  doctrinal  heresy.  Charles' 
successes  in  Germany  terrified  Paul  III.  for  his  own  independence, 
and  in  1547  he  suddenly  transferred  the  council  to  Bologna.  The 
emperor,  deeply  indignant  at  this,  protested  that  its  decrees  would 
now  be  null  and  void,  and  the  council  separated  without  having 
effected  any  important  result.  Paul  III.'s  successor,  Julius  III. 
(1550-1555),  was  an  adherent  of  the  emperor,  and  was  induced  to 
convene  the  council  again  at  Trent  in  1551.  But  the  pope's  views 
were  still  opposed  to  any  of  the  concessions  which  were  desired  by 
Charles.  The  Protestants,  who  appeared  at  Trent,  were  treated  as 
recusant  heretics,  with  whom  there  could  be  no  equal  negotiation. 
All  doctrinal  points  which  came  up  for  discussion,  such  as  tran- 
substantiation,  were  settled  in  accordance  with  the  strictly  orthodox 
views.  But  before  any  progress  had  been  made  in  this  directioD, 
the  advance  of  Maurice  of  Saxony  led  to  the  sudden  breaking  up  of 
the  council  in  1552. 

Paul  IV.  (1555-1559)  was  the  representative  pope  of  the  counter- 
reformation.  It  was  he  who  had  organised  the  Inquisition,  and 
who  drew  up  the  Index.  At  first  his  hatred  of  the  Hapsburgs 
diverted  his  attention  to  political  affairs,  and  led  him  to  confer 
great  powers  on  his  nephews.  But  on  the  termination  of  the  war 
he  altered  his  policy,  devoted  himself  to  establish  the  strictest 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  drove  all  his  relatives  from  the  court. 
From  this  time  nepotism,  in  the  sense  of  the  advancement  of 


a.u.  1545-1562.      THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.  97 

relatives  to  political  power,  came  to  an  end.  This  had  been  the 
most  flagrant  vice  of  the  papacy,  and  had  done  much  to  bring  it 
into  discredit.  Its  removal  was  an  important  step  towards  the 
regeneration  of  the  Romish  church. 

Under  Paul  IV.  the  demand  for  a  general  council  had  again  been 
raised.  His  successor,  Pius  IV.  (1559-1565),  gave  his  consent,  and 
the  third,  and  far  the  most  important,  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent 
was  opened  in  January,  1562.  This  session  differed  from  the  others 
mainly  in  the  fact  that  there  was  no  longer  any  idea  of  a  recon- 
ciliation with  the  Protestants,  whose  position  in  Germany  had  been 
secured  by  the  treaty  of  Augsburg.  The  work  of  the  council  was 
therefore  limited  to  the  narrow  circle  of  the  Catholic  nations. 
Within  these  limits  it  had  important  duties — to  determine  the 
relations  between  the  head  and  the  members  of  the  church,  to  settle 
doctrinal  points  which  were  still  disputed,  and  to  complete  those 
internal  reforms  which  were  needed  to  restore  the  old  reverence  for 
the  church. 

It  was  soon  evident  that  even  among  the  Catholics  there  were 
grave  divergences  of  opinion,  and  in  especial  the  papal  authority 
was  exposed  to  attack.  The  Germans,  acting  under  instructions 
from  Ferdinand  I.,  demanded  radical  reforms,  such  as  the  marriage 
of  the  clergy,  the  communion  in  both  kinds,  and  services  in  the 
German  language.  The  French  prelates,  headed  by  the  Cardinal  of 
Lorraine,  not  only  supported  the  German  demands,  but  took  up 
the  doctrine  advanced  in  the  last  century  at  Constance  and  Basel  of 
the  superiority  of  a  general  council  over  the  pope.  The  Spaniards, 
while  they  were  opposed  to  all  doctrinal  reforms,  wished  the 
episcopal  authority  to  be  recognised  as  of  divine  origin,  and  thus 
independent  of  the  papacy.  All  were  opposed  to  the  claim 
advanced  by  the  papal  legates  to  have  the  sole  right  of  bringing 
proposals  before  the  council.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  papacy  that 
votes  were  no  longer  taken  by  nations  as  at  Constance.  The 
Italians  still  outnumbered  the  representatives  of  all  other  nations, 
and  their  interests,  which  were  more  powerful  than  their  con- 
sciences, were  on  the  papal  side.  But  Pius  IV.  felt  he  was 
threatened  by  the  dangers  which  his  predecessors  had  always 
dreaded  from  a  general  council.  From  these  he  was  saved  partly 
by  his  own  ingenuity,  but  still  more  by  the  dexterous  diplomacy  of 
Cardinal  Morone,  whom  he  appointed  president  of  the  council. 
The  differences  between  the  various  nations  were  carefully  fomented 
and  points  of  concord  obscured.  Separate  negotiations  were  opened 
with  the  temporal  princes,  and  they  were  persuaded  that  the  papal 
authority  was  needed  to  repress  the  growth  of  an  independent 
hierarchy.  At  the  same  time  it  was  hinted  to  the  bishops  that  a 
6* 


98  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  vii. 

strong  papacy  was  their  only  security  against  complete  subjection  to 
the  temporal  power. 

The  triumph  of  the  papacy  being  thus  assured,  the  work  of  the 
council  proceeded  with  marvellous  rapidity.  The  pope  was  anxious 
to  bring  it  to  a  close,  and  he  met  with  little  or  no  opposition.  In 
the  latter  half  of  the  year  1563  a  decision  was  come  to  on  all 
important  dogmatic  points,  indulgences,  purgatory,  the  ordination 
of  the  clergy,  the  sacrament  of  marriage,  and  the  worship  of  saints. 
And  almost  all  were  decided  in  the  old  Roman  Catholic  sense.  The 
foremost  spokesman  of  the  strictly  orthodox  party  was  Lainez,  the 
general  of  the  Jesuits.  Differences  were  avoided  by  dexterous 
verbal  compromises,  which  meant  nothing,  as  the  interpretation  of 
the  decrees  was  vested  in  the  pope.  Reforms  were  made  in  the 
direction  of  enforcing  strict  discipline  over  the  inferior  clergy,  the 
establishment  of  schools,  and  a  new  regulation  of  parishes.  But 
no  further  mention  was  made  of  reforming  the  central  authority, 
the  papacy,  the  cardinals,  and  the  curia.  So  far  from  maintaining 
its  supremacy  over  the  pope,  the  council  itself  petitioned  Pius  IV. 
to  confirm  its  decrees.  On  the  4th  of  December,  1563,  the  last 
sitting  came  to  an  end. 

The  Council  of  Trent  was  the  last  of  the  great  ecclesiastical 
assemblies  which  are  so  prominent  in  mediaeval  history.  It  had 
no  successor  till  the  meeting  of  the  Vatican  Council  in  1869.  Its 
importance  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  completed  the  counter-Reforma- 
tion. In  opposition  to  the  Protestant  revolt,  it  formulated  the  old 
doctrines  with  logical  distinctness.  The  traditions  which  had 
hitherto  been  open  to  question  were  henceforth  established 
dogmas.  The  Catholic  church  had  to  content  itself  with  narrower 
limits,  but  within  those  limits  it  acquired  new  strength  and 
consistency.  While  many  of  the  worst  abuses  were  removed  or 
concealed,  the  old  hierarchical  constitution,  and,  above  all,  the 
despotic  authority  of  the  papacy,  received  a  new  confirmation. 
These  were  the  advantages  which  the  Roman  Catholic  church 
reaped  from  the  Reformation,  advantages  which  almost  compensated 
it  for  the  loss  of  territory. 

§  5.  From  this  time  a  new  spirit  seems  to  take  possession  of  the 
Romish  church.  It  is  manifest  in  the  revival  of  saintly  purity  of 
life  and  missionary  zeal,  which  we  can  trace  in  the  lives  of  such 
men  as  Carlo  Borromeo,  archbishop  of  Milan,  and  St.  Francis  de 
Sales,  the  heroes  of  modern  Catholicism.  But  it  is  even  more 
manifest  in  the  altered  character  of  the  popes.  The  age  of 
Sixtus  IV.,  Alexander  VI.,  and  even  of  Paul  III.,  is  past.  Their 
place  is  filled  by  popes  like  Pius  V.  and  Sixtus  V.,  who  within  the 
church   are  active  reformers,  while  outside  they  appear  as  the 


a.d.  1563-1590.      POPES  OF  THE  XVL   CENTURY.  99 

uncompromising  opponents  of  Protestantism.  When  they  are 
diverted  from  ecclesiastical  interests  and  duties,  it  is  not  by  dreams 
of  secular  aggrandisemeut  for  themselves  or  their  families,  but  by 
the  carrying  out  of  long-needed  reforms  in  the  States  of  the 
Church. 

Pius  V.  (1566-1572)  was  chosen  as  the  representative  of  the 
rigid  party  in  the  church.  Carlo  Borromeo  was  active  in  sup- 
porting his  election.  Nor  did  he  disappoint  the  expectations  that 
had  been  formed  of  him.  He  put  a  final  end  to  nepotism  by  a  law 
which  forbade  the  alienation  of  any  property  of  the  church,  and 
threatened  excommunication  against  any  one  who  should  propose  it. 
He  maintained  church  discipline  with  the  greatest  rigour.  The 
expenses  of  the  papal  household  were  reduced  by  the  strictest 
economy.  In  Europe  the  influence  of  so  energe  ic  and  self-denying 
a  pope  became  a  power.  Pius  V.  urged  Philip  II.  to  take  the 
severest  measures  against  the  Netherlands,  and  approved  the 
cruelties  of  Alva.  He  sent  Italian  troops  to  the  aid  of  the  Catholic 
party  in  France,  and  gave  them  special  injunctions  to  grant  no 
quarter  to  Huguenots.  He  issued  the  bull  of  excommunication 
against  Elizabeth,  which  for  ever  alienated  England  from  the 
papacy.  More  creditable  to  the  pope  was  his  activity  against  the 
Turks.  He  succeeded  in  concluding  the  league  betweeu  Spain  and 
Venice,  which  under  the  command  of  Don  John  of  Austria  gained 
the  great  victory  of  Lepanto  in  1571. 

The  pontificate  of  Gregory  XIII.  (1572-1585)  is  notable  mainly 
as  showing  that  a  pope  who  was  personally  inclined  to  laxity  was 
unable  to  resist  the  prevailing  tendency  of  the  age.  He  was  forced 
almost  against  his  will  to  gov*  rn  in  the  same  spirit  as  his  pre- 
decessor. He  is  remembered  chiefly  as  the  pope  who  reformed  the 
calendar,  and  celebrated  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  His 
domestic  government  of  the  pa|>al  states  gave  rise  to  disorders 
which  it  required  all  the  ability  of  his  successor  to  suppress. 

Sixtus  V.  (1585-1590)  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  j-ope  of 
the  16th  century.  He  was  endowed  with  signal  administrative 
ability,  and  his  short  pontificate  was  a  period  of  great  and  multi- 
farious activity.  He  limited  the  number  of  cardinals  to  seventy, 
and  gave  them  a  new  organisation.  But  bis  attention  was  mainly 
directed  to  the  temporal  interests  of  his  subjects.  He  encouraged 
agriculture  and  manufactures,  and  conducted  works  of  great  public 
utility.  The  towns  received  from  him  important  privileges.  The 
city  of  Rome  owed  much  to  Sixtus  V.  He  constructed  a  colossal 
aqueduct  (Acqua  Felice)  to  supply  the  city  with  water.  The 
erection  of  the  great  obelisk  in  front  of  St.  Peter's,  the  triumph  of 
the  mechanical  art  of  those  days,  was  his  work.     His  object  was 


100  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  vil 

characteristic  of  the  man  and  the  age,  the  public  humiliation  of 
pagan  monuments  before  the  glory  of  the  cross.  The  great  blot 
upon  his  administration  was  his  greed  for  money.  To  gratify  this 
he  resorted  to  the  most  ruinous  financial  expedients.  He  not  only 
sold  offices,  but  created  new  offices  for  sale.  He  raised  loans 
recklessly,  and  secured  the  interest  upon  increased  taxes,  which 
obstructed  the  industries  he  was  trying  to  foster.  But  he  was  so 
successful  in  his  immediate  object  that  he  was  able  to  collect 
nearly  five  millions  of  scudi  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo.  To 
Europe  generally  Sixtus  V.  appeared  as  the  promulgator  of  the 
most  chimerical  schemes.  The  annihilation  of  the  Turkish  empire, 
the  conquest  of  Egypt,  and  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  seemed  to  him  quite  feasible.  But  behind  these  dreams 
of  a  vivid  imagination  is  manifest  the  spirit  of  revived  Catholicism, 
of  which  the  pope  was  at  once  the  creature  and  the  representative. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  REIGN  OF  PHILIP  II.,  AND  THE  REVOLT  OF  THE 
NETHERLANDS. 

§  1.  Policy  of  Philip  II. ;  personal  character.  §  2.  Suppression  of  the 
liberties  of  Aragon;  use  of  the  Inquisition  as  a  political  instrument. 
§  3.  History  of  Don  Carlos ;  his  death.  §  4.  Annexation  of  Portugal 
to  Spain.  §  5.  The  Netherlands ;  causes  of  discontent ;  the  new 
bishoprics.  §  6.  The  leading  nobles,  Orange,  Egmont  and  Horn ;  oppo- 
sition to  Granvella,  who  is  recalled.  §  7.  Egmont's  mission  to  Spain  ; 
the  Compromise ;  the  Beggars ;  iconoclastic  riots.  §  8.  Margaret  of 
Parma  superseded  by  Alva;  the  Council  of  Blood;  beginning  of  the 
revolt.  §  9.  Execution  of  Egmont  and  Horn ;  Alva's  cruelty ;  his 
financial  measures  ;  revolt  of  the  northern  provinces ;  recall  of  Alva ; 
§  10.  Administration  of  Requesens ;  the  Spanish  Fury  ;  Pacification  of 
Ghent.  §  11.  Don  John  of  Austria  in  the  Netherlands;  the  Perpetual 
Edict ;  death  of  Don  John.  §  12.  Alexander  Farnese ;  Union  of 
Utrecht ;  Francis  of  Anjou ;  assassination  of  William  of  Orange.  §  13. 
The  southern  provinces  return  to  their  allegiance  to  Spain ;  the 
northern  provinces  extort  the  recognition  of  their  independence. 

§  1.  The  Counter  Reformation  found  among  temporal  princes  one 
consistent  ami  active  supporter,  Philip  II.,  the  son  and  successor 
of  Charles  V.  Austria  and  the  Empire  passed  to  the  younger  branch 
of  the  Hapsburgs,  but  Philip  was  careful  to  maintain  close  relations 
with  his  German  cousins.  He  himself  inherited  Spain,  the  Nether- 
lands, Milan,  Naples,  the  New  World  and  a  number  of  smaller 
dependencies.  Both  his  territories,  and  the  revenues  derived  from 
them,  made  him  the  most  powerful  of  European  princes.  The 
Spanish  army  was  at  the  height  of  its  unrivalled  reputation.  After 
concluding  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis  (1559)  Philip  returned 
to  Spain,  which  he  never  again  quitted.  He  transferred  the  capital 
from  Saragossa  to  Madrid,  near  which  he  built  a  new  royal  residence, 
the  Escorial.  From  this  centre  he  directed  the  policy  by  which  ho 
hoped  to  realise  his  father's  great  scheme,  the  establishment  of  the 
Hapsburg  supremacy  in  Europe.  The  means  which  he  employed 
were  of  course  different,  as  circumstances  had  changed.  In  one  point, 
in  his  relations  to  the  church,  this  difference  is  most  conspicuous. 
Charles  V.  had  subordinated  religion  to  politics,  he  had  no  en- 


102  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  vm. 

thusiasm  for  orthodoxy  either  in  doctrine  or  ceremonial ;  he  was 
anxious  to  dictate  his  own  terms  to  the  pope,  and  to  make  himself 
supreme  both  in  church  and  in  state.  Philip  II.,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  the  willing  vassal  of  the  papacy.  The  extension  of  his  power 
implied  the  extension  of  Roman  Catholic  doctrines  and  organisation. 
He  was  the  champion  of  the  reaction.  To  Charles  V.  heresy  was 
distasteful  only  as  connected  with  political  opposition  ;  to  Philip 
it  was  something  hateful  in  itself.  He  expressed  his  inmost  feelings 
when  he  declared  that  it  was  better  not  to  rule  at  all  than  to  rule 
over  heretics.  The  two  guiding  motives  of  his  policy  were  re- 
ligious bigotry  and  dynastic  ambition,  and  in  his  mind  they  were 
inseparable. 

In  personal  character,  Philip  presents  a  complete  contrast  to  his 
father.  From  his  youth  the  latter  had  been  brought  into  close 
contact  with  men  and  affairs.  His  ductile  nature  had  been  open 
to  the  varied  influences  of  his  eventful  career.  He  had  learnt  to 
conciliate  the  different  nations  over  which  he  ruled  by  conforming 
to  their  manners  and  customs.  Thus  among  Flemings,  Italians, 
and  Spaniards  he  acquired  a  personal  popularity  which  often  stood 
him  in  good  stead.  Even  among  the  Germans,  with  whom  he  had 
least  sympathy,  it  was  his  policy  rather  than  his  person  which 
aroused  dislike.  He  took  an  interest  in  art  and  literature ;  shared 
in  the  tournaments  and  other  entertainments  of  the  time ;  and 
collected  round  him  a  splendid  and  imposing  court.  For  such 
behaviour  Philip  had  neither  the  talent  nor  the  inclination.  He 
always  remained  a  Spaniard,  and  a  foreigner  to  his  other  subjects. 
He  could  express  himself  with  ease  in  no  language  except  Spanish. 
Literature  and  art  had  no  attractions  for  him.  He  carefully 
cultivated  the  haughty  and  reserved  manner  which  has  been 
always  attributed  to  the  grandees  of  Spain,  and  which  he  regarded 
as  alone  suited  to  a  ruler  of  men.  Even  when  he  endeavoured  in 
his  own  interests  to  obtain  popularity,  as  in  England,  he  could 
not  succeed.  Charles  V.  brought  him  to  Germany  to  secure  his 
succession  to  the  empire,  but  his  presence  destroyed  what  prospect 
there  was  of  such  an  event.  When  he  became  an  independent 
king,  Philip  carefully  secluded  himself  as  much  as  possible  from 
contact  with  mankind.  Even  his  own  ministers  could  rarely  obtain 
an  interview  with  him.  The  information  which  he  required  was 
furnished  in  writing.  He  was  the  most  industrious  of  monarchs, 
but  his  industry  was  that  of  a  clerk  rather  than  of  a  statesman. 
In  his  cabinet  he  received  and  read  all  despatches,  which  he 
annotated  and  even  answered  with  his  own  hand.  He  was  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  most  trivial  details  of  the  administration. 
He  collected  round  him  ministers  of  opposite  views,  such  as  the 


a.d.  1555-1599.  REIGN   OF   PHILIP  II.  103 

duke  of  Alva  and  the  prince  of  Eboli,  so  that  he  might  decide 
on  his  own  course  of  action  without  being  biassed  by  one-sided 
advice.  He  himself  declared  that  royalty  was  the  most  hard- 
worked  of  offices.  His  reserve  was  a  source  at  once  of  weakness 
and  of  strength.  He  had  none  of  the  elasticity  of  purpose  and 
variety  of  resource  which  a  great  statesman  acquires  from  personal 
contact  with  other  men.  But  at  the  same  time  his  policy  was  saved 
from  the  danger  of  weak  and  inconsiderate  change;  it  impressed 
people  like  a  mighty  engine  which  works  with  constant  and  resist- 
less force,  but  whose  springs  of  motion  are  concealed  and  mysterious. 
§  2.  In  his  domestic  policy,  Philip  II.  aimed  at  the  complete  sup- 
pression of  all  constitutional  privileges  and  freedom,  at  the  entire 
subjection  of  Spain  to  one  central  power,  the  monarchy.  In  this 
he  had  only  to  follow  the  lines  already  laid  down  by  his  father 
and  great-grandfather.  The  Cortes  of  Castile  had  been  reduced  to 
insignificance  by  Charles  V.  in  1538.  In  Aragon,  liberies  were 
more  firmly  founded  and  endured  longer.  The  influence  of  the 
Cortes  was  supported  by  the  independence  of  the  Justiza,  whose 
authority  rivalled  that  of  the  crown.  In  1590,  Antonio  Perez,  a 
minister  who  had  incurred  Philip's  displeasure,  appealed  for  pro- 
tection to  the  forms  of  the  Aragonese  constitution.  The  king  took 
advantage  of  this  to  put  an  end  to  institutions  which  checked  his 
power.  The  Cortes  became  a  body  of  royal  Dominees  with  hardly 
any  rights  but  that  of  presenting  petitions.  The  appointment  of 
judicial  officers  was  vested  in  the  crown,  and  a  fortress  was  erected 
to  overawe  the  old  capital,  Sarajrossa.  In  these  and  other  changes 
Philip  was  aided  by  the  provincial  rivalry  which  still  subsisted. 
Castile  and  Aragon,  though  united  under  one  crown,  had  not  for- 
gotten the  time  when  they  were  independent  kingdoms ;  and  only 
became  conscious  of  their  common  interests  when  it  was  too  late 
to  defend  them.  It  was  easy  for  the  king  to  employ  the  forces 
of  one  country  to  suppress  the  liberties  of  the  other.  And  in 
carrying  out  his  policy  of  centralisation,  Philip  found  a  useful 
weapon  in  that  most  terrible  of  ecclesiastical  institutions,  the 
Inquisition.  It  was  here  that  the  king  found  a  reward  for  his 
•  It  v<.tion  to  the  interests  of  the  church.  The  judges  of  the  In- 
<pii>ition,  who  were  mostly  ecclesiastics,  were  appointed  by  the  king, 
t<>  whom  fell  the  confiscated  property.  The  dreaded  tribunal  was 
employed  to  punish  political  offenders  as  well  as  heretics.  Its  seal 
lor  the  crown  was  rewarded  by  the  periodical  autos-da-fe  of  Jews 
and  Moriscoes.  But  Philip's  policy,  however  successful,  was  fatal 
to  Spain.  He  crushed  the  liberties,  but  with  them  the  life  of  the 
country.  The  most  important  industrial  elements  of  the  population 
were  destroyed  or  driven  into  exile  by  religious  persecution. 


104  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  vni. 

§  3.  Philip  II.'s  merciless  character  was  manifested  even  within  the 
limits  of  his  own  family.  The  most  tragic  incident  of  his  reign 
was  the  fate  of  Don  Carlos,  the  son  of  his  first  wife,  Maria  of 
Portugal.  The  young  prince,  who  was  born  in  1545,  was  brought 
up  by  his  aunt  Joanna,  and  saw  little  of  his  father.  He  was 
afterwards  sent  to  the  University  of  Alcala  de  Henares,  where  he 
was  the  fellow-pupil  of  Don  John  of  Austria  and  Alexander  Farnese. 
There  he  gave  himself  up  to  a  life  of  dissipation,  and  this  further 
alienated  his  father,  who  had  never  shown  any  affection  for  him. 
Philip  refused  all  his  son's  demands  to  be  admitted  to  some  office 
suited  to  his  rank.  At  last  Don  Carlos  planned  to  escape  from 
Spain,  probably  to  the  Netherlands,  and  may  even  have  manifested 
some  inclination  to  the  Protestantism  which  was  making  great 
progress  there.  This  suspicion  is  sufficient  to  explain  the  wrath 
of  Philip,  who  seems  also  to  have  accused  his  son  of  a  design  upon 
his  life.  The  prince  was  seized  and  placed  in  close  confinement, 
from  which  he  never  emerged.  It  is  quite  possible  that  his  death 
(July,  1566)  was  natural,  but  a  suspicious  age  was  not  slow  to 
accuse  Philip  of  the  murder  of  his  son.  Three  months  afterwards 
Philip's  second  wife,  Elizabeth  of  France,  also  died.  She  had  at 
one  time  been  the  destined  bride  of  Don  Carlos,  but  had  been  after- 
wards married  to  the  father.  This  fact  and  the  coincidence  of 
their  deaths  gave  rise  to  legends  of  love  and  jealousy  which  have 
supplied  both  Schiller  and  Alfieri  with  the  subject  of  a  tragedy. 

§  4.  Philip  II.'s  greatest  success  was  the  annexation  of  Portugal,  by 
which  he  completed  the  unity  of  the  peninsula.  This  had  been  a 
favourite  object  both  of  Ferdinand  and  of  Charles  V.,  and  numerous 
intermarriages  had  been  concluded  which  might  pave  the  way  for 
such  a  junction.  In  1557  the  death  of  John  III.  gave  the 
Portuguese  crown  to  his  inrant  grandson  Sebastian.  The  regency 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  young  king's  uncle,  Henry,  a  cardinal  of 
the  church  and  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  papacy.  Under  his  rule 
the  Jesuits  became  all-powerful  in  Portugal.  When  Sebastian 
came  of  age  to  govern,  the  effects  of  his  ecclesiastical  training 
became  manifest.  He  refused  to  marry,  and  devoted  himself  to  a 
crusade  against  the  Mohammedans  in  Africa.  By  them  he  was 
slain  in  the  battle  of  Alcacer  (1578)  and  the  crown  passed  to  his 
uncle  Henry,  a  weakly  priest  in  his  sixty-seventh  year.  With  him 
it  was  certain  that  the  Portuguese  dynasty  must  expire.  Philip 
II.  at  once  commenced  intrigues  to  establish  his  claim  to  the  throne. 
His  mother  Isabella  was  the  eldest  sister  of  John  III.,  and  his  first 
wife  was  John's  eldest  daughter.  The  other  claimants  were 
Antonio  Prior  of  Crato,  the  natural  son  of  John  III.'s  brother,  and 
the  duchess  of  Braganza,  daughter  of  a  younger  brother.     Antonio 


a.d.  1580.       PORTUGAL  ANNEXED  TO  SPAIN.  105 

maintained  that  he  was  really  legitimate,  while  the  duchess  opposed 
Philip's  claim  on  the  ground  that  no  foreigner  could  ascend  the 
throne.  The  succession  question  was  still  unsettled  when  King 
Henry  died  (Jan.  1580).  Philip  at  once  crossed  the  frontier  with 
an  army  to  support  his  claim.  The  clergy  and  chief  nobles  were 
gained  over  by  his  promise  to  respect  the  national  liberties.  The 
people,  who  hated  Spain  and  the  prospect  of  foreign  rule,  rallied 
round  Antonio,  who  was  crowned  at  Lisbon.  But  he  had  neither 
ability  nor  military  force  to  maintain  his  position.  Lisbon  was 
taken  at  the  first  assault,  and  the  pretender  fled  to  France.  There 
he  was  maintained  by  the  European  powers  who  wished  to  have  a 
means  of  injuring  Philip  II.  at  their  command,  and  died  there  in 
1595.  Philip  entered  the  capital  in  triumph,  and  received 
the  crown.  His  promise  was  not  fulfilled,  and  the  liberties  of 
Portugal  soon  shared  the  fate  of  the  similar  institutions  in  Spain. 

To  secure  the  permanence  of  Spanish  rule,  the  power  of  the 
nobles  was  diminished  and  the  royal  domains  increased.  But  this 
policy  defeated  its  own  ends.  The  alienation  of  the  nobles  from 
Spain  led  to  the  restoration  of  Portuguese  independence  under  the 
House  of  Braganza  in  the  next  century. 

§  5.  In  Philip's  Italian  provinces,  Milan,  Naples,  and  Sicily,  his 
system  of  government  was  introduced  with  complete  success,  but  in 
the  Netherlands  it  provoked  a  storm  of  opposition  which  wrecked 
the  power  of  Spain.  The  Netherlands  consisted  of  seventeen 
provinces,  each  possessed  of  independent  institutions  and  inhabited 
by  populations  of  differing  character.  They  had  become  united  by 
falling  under  the  rule  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  from  whom  they 
had  passed  to  the  Hapsburgs.  But  the  union  under  a  common 
government  had  done  little  or  nothing  to  put  an  end  to  provincial 
differences.  Under  Charles  V.,  himself  a  Netherlander  by  birth, 
some  advance  had  been  made  towards  the  formation  of  a  central 
government.  A  supreme  court  of  justice  had  been  founded  at 
Mechlin,  and  deputies  from  the  various  provinces  were  summoned 
to  form  the  States-General.  But  Charles  had  been  too  cautious  to 
make  any  determined  attack  upon  local  privileges,  and  the  Nether- 
lands remained  a  loose  federation.  In  one  point  only  had  he 
phown  uncompromising  purpose,  in  his  opposition  to  religious 
reform.  An  edict  of  1550  threatened  heretics  with  the  severest 
penalties,  and  a  board  of  inquisitors,  or  as  they  were  euphemistically 
called,  "  ecclesiastical  judges,"  was  formed  to  enforce  them.  But  in 
spite  of  this  severity  the  Netherlands  were  quite  submissive  when 
they  were  transferred  to  Philip  II.  in  1555. 

The  new  ruler  soon  made  himself  as  hated  as  his  predecessor  had 
been  loved.    His  first  act  was  to  renew  the  edict  of  1550.    When 


106  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  vm. 

he  departed  for  Spain  in  1559,  he  showed  his  contempt  for  the 
feelings  and  prejudices  of  his-  subjects  in  the  appointment  of  a 
governor.  Passing  over  the  claims  of  the  native  nobles,  he  gave 
the  post  to  his  half-sister,  Margaret  of  Parma,  the  pupil  of  Ignatius 
Loyola  and  the  devoted  instrument  of  Philip's  reactionary  policy. 
Her  chief  minister  was  Cardinal  Granvella,  a  Burgundian  whose 
father  had  been  an  influential  adviser  of  Charles  V.  With  him 
were  united  Barlaymont,  a  noble,  and  Viglius,  a  lawyer.  These 
three  formed  the  Consulta,  or  secret  council,  and  their  influence 
rendered  powerless  the  recognised  Council  of  State,  in  which  the 
great  nobles  had  seats. 

This  establishment  of  an  anti-national  government  provoked 
widespread  discontent,  which  fouDd  immediate  vent  in  complaints 
against  the  continued  presence  of  Spanish  troops  after  the  king's 
departure.  So  threatening  was  the  opposition,  that  Philip,  much 
against  his  will,  was  compelled  to  withdraw  the  troops.  But  no 
sooner  was  this  concession  made  than  a  new  ground  of  complaint 
was  furnished  by  proposed  ecclesiastical  changes.  At  this  time 
there  were  only  four  bishoprics  in  the  Netherlands,  Arras,  Cambray, 
Tournay,  and  Utrecht.  Philip  obtained  a  bull  from  Pius  IV,  in 
1560,  creating  fourteen  new  bishoprics,  with  three  archbishoprics 
at  Mechlin,  Cambray,  and  Utrecht.  This  extension  of  the  hierarchy 
was  felt  to  be  a  general  grievance.  The  secular  estates  dreaded  the 
great  development  of  the  Spanish  and  ecclesiastical  power,  while 
even  the  clergy  were  discontented  by  the  proposal  to  confiscate 
church  property  for  the  endowment  of  the  new  sees.  The  doctrines 
of  Luther  and  Calvin  had  already  made  considerable  progress  in 
spite  of  the  edicts.     They  now  became  a  political  power. 

§  6.  The  lead  of  the  opposition  was  taken  by  the  great  nobles,  who 
felt  themselves  excluded  from  their  due  share  of  the  government.  At 
their  head  were  three  men,  William  of  Orange,  Count  Egmont,  and 
Admiral  Horn.  Egmont  was  a  soldier  who  had  won  great  distinc- 
tion in  the  battles  of  St.  Quentin  and  Gravelines.  His  bravery 
and  his  loyalty  were  equally  conspicuous,  but  his  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  country  and  the  feeling  that  his  great  services  were 
unrequited  combined  to  place  him  unwillingly  in  opposition  to  the 
crown.  He  was  a  sincere  Catholic  and  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
reformed  doctrine.  William  of  Orange  was  a  man  of  very  different 
stamp  and  of  far  greater  importance.  He  was  the  descendant  of 
the  German  house  of  Nassau,  which  had  acquired  large  possessions 
in  the  Netherlands.  His  grandfather,  Engelbert  II.,  had  divided 
his  territories  between  his  two  sons,  Henry  and  William.  Henry, 
the  elder,  who  received  the  lands  in  the  Netherlands,  brought  the 
principality  of  Orange  into  the  family  by  his  marriage  with  the 


a.d.  1559-1565.   DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  107 

sister  of  that  Prince  of  Orange  who  commanded  at  the  siege  of 
Rome  in  1527.  On  the  death  of  his  son  Rene'  in  1544,  both  Orange 
and  the  territories  in  the  Netherlands  fell  to  the  younger  branch  of 
Nassau,  which  was  now  represented  by  William,  the  grandson  of 
Engelbert.  The  prince  who  thus  obtained  so  magnificent  an  in- 
heritance was  at  the  time  only  eleven  years  old,  having  been  born  at 
Dillenburg  in  1533.  He  was  now  taken  into  the  service  of  Charles 
V.,  became  a  page  in  the  imperial  household,  and  there  gave  up  the 
reformed  faith  in  which  he  had  been  brought  up.  He  became  a 
favourite  with  Charles,  who  employed  him  on  important  embassies. 
He  was  still  quite  a  young  man,  and  little  was  known  of  his  character 
when  the  accession  of  Philip  II.  called  him  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  history  of  Europe. 

The  opposition  directed  itself  in  the  first  place  against  Granvella, 
who  was  designed  to  be  archbishop  of  Mechlin  and  Primate  of  the 
ilands.  The  nobles  formed  a  league  among  themselves,  and 
refused  to  take  any  share  in  the  conduct  of  business  until  the 
minister  was  removed.  At  last  even  the  regent  herself,  who  had 
no  love  for  the  man  whose  advice  was  often  preferred  to  her  own, 
joined  in  the  demand  lor  (Jranvella's  removal.  In  15(54  Philip 
felt  himself  reluctantly  compelled  to  accede.  The  Cardinal  was 
requested  to  withdraw  of  his  own  accord  for  the  sake  of  peace. 
Hut  his  conduct  had  earned  rather  than  forfeited  the  esteem  of  his 
master.  After  a  brief  residence  on  his  estates  at  Besancou,  he  was 
summoned  to  Madrid,  where  he  remained  an  influential  crown- 
adviser  till  his  death  in  1586. 

§  7.  The  nobles  soon  found  that  they  had  no  reason  to  regard 
Granvella's  recall  as  a  triumph.  Philip  was  determined  to  make  no 
change  in  his  system  of  government ;  the  enforced  concession  only 
in* m  ased  his  obstinacy.  He  ordered  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent  to  be  promulgated  in  the  Netherlands,  and  enjoin* d  on  the 
regent  a  strict  enforcement  of  the  edicts  against  heresy.  His  com- 
mands were  obeyed,  but  the  persecution  only  strengthened  the  move- 
ment it  was  intended  to  suppress.  The  nobles  despatched  Egmont 
to  Madrid  in  1565,  to  represent  to  the  king  the  evils  of  the  policy 
which  he  was  pursuing.  Philip  befooled  the  loyal  but  vain  count 
by  the  pomp  of  his  reception,  and  promised  increased  moderation. 
Egmont  returned  with  the  conviction  that  his  mission  had  been 
altogether  successful.  But  Philip  was  unmoved  ;  new  and  more 
edicts  were  issued:  the  relentless  severity  of  the  persecution 
was  increased.  Thousands  of  skilled  Flemish  workmen  were  driven 
to  take  refuge  in  England,  where  the  politic  Elizabeth  received  them 
with  open  arms. 

In  the  midst  of  the  general  excitement,  a  league  was  formed 


108  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  vln. 

against  the  Inquisition,  called  the  Compromise.  Its  founders  were 
St.  Aldegonde,  Brederode,  and  Lewis  of  Nassau,  William's  brother. 
It  was  joined  by  500  of  the  lesser  nobles,  and  also  by  a  number  of 
burghers.  It  derived  additional  importance  from  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  members  were  Catholics.  The  greater  nobles,  not  yet 
prepared  for  extreme  measures,  held  aloof.  A  petition  to  the  regent 
was  prepared  and  presented  by  Brederode  at  the  head  of  300 
followers.  Barlaymont  contemptuously  told  Margaret  not  to  be 
afraid  of  those  beggars.  The  nickname  was  gleefully  adopted,  and 
the  most  determined  of  Philip's  opponents  were  henceforth  known 
as  the  "  Beggars." 

While  the  regent  was  making  vain  efforts  to  satisfy  complaints 
and  at  the  same  time  to  obey  her  brother,  the  movement  of 
opposition  spread  from  the  nobles  to  the  lower  classes.  Everywhere 
the  Calvinist  preachers  collected  crowds  of  armed  and  enthusiastic 
hearers.  Riots  broke  out,  and  the  images  and  ornaments  in  the 
churches  were  destroyed  by  the  iconoclastic  fury  of  the  mob.  In 
the  face  of  this  general  rebellion  the  edicts  could  not  be  carried  out. 
The  regent  wished  to  escape  from  Brussels,  but  was  prevented  by 
Egmont  and  Orange,  who  promised  to  support  her  authority  if  she 
would  consent  to  abolish  the  Inquisition.  She  was  unable  to  refuse, 
and  they  at  once  set  to  work  to  restore  order. 

§  8.  But  meanwhile  the  news  of  the  disorders  had  infuriated 
Philip  II.  He  refused  to  recognise  the  concessions  which  his  sister  had 
made.  He  ordered  the  renewal  of  the  old  edicts,  and  determined  to 
send  Alva  to  the  Netherlands  to  carry  them  out  by  force  of  arms. 
William  of  Orange,  who  had  endeavoured  to  conciliate  Spain  by  the 
suppression  of  tumult,  was  so  depressed  at  the  news  of  this  de- 
termination that  he  retired  to  his  German  territories.  Alva  was 
merely  a  brutal  soldier  with  no  conception  of  the  duties  or  methods 
of  civil  government.  He  found  the  provinces  at  peace,  and  by 
conciliatory  measures  might  have  secured  them  to  Spain.  But 
severity  had  been  enjoined  by  his  master,  and  was  also  congenial 
to  his  own  nature.  His  violence  excited  the  bitterest  hatred  of 
Spanish  rule  and  gave  rise  to  a  revolt  which  developed  into 
a  struggle  for  life  and  death.  Margaret  of  Parma,  who  found  her 
measures  reversed  and  her  authority  superseded,  soon  quitted  the 
Netherlands. 

Alva's  first  act  was  to  arrest  Egmont  and  Horn,  though  they  had 
lately  given  conspicuous  support  to  the  government.  His  great 
regret  was  that  the  prince  of  Orange  had  escaped  his  clutches. 
He  erected  an  extraordinary  court  of  justice,  the  "Council  of 
Disorders,"  which  the  people  called  the  "  Council  of  Blood."  The 
persecution  now  commenced  resembled  a  massacre  rather  than  a 


a.d.  1567-1573.      ALVA  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  109 

judicial  proceeding.  The  Protestant  powers  of  Europe  were 
profoundly  moved.  Philip  II.  received  a  strong  remonstrance 
from  his  cousin  Maximilian  II.,  but  disregarded  it.  In  the 
Netherlands  the  feeling  of  dismay  was  even  stronger  for  a  time 
than  the  instinctive  desire  for  resistance.  But  William  of  Orange, 
who  heard  of  these  events  in  his  castle  of  Dillenburg,  was  convinced 
that  now  or  never  was  the  time  for  him  to  move.  He  formally 
announced  his  adhesion  to  Calvinism.  An  army  was  collected  com- 
posed of  German  mercenaries,  French  Huguenots,  and  exiles  from 
the  Netherlands.  One  division  of  this  force,  under  the  command 
of  Lewis  of  Nassau,  defeated  a  detachment  of  Spaniards  at  Heiliger- 
lee  (24th  May,  1568).  The  great  revolt  of  the  Netherlands  had 
begun. 

§  9.  The  news  of  the  defeat  decided  Alva  to  conduct  the  war  in 
person.  Before  leaving  Brussels,  he  had  Egmont  and  Horn  tried  and 
executed,  an  event  which  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  Europe. 
Ho  thtn  marched  to  meet  Lewis  of  Nassau  and  defeated  him  at  the 
battle  of  Jemmingen.  It  was  in  vain  that  William  of  Orange 
advanced  in  person  into  Brabant  to  retrive  this  loss.  Alva  refused 
to  meet  him  in  battle,  and  want  of  money  and  provisions  compelled 
the  prince  to  retreat.  With  his  brother  and  the  remnant  of  his 
forces  William  took  part  in  the  Huguenot  campaign  of  1569  in 
France.  Alva  boasted  that  the  revolt  was  crushed.  A  perfect 
reign  of  terror  ensued  in  the  Netherlands,  which  were  treated  as  a 
conquered  country.  Not  only  were  the  previous  cruelties  revived 
with  still  more  reckless  severity ;  Alva  also  developed  a  new  system 
of  taxation,  which  was  to  bring  vast  revenues  to  the  Spanish  crown. 
His  ignorance  of  public  economy  was  equal  to  his  ferocity,  and 
produced  results  quite  as  disastrous.  He  proposed  in  March,  1569, 
to  impose  a  tax  of  a  hundredth  penny,  or  one  per  cent,  on  all 
property.  All  sales  of  real  property  were  taxed  at  five  per  cent., 
and  of  movables  at  ten  per  cent.  A  commercial  community,  like 
that  of  the  Netherlands,  was  threatened  with  complete  ruin  by  such 
impositions.  Even  Alva's  obstinacy  was  unable  to  carry  his  proposals 
against  the  opposition  of  the  most  devoted  adherents  to  Spain.  One 
commodity  after  another  was  excepted  from  the  taxes,  which  brought 
in  little  or  nothing.  Alva's  financial  measures  proved  a  failure,  and 
they  convinced  even  Philip  II.  of  his  representative's  incompetence. 
The  brief  period  of  Spanish  despotism  brought  ruin  to  the  industry 
of  the  Netherlands.  Manufactures  and  commerce  began  to  ]ass 
over  to  England.  The  place  of  Bruges  and  Antwerp  was  taken  by 
London. 

Alva's  recall  had  been  decided  upon,  but  he  continued  to  hold 
office  till  the  api>ointmcnt  of  a  successor.     But  he  remained  only  to 


110  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  viii. 

witness  the  fall  of  the  edifice  which  he  had  reared  on  a  foundation 
of  violence  and  bloodshed.  In  1572  the  "  sea  beggars,"  exiles  who 
had  found  refuge  on  the  English  coast  and  a  means  of  a  subsistence 
in  piracy,  attacked  and  captured  the  town  of  Brill.  This  was 
followed  by  a  general  revolt  of  the  northern  provinces.  Lewis  of 
Nassau,  by  a  bold  movement,  made  himself  master  of  the  fortress  of 
Mons  (Bergen)  in  Hainault,  in  the  heart  of  the  Spanish  power. 
From  this  time  all  the  efforts  of  Spain  could  never  restore  complete 
subjection.  On  July  18,  1572,  the  states  of  Holland,  Zealand,  Fries- 
land,  and  Utrecht  acknowledged  the  authority  of  William  of  Orange 
as  stadtholder.  Everything  seemed  to  favour  the  cause  of  liberty  : 
assistance  was  confidently  expected  from  France,  then  under  the 
influence  of  Coligny.  But  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  and 
the  change  of  French  policy  put  an  end  to  this  hope,  and  restored 
the  superiority  of  the  Spanish  arms.  Mons  was  forced  to  surrender, 
and  Alva's  son  Frederick  undertook  the  conquest  of  the  northern 
provinces.  Zutphen,  Naarden  and  Haarlem  were  besieged  and 
taken ;  but  at  last  the  heroism  of  the  inhabitants  of  Alkmaar  forced 
the  Spaniards  to  retreat.  But  me  aiwhile  Alva,  conscious  of  failure 
and  weary  of  a  war  in  which  success  could  bring  no  honour, 
had  himself  petitioned  for  a  recall.  In  December,  1573,  he  left  the 
Netherlands,  where  his  name  was  long  remembered  with  dismay 
and  horror. 

§  10.  Alva's  successor,  Don  Luis  de  Requesens,  was  an  able  soldier 
and  was  personally  inclined  to  moderate  measures.  But  he  was 
tied  down  by  his  instructions  from  Philip,  who  was  determined  not 
to  give  way.  The  three  demands  of  William  of  Orange — the 
withdrawal  of  Spanish  troops,  restoration  of  the  old  constitution, 
and  religious  freedom — were  rejected,  and  the  wrar  went  on.  Lewis 
of  Nassau,  with  his  brother  Henry,  were  defeated  and  slain  at 
the  battle  of  Mooker  Heath  (April,  1574).  But  this  disaster  was 
redeemed  by  the  relief  of  Leyden.  Besieged  by  the  Spaniards 
for  seven  months  and  reduced  to  the  direst  necessities,  the 
inhabitants  still  held  out  till  the  advance  of  Orange  compelled 
the  raising  of  the  siege  (October,  1574).  The  University  of  Leyden 
was  founded,  on  William's  suggestion,  to  commemorate  this 
heroic  incident  in  the  history  of  the  town.  The  next  year  was 
occupied  with  futile  negotiations  at  Breda  and  military  movements 
of  slight  importance.  But  the  sudden  death  of  Requesens  in 
March,  1576,  brought  with  it  important  changes. 

During  the  interval  that  elapsed  before  the  appointment  of  a  new 
governor,  the  conduct  of  affairs  devolved  on  the  council  of  state  in 
Brussels.  The  Spanish  troops,  whose  pay  was  in  hopeless  arrears,  had 
for  some  ti  m  e  been  on  the  verge  of  mutiny.     They  now  openly  refused 


I 

a.d.  1572-1578.      DON  JOHN   OF  AUSTRIA.  Ill 

obedience  to  a  civil  government,  and  seized  and  plundered  a  number  of 
the  most  wealthy  cities.  The  sack  of  Antwerp,  which  lasted  three 
days,  during  which  the  inhabitants  were  treated  with  the  greatest 
barbarity,  received  the  name  of  the  Spanish  Fury.  These  events 
enabled  William  of  Orange  to  realise  his  great  desire  of  combining 
the  southern  with  the  northern  provinces  in  a  common  cause. 
The  conduct  of  the  soldiery  brought  into  prominence  the  political 
interests  which  united  the  provinces,  and  obscured  for  a  time 
their  religious  differences.  The  Pacification  of  Ghent  was  signed 
in  November,  1576.  By  this  all  the  provinces,  while  recognising 
the  authority  of  Philip,  agreed  to  expel  the  foreign  soldiers,  to 
establish  religious  toleration,  and  to  convene  a  federal  assembly. 
To  conciliate  the  orthodox  states  of  the  south,  Holland  and 
Zealand,  which  were  now  wholly  Protestant,  were  forbidden  to 
take  any  measures  against  the  Roman  Catholic  religion. 

§  11.  At  this  critical  moment  Philip's  half-brother,  Don  John  of 
Austria,  the  hero  of  the  victory  of  Lepanto,  appeared  in  Luxemburg 
as  successor  to  Requesens.  In  the  face  of  the  general  union  it 
was  impossible  any  longer  to  refuse  concessions,  and  the  "  Perpetual 
Edict"  confirmed  the  Pacification  of  Ghent  and  promised  the 
immediate  removal  of  the  Spanish  troops  (February,  1577).  But  the 
Prince  of  Orange  distrusted  the  fair  promises  of  Spain,  and 
refused  to  accept  the  edict  in  Holland  and  Zealand.  Don  John, 
hampered  by  Philip's  commands  and  impatient  of  constitutional 
checks,  soon  alienated  the  estates.  William  appeared  in  Brussels  in 
September,  1577,  and  the  governor  was  powerless.  But  though  the 
prince  was  a  favourite  with  the  people,  he  was  regarded  with 
jealousy  by  the  nobles  of  the  southern  provinces,  who  called  in 
the  Archduke  Matthias  of  Austria.  His  authority  was  recognised 
by  the  States,  but  he  had  no  real  power.  Don  John  took  up 
arms  to  maintain  his  position,  and  defeated  the  hostile  troops  at 
Gemblours  (January,  1578).  But  Philip  II.  was  jealous  of  his 
brilliant  half-brother,  and  refused  to  send  supplies  of  men  and 
money.  After  suffering  a  reverse  near  Mechlin,  Don  John  died, 
disgusted  with  the  world,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-two  (1  October, 
1578).  His  brief  career  in  the  Netherlands  had  one  important 
result.  By  his  conciliatory  measures,  he  aimed  at  the  dissolution 
of  the  Pacification  of  Ghent,  and  paved  the  way  for  the  return 
of  the  southern  provinces  to  Spanish  rule. 

§  12.  Don  John's  successor  was  his  nephew,  Alexander  Farnese 
duke  of  Parma,  son  of  the  ex-regent  and  the  first  general 

of  his  aje.  He  pursued  the  policy  of  his  predecessor  with  signal 
success.  He  made  use  of  the  antij»athy  which  the  Catholics  in 
the  south  felt  towards  the  iut-  uviuists  in  the  north.     He 


112  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  viii. 

was  aided  by  disorders  among  William's  foreign  troops,  who 
oppressed  the  people  they  had  come  to  defend.  The  Prince  of 
Orange  discovered  that  it  was  hopeless  to  unite  all  the  provinces, 
and  that  it  was  impossible  to  maintain  the  Pacification  of  Gh^nt. 
He  was  obliged  to  fall  back  on  the  devoted  population  of  the 
north,  which  was  opposed  to  Spain  on  religious  as  well  as 
patriotic  grounds.  In  1579,  the  seven  provinces  of  Holland, 
Zealand,  Utrecht,  Guelders,  Zutphen,  Groningen  and  Overyssel 
formed  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  the  foundation  of  the  Dutch 
Republic.  The  authority  of  Philip  was  still  nominally  retained, 
but  this  was  now  a  mere  form.  In  1581  the  severance  from 
Spain  was  publicly  announced.  But  there  was  as  yet  no  idea  of 
complete  independence.  The  sovereignty  was  offered  to  Francis 
of  Anjou,  who  gladly  accepted  it.  But  his  pride  was  hurt  by 
the  continued  influence  of  William  of  Orange,  and  he  determined 
to  establish  an  independent  power  by  a  coup  d'etat.  A  number 
of  towns  were  suddenly  occupied  by  his  troops.  In  Antwerp, 
where  the  duke  himself  was  present,  the  resistance  of  the  citizens 
led  to  a  massacre  which  was  called  the  "  French  Fury."  These 
high-handed  proceedings  alienated  the  people,  and  the  duke  of 
Anjou  was  compelled  to  return  to  France,  where  he  died  the 
next  year  (1584).  The  northern  provinces  now  formed  an  inde- 
pendent constitution  under  William  of  Orange,  as  count  of  Holland 
and  Zealand.  Soon  afterwards  the  prince,  the  great  Protestant 
hero  of  the  century,  was  assassinated  by  Balthasar  Gerard  (10  July, 
1584).  This  was  the  last  of  seven  attempts  on  his  life,  all 
encouraged  by  the  Spanish  king,  who  had  set  a  price  on  the 
head  of  his  unconquerable  enemy.  William's  authority  descended 
to  his  son  Maurice,  who  in  military  skill  soon  more  than  rivalled 
his  father. 

§  13.  From  this  time  the  war  ceases  to  have  any  but  a  purely 
military  interest.  Alexander  of  Parma  succeeded  before  his  death 
in  1592  in  reducing  the  southern  provinces  to  complete  obedience. 
They  became  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and  in  1495  Philip  gave 
them  as  a  dowry  to  his  daughter  Isabella  on  her  marriage  with 
the  archduke  Albert  of  Austria.  The  northern  states  preserved 
their  independence.  This  was  due,  partly  to  the  skill  and  ability 
of  Maurice  of  Nassau,  partly  to  the  assistance  of  Elizabeth  of 
England,  but  mainly  to  the  fact  that  Philip  II.  found  more 
than  enough  to  do  elsewhere.  The  war  with  England  and  the 
destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada  dealt  a  fearful  blow  to  the 
power  of  Spain.  Then  Philip's  connection  with  the  League  in- 
volved him  in  French  politics.  Twice  was  the  duke  of  Parma 
compelled  to  leave  the  Netherlands  at  a  critical   moment  and  to 


a.d.  1579-1609.      INDEPENDENCE  OF  HOLLAND.  113 

lead  his  army  into  France.  The  accession  of  Henry  IV.  ruined 
the  schemes  of  Philip  IT.  Even  after  his  death  in  1598,  it 
was  long  before  Spain  would  consent  to  resign  its  claim  to  any 
part  of  the  Netherlands.  At  last,  in  1609,  Philip  III.  concluded 
a  truce  for  twelve  years  which  practically  secured  the  independence 
of  the  seven  provinces,  and  the  Dutch  Republic  obtained  formal 
recognition  by  the  treaty  of  Westphalia  in  1648. 
1 


114  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  rx. 


CHAPTER1X. 
FRANCE  AND  THE  WARS  OF  RELIGION,  1559-1610. 

§  1.  Religious  persecution  in  France  under  Francis  I.  and  Henry  II.  §  2. 
Catharine  de  Medici ;  the  Guises  ;  the  houses  of  Bourbon  and  Chatillon. 
§  3.  Reign  of  Francis  II. ;  power  of  the  Guises  ;  conspiracy  of  Amboise ; 
Edict  of  Romorantin.  §  4.  Accession  of  Charles  IX. ;  States-General 
at  Orleans  ;  Catharine  de  Medici  in  power;  Edict  of  July,  1561  ;  con- 
ference at  Poissy ;  Edict  of  January,  1562.  §  5.  The  triumvirate 
Antony  of  Navarre  gained  over ;  massacre  of  Vassy  ;  outbreak  of  war 
battle  of  Dreux ;  assassination  of  Francis  of  Guise  ;  Edict  of  Amboise 
§  6.  Conference  of  Bayonne ;  conspiracy  of  Meaux ;  second  war 
Montmorency  killed;  treaty  of  Longjumeau.  §  7.  Third  war;  battles 
•  of  Jarnac  and  Moncontour ;  peace  of  St.  Germain.  §  8.  Changed 
attitude  of  the  French  Court ;  influence  of  Coligny  ;  his  attempted 
assassination ;  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew ;  was  it  premeditated  ? 
§  9.  Rise  of  the  Politiques  ;  Edict  of  July,  1573;  death  of  Charles  IX. 
§  10.  Henry  III.  adopts  a  persecuting  policy ;  the  Huguenots  obtain 
foreign  assistance  ;  States-General  at  Blois  ;  Edict  of  Bergerac.  §11. 
Seven  years  of  comparative  peace ;  death  of  Francis  of  Anjou  makes 
Henry  of  Navarre  heir  to  the  throne ;  formation  of  the  Catholic 
League ;  war  of  the  three  Henries ;  battle  of  Coutras.  §  12.  Supre- 
macy of  Guise;  his  assassination;  Henry  III.  also  assassinated.  §  13. 
Question  of  the  succession  ;  final  victory  of  Henry  IV. ;  termination  of 
civil  wars.  §  14.  Edict  of  Nantes ;  financial  administration  of  Sully. 
§  15.  General  character  of  Henry  IV.'s  reign. 

§  1.  It  was  impossible  for  France  to  remain  isolated  from  the  general 
movement  of  religious  reform.  Ecclesiastical  abuses  were  as  rife 
there  as  elsewhere,  especially  after  the  Concordat  of  1515  gave  the 
Crown  the  appointment  to  benefices.  The  renaissance  movement, 
and  the  contact  with  other  countries  produced  by  the  Italian  wars, 
led  men  naturally  to  criticise  the  established  faith.  The  writings 
of  Luther  and  other  reformers  were  circulated  through  France,  and 
found  earnest  readers.  Francis  I.,  devoid  of  religious  enthusiasm 
and  a  patron  of  literary  culture,  was  personally  inclined  to  tolerance. 
But  his  domestic  government  depended  less  on  his  own  will  than 
on  foreign  politics.  His  rivalry  with  Charles  V.  forbade  him  to 
quarrel  with  the  pope,  or  to  allow  the  French  nation  to  become 
divided  and  so  weakened.     At  the  instigation  of  the  Sorbonne,  the 


a.d.  1560.  CATHARINE  DE  MEDICI.  115 

theological  faculty  of  the  Paris  University,  he  issued  the  most 
severe  edicts  against  heresy.  Many  reformers  were  burnt,  while 
others  sought  safety  in  exile.  Henry  II.  pursued  the  same  policy 
as  his  father,  not  so  much  from  necessity  as  from  inclination.  Yet, 
in  spite  of  persecution,  the  reformed  doctrines  continued  to  progress. 
The  constant  warfare  in  which  France  was  engaged  prevented  any 
very  complete  execution  of  the  religious  edicts.  But  in  1559 
Henry  II.  obtained  j)eace  by  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  and 
prepared  to  devote  himself  to  the  suppression  of  heresy.  At  this 
crisis,  as  he  was  celebrating  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  with 
Philip  II.,  he  received  a  fatal  wound  in  a  tournament.  With  his 
death  commences  the  period  of  religious  conflict  in  France. 

§  2.  To  intelligently  follow  succeeding  events  it  is  necessary  to  have 
a  clear  conception  of  the  chief  personages  who  became  the  leaders 
of  parties.  Henry  II.  left  behind  him  four  sons,  three  of  whom 
succeeded  to  the  crown.  But  none  of  them  possessed  either  ability 
or  independence,  and  they  are  merely  puppets  in  the  hands  of  more 
prominent  actors.  Their  mother,  Catharine  de  Medici,  who  had 
been  married  in  her  early  youth,  had  hitherto  taken  little  or  no 
part  in  politics.  Her  husband  never  cared  for  her,  and  paid  far 
more  attention  to  his  mistresses.  But  Catharine's  ambition  was 
only  strengthened  by  its  enforced  repression,  and  she  eagerly 
grasped  at  the  opportunity  of  ruling  France  through  her  sons.  For 
many  years  she  exercised  a  fatal  influence  over  the  kingdom.  She 
encouraged  her  children  in  frivolity  and  vice  to  make  them  more 
dependent.  She  employed  those  stratagems  and  deceits  which 
passed  for  policy  in  Italy,  and  her  knowledge  of  the  weaknesses  of 
human  nature  gave  her  prodigious  power.  She  stopped  at  no 
crime,  however  heinous,  which  might  aid  in  the  accomplishment  of 
her  schemes. 

Even  more  important  for  a  time  than  the  queen-mother  were 
the  Guises.  Claude  of  Guise,  the  second  son  of  Hene'  of  Lorraine, 
had  come  to  seek  his  fortune  at  tin-  French  court,  bringing  with 
him  six  sons,  of  these,  two  obtained  great  importance.  The 
eldest,  Francis  of  Guise,  acquired  a  military  reputation  as  the 
defender  of  Metz  and  the  conqueror  of  Calais.  His  brother  Charles 
entered  the  church  ami  was  known  as  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine. 
He  devoted  his  attention  to  politics,  and  became  prominent  among 
the  ministers  of  Henry  II.  The  Guises  were  firm  supporters  ot  the 
Catholic  religion,  and  in  close  connection  with  Philip  II.  and  the 
papacy.  In  opposition  to  the  Guises  stood  the  chief  noble  families 
of  France,  headed  by  the  Bourbons.  Antony  of  Bourbon  was, 
after  Henry's  children,  the  nearest  male  heir  to  the  crown,  lie 
had  tarried  .Jciime  of  Navarre,  and  under  her  influence  became  a 


116  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ix„ 

convert  to  Calvinism.  But  Antony,  though  a  popular  and  able 
soldier,  was  weak  and  irresolute.  His  younger  brother,  Louis 
prince  of  Condd,  who  was  more  firm  and  capable,  soon  superseded 
Antony  as  the  leader  of  the  Protestant  party.  With  the  Bourbons 
were  closely  allied  the  three  Chatillons,  the  nephews  of  the  constable 
Montmorency.  The  eldest,  Odet  de  Chatillon,  though  a  cardinal, 
was  suspected  of  an  inclination  to  reform.  The  second  brother, 
Gaspar,  was  the  celebrated  Admiral  de  Coligny,  the  heroic  and 
disinterested  champion  of  the  Huguenots.  The  third  brother, 
Francis  d'Andelot,  was  an  able  supporter  of  Coligny.  Montmorency 
himself  opposed  the  supremacy  of  the  Guises,  but  remained  devoted 
to  the  old  faith. 

§  3.  The  accession  of  Francis  II.,  who  was  legally  of  age  though 
really  a  minor,  gave  none  of  the  anticipated  power  to  his  mother. 
He  fell  altogether  into  the  hands  of  the  Guises,  the  uncles  of  his 
wife,  Mary  Stuart.  The  reins  of  government  were  assumed  by  the 
cardinal  of  Lorraine,  while  his  brother,  the  duke  of  Guise,  had 
control  over  the  army.  Their  object  was  to  establish  Mary  Stuart 
on  the  English  throne  in  place  of  Elizabeth,  who  was  held 
to  be  illegitimate.  In  this  enterprise  they  relied  on  the  support  of 
the  papacy,  and  were  therefore  anxious  to  suppress  all  tendencies 
to  heresy  in  France.  Numerous  edicts  were  issued  and  enforced 
against  the  Huguenots,  as  the  Calvinists  were  called  in  contempt. 

But  the  Guises  had  to  confront  a  powerful  opposition.  French 
finances  were  in  a  very  serious  condition,  and  the  blame  for  this  fell 
on  the  cardinal,  who  had  managed  them  under  Henry  II.  The 
heavy  taxation  and  the  ill-success  of  the  war  in  Scotland  alienated 
the  people.  But  far  more  serious  was  the  hostility  of  the  nobles, 
who  hated  the  Guises  as  foreigners,  and  who  regarded  the  nobles  of 
royal  blood  as  the  rightful  holders  of  political  power.  Opposition 
to  the  Guises  inclined  the  nobles  to  the  reformed  religion,  and  it 
was  this  which  gave  the  Huguenot  movement  its  political  and 
aristocratic  character.  In  the  midst  of  the  general  discontent  a 
certain  La  Renaudie  concerted  a  plot  to  seize  the  person  of  the  king 
at  Amboise.  The  enterprise,  though  condemned  by  Calvin,  is  said 
to  have  been  encouraged  by  the  prince  of  Conde.  It  proved  a 
complete  failure.  La  Renaudie  was  slain  and  most  of  his  followers 
executed. 

The  conspiracy  of  Amboise,  though  unsuccessful,  terrified  the 
cardinal  into  moderation.  The  chancellorship  was  given  to  Michel 
L'Hopital,  the  representative  of  a  small  party  which  tried  to  hold 
the  balance  between  the  two  extremes.  The  Edict  of  Romorantin, 
while  forbidding  public  worship  to  the  Huguenots,  conceded  liberty 
of  conscience.     Tho   States-General  were   summoned  to  meet  at 


a.d.  1560-1562.  THE  GUISES.  117 

Orleans.  But  in  spite  of  this  apparent  change  the  Guises  held  to 
their  policy.  They  used  every  exertion  to  secure  a  majority  in  the 
States,  and  they  imprisoned  Conde"  on  a  charge  of  complicity  in  the 
recent  conspiracy.  He  was  even  tried  and  condemned  to  death. 
But  their  schemes  were  all  foiled  by  the  sudden  death  of  Francis  II. 
(5  Dec,  1560). 

§  4.  The  accession  of  her  second  son,  Charles  IX.,  at  the  age  of 
eleven,  gave  Catharine  de  Medici  her  desired  opportunity.  By 
prompt  action  she  secured  the  regency,  and  bought  off  the  undeni- 
able claims  of  Antony  of  Bourbon.  The  Guises,  disappointed  of  their 
own  hopes,  supported  her  government  as  preferable  to  that  of  the 
Bourbons.  Montmorency  returned  to  Paris.  Catharine  conceived 
the  policy  of  balancing  parties  against  each  other,  and  thus  securing 
her  own  power.  In  this  she  relied  on  the  assistance  of  the  Chan- 
cellor L'H6pital.  But  all  her  efforts  were  unable  to  prevent  an 
open  conflict. 

The  States-General,  summoned  to  Orleans  under  Francis  II.,  met 
after  his  death.  The  nobles  and  the  third  estate  complained  bitterly 
of  the  condition  of  the  church,  and  demanded  radical  reforms.  The 
ciergy,  on  the  other  hand,  urged  the  persecution  of  heretics.  No- 
thing was  done  immediately,  but  the  Edict  of  July,  1561,  relaxed 
the  previous  severity  by  substituting  exile  for  death  as  the  punish- 
ment of  avowed  heresy.  A  meeting  of  deputies  of  the  estates  was 
held  in  August  at  Poissy,  where  a  religious  conference  took  place. 
The  demands  of  the  laity  went  far  beyond  those  made  at  Orleans. 
They  included  a  complete  constitutional  reform  of  both  church  and 
state,  and  the  confiscation  of  two-thirds  of  the  clerical  property  for 
secular  uses.  But  the  clergy,  by  paying  a  large  sum  of  ready 
money,  were  able  to  purchase  the  protection  of  the  government, 
and  the  conference  on  doctrinal  points  came  to  nothing.  The  Edict 
of  January,  1562,  gave  a  wide  extension  to  the  religious  toleration 
which  L'HOpital  desired.  Huguenot  worship  was  allowed  in  the 
families  of  nobles,  in  the  open  country  and  in  unwalled  towns.  It 
was  only  with  great  difficulty  that  the  orthodox  Parliament  of  Paris 
was  induced  to  register  the  edict. 

§  5.  It  gave  the  greatest  offence  to  the  Catholics.  A  league  had 
already  been  formed  for  the  protection  of  the  established  reli.ion 
by  Montmorency,  the  duke  of  Guise,  and  marshal  St.  Andre\  which 
was  designated  by  their  enemies  as  the  "triumvirate."  They 
conceived  the  happy  idea  of  gaining  over  Antony  of  Navarre. 
Hopes  were  held  out  to  him  by  the  pope  that  Philip  II.  would  give 
Mm  the  island  of  Sardinia  or  a  kingdom  in  Africa.  The  weak 
prince  allowed  himself  to  be  duped,  and  he  deserted  the  Huguenots 
to  become  a  member  of  the  league.    Thus  strengthened,  the  Catholics 


118  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ix. 

prepared  for  violent  measures.  The  duke  of  Guise,  on  his  way  to 
Paris,  found  a  Huguenot  congregation  worshipping  in  a  barn  at 
Vassy.  His  followers  were  sent  to  disperse  them,  and  a  riot  ensued, 
in  which  sixty  unarmed  men,  women,  and  children  were  slain,  and 
more  than  two  hundred  were  wounded.  In  Paris  the  duke  was 
received  by  the  mob  as  a  conqueror.  The  regent  and  her  son  were 
compelled  against  their  will  to  leave  Fontainebleau  for  the  capital. 

Meanwhile  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  Vassy  had  produced  a 
profound  impression  in  the  Protestant  world.  The  Huguenot  nobles 
assembled  at  Orleans  at  the  summons  of  Conde.  They  received 
assistance  from  the  German  princes,  who  regarded  them  as  supporters 
of  an  imprisoned  king,  and  from  Elizabeth  of  England,  who  hated 
the  Guises  as  the  allies  of  Mary  Stuart,  and  who  received  Havre  in 
return  for  her  support.  The  Catholics,  on  their  side,  obtained 
troops  from  Philip  II.  and  from  the  unreformed  Swiss  Cantons, 
together  with  supplies  of  money  from  the  pope.  The  Huguenot 
army  marched  to  Normandy,  where  the  war  broke  out.  At  the 
siege  of  Rouen,  Antony  of  Navarre  was  slain.  The  headship  of  the 
house  of  Bourbon  now  devolved  upon  his  son,  afterwards  Henry 
IV.,  who  was  at  present  only  ten  years  old.  The  death  of  his  elder 
brother  gave  increased  influence  to  Conde.  The  two  armies  finally 
met  in  a  pitched  battle  at  Dreux.  Both  sides  claimed  the  victory, 
but  both  had  suffered  great  loss.  St.  Andre  was  slain,  while  Conde 
on  the  one  side  and  Montmorency  on  the  other  were  taken  prisoners. 
The  command  of  the  Huguenots  was  assumed  by  Coligny,  who 
conducted  a  skilful  retreat  to  the  Loire.  The  duke  of  Guise 
advanced  to  besiege  Orleans,  the  headquarters  of  his  enemies,  but 
was  assassinated  by  a  fanatical  Calvinist  of  the  name  of  Poltrot 
(18th  February,  1563).  His  death  put  an  end  to  the  war.  The 
Peace  of  Amboise  was  arranged  by  the  two  prisoners,  Conde  and 
Montmorency.  By  this  the  reformed  faith  was  tolerated  in  all 
those  places  where  it  was  established  before  the  war,  though 
Catharine  de  Medici  insisted  that  Paris  should  be  excepted  from 
this.  Moreover  in  each  official  district  a  town  was  selected  which 
was  specially  devoted  to  the  celebration  of  the  Huguenot  worship. 
The  nobles  retained  the  privileges  secured  to  them  by  the  edict  of 
January.  The  government  now  turned  its  arms  against  the 
English,  who  were  compelled  to  surrender  Havre. 

§  6.  The  death  of  the  great  party  leaders  and  the  exhaustion  of  the 
combatants  gave  new  strength  to  Catharine's  government,  and  this 
was  increased  by  the  recovery  of  Havre.  She  had  Charles  IX. 
formally  proclaimed  of  age,  though  all  authority  was  still  left  in  her 
own  hands.  She  now  set  herself  to  maintain  peace  and  to  strengthen 
the  central  power.     At  a  conference  at  Bayonne  with  her  daughter 


a.i>.  1562-15G8.  RELIGIOUS   WARS.  119 

the  queen  of  Spain,  the  duke  of  Alva  in  vain  urged  her  to  employ 
violent  measures  against  the  Huguenots.  Catharine  had  all  a 
woman's  horror  of  war,  and  an  Italian's  preference  for  guileful 
diplomacy.  While  she  enforced  the  treaty  of  Amboise,  she  lost 
none  of  her  attachment  to  the  Koman  Catholic  faith.  On  a  journey 
through  France  the  sight  of  the  fallen  crucifixes  grieved  her.  She 
was  quite  willing  to  suppress  heresy,  if  it  could  only  be  done 
without  disturbing  the  peace.  She  therefore  continued  to  favour 
L'Hopital,  and  refused  to  accept  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent. 

But  in  so  disturbed  a  period  as  the  sixteenth  century,  events 
were  often  too  strong  for  the  most  cautions  of  politicians.  Alva's 
violent  policy  in  the  Netherlands  excited  new  hopes  among  the 
Catholics  and  new  fears  amoni:  the  Huguenots.  The  latter  dreaded 
lest  the  power  of  Spain  should  be  re-established  in  the  neighbouring 
provinces  and  then  employed  to  restore  Catholicism  in  France. 
They  had  no  confidence  in  the  moderation  of  the  queen-mother 
and  felt  that  their  safety  depended  on  their  own  exertions.  A  con- 
spiracy was  formed  in  1567  with  the  greatest  secrecy.  Its  object 
was  to  obtain  possession  of  the  king's  person  at  Meaux,  and  to 
compel  the  dismissal  of  the  Swiss  troops  and  a  change  of  govern* 
ment.  Everything  was  carefully  prepared,  and  success  assured, 
wht  u  Condd  allowed  himself  to  be  entrapped  into  futile  negotiations. 
The  delay  gave  time  to  collect  the  Swiss,  and  under  their  protection 
the  court  was  removed  to  Paris.  Conde'  now  laid  siege  to  the 
capital,  and  demanded  not  only  toleration  for  the  Huguenots  but  also 
free  admission  to  public  offices.  But  Catharine  had  been  driven  into 
the  arms  of  the  Catholics,  and  his  demands  were  refused.  The 
Parisians  strained  every  nerve  to  support  the  government  and  the 
orthodox  cause.  A  large  army  was  collected  under  the  command 
of  the  aged  Montmorency.  At  St.  Denis  another  indecisive  battle 
took  place,  in  which  Montmorency  received  a  mortal  wound.  The 
office  of  Constable  was  not  revived,  and  the  command  of  the  troops 
was  given  to  Charles  IX.'s  younger  brother,  Henry  of  Anjou. 
Philip  II.  offered  assistance  to  Catharine,  but  she  refused  to  subject 
France  to  the  humiliation  of  foreign  interference.  In  March,  1568, 
this  war  was  closed  by  the  treaty  of  Longjumeau,  which  confirmed 
the  previous  treaty  of  Amboise. 

§  7.  There  was  never  any  intention  of  observing  this  treaty,  which 
was  concluded  only  to  duann  thfl  Ilu-ucnots.  The  conspiracy  of 
Meaux  convinced  Catharine  that  continued  toleration  would  be  fatal 
to  the  royal  power.  She  threw  in  her  lot  with  the  Catholic  powers, 
who  in  1"368  were  making  vigorous  efforts  to  suppress  heresy.  The 
cardinal  of  Lorraine  regained  his    position   in  the  council  and 


120  MODEEN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ix. 

L'Hopital  was  dismissed  from  the  chancellorship.  The  fanatical 
pope  Pius  V.  released  the  French  government  from  its  obligations. 
A  royal  edict  forbade  the  celebration  of  the  reformed  service  under 
penalty  of  death,  and  ordered  the  Huguenot  preachers  to  leave  the 
kingdom  within  fourteen  days.  An  attempt  was  made  to  seize 
Conde  and  Coligny,  and  only  with  great  difficulty  could  they  escape 
to  La  Rochelle.  This  port  became  the  head-quarters  of  the 
Huguenots,  and  enabled  them  to  keep  up  their  connection  with 
England  and  the  Netherlands.  Hither  came  Conde's  sister-in-law 
Jeanne,  with  her  youDg  son,  Henry  of  Navarre. 

Before  the  end  of  1568  the  third  religious  war  had  broken  out  in 
France.  It  is  impossible  here  to  follow  the  military  movements. 
In  the  open  field  the  Catholics  under  Henry  of  Anjou  were  con- 
stantly successful.  In  the  battle  of  Jarnac  (13  March,  1569)  the 
Huguenots  were  routed  and  Conde  slain.  He  was  succeeded  in  the 
command  by  Coligny,  who  never  displayed  more  conspicuous 
courage  and  conduct.  But  want  of  money  to  pay  his  troops 
compelled  him  to  risk  a  battle  against  superior  forces,  and  at 
Moncontour  (3  October,  1569)  he  was  again  defeated.  Had  the 
Catholics  promptly  followed  up  the  victory  they  might  have 
crushed  the  Huguenots.  But  the  government  was  beginning  to 
vacillate.  Catharine  de  Medici  had  no  sympathy  with  the  ambitious 
schemes  of  Philip  II.,  who  wished  to  use  France  as  a  tool.  And 
Charles  IX.  was  jealous  of  the  military  successes  of  his  younger 
brother,  the  duke  of  Anjou,  who  was  the  favourite  of  his  mother  and 
the  Catholic  party.  The  influence  of  the  Guises,  who  were  haud 
and  glove  with  Philip  II.,  declined.  In  August,  1570,  the  treaty  of 
St.  Germain  put  an  end  to  hostilities.  Religious  freedom  and  the 
right  of  public  service  were  confirmed  to  the  Huguenots,  and  they 
received  four  towns  as  places  of  refuge,  La  Rochelle,  Montauban, 
Cognac  and  La  Charite\ 

§  8.  This  treaty  was  followed  by  a  great  change  in  the  attitude  of 
the  French  court.  Charles  IX.  showed  an  unexpected  determination 
to  assume  the  reins  of  government.  He  wished  to  free  France  from 
foreign  influence,  and  to  emulate  the  achievements  of  his  father 
and  grandfather.  The  connection  with  Spain  was  broken  off,  and 
negotiations  were  opened  with  England  and  the  Netherlands.  It 
was  proposed  that  Elizabeth  should  marry  the  duke  of  Anjou,  and, 
after  that  was  given  up,  the  duke  of  Alencon.  Lewis  of  Nassau' 
the  brother  of  William  the  Silent,  was  well  received  at  court.  In 
domestic  politics  Charles  broke  with  the  Guises  and  allied  himself 
with  the  moderate  party.  His  youngest  sister,  Margaret,  was 
betrothed  to  the  young  Henry  of  Navarre.  Coligny  was  invited  to 
court,  and  there  soon  obtained  great  influence  over  the  weak  and 


a.d.  1568-1572.    MASSACRE  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW.    121 

impulsive  king.  He  urged  an  immediate  war  against  Spain,  and 
Charles  IX.  accepted  the  plan. 

But  before  this  could  be  carried  out,  Catharine  de  Medici  hurried 
back  to  Paris,  determined  to  employ  any  means  in  her  power  to 
prevent  such  a  reversal  of  her  previous  policy  and  to  restore  her 
influence  over  her  son.  In  allianc3  with  the  duke  of  Anjou  she 
determined  to  get  rid  of  Coligny.  He  was  fired  at  from  a  window 
near  the  court  and  wounded,  though  not  mortally.  This  attack 
made  him  more  j)opular  and  more  dangerous  than  ever.  The  Hu- 
guenots were  assembled  in  great  numbers  to  celebrate  the  wedding 
of  Henry  of  Navarre.  The  population  of  Paris  was  fanatically 
hostile  to  them,  and  Catharine  determined  to  free  herself  from  all 
danger  by  a  general  massacre  in  which  Coligny  and  his  followers 
might  share  a  common  fate.  The  unfortunate  Charles  IX.  was 
induced  to  give  the  necessary  orders  by  the  entreaties  and  threats  of 
his  mother  and  brother.  At  midnight  on  24th  August,  1572,  the 
bell  of  St.  Germain  l'Auxerrois  gave  the  appointed  signal.  The 
murder  of  Coligny  was  superintended  by  Henry  of  Guise,  the  son 
and  successor  of  Francis.  In  Paris  the  mob  rose  and  slaughtered 
the  unsuspecting  Huguenots.  Other  towns  followed  the  example  of 
the  capital.  Nearly  20,000  victims  fell  in  this  "Massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew  w  or  the  "  Paris  Matins." 

It  has  often  been  asserted  that  the  massacre  had  long  ago  been 
decided  upon,  and  that  Catharine  had  only  waited  for  the  favour- 
able moment  to  carry  it  out  It  has  been  regarded  as  the  direct 
outcome  of  Alva's  advice  at  the  Conference  of  Bayonne.  But  this 
is  not  only  improbable  but  almost  impossible.  Catharine's  guiding 
motive  was  not  religious  bigotry,  but  personal  and  dynastic  am- 
bition. She  could  never  have  reckoned  on  so  favourable  a  circum- 
stance as  the  presence  of  so  many  unarmed  Huguenots  in  the  midst 
of  the  bloodthirsty  mob  of  Paris.  Everything  point*  clearly  to  the 
conclusion  that,  even  if  the  idea  lay  already  dormant  in  her  mind, 
the  impulse  to  its  execution  was  sudden,  and  arose  from  the 
immediate  position  of  affairs. 

§  9.  The  news  of  the  massacre  roused  the  remaining  Huguenots 
to  a  new  war  of  defence.  But,  weakened  as  they  were  by  the  loss  of 
their  leaders,  there  seemed  little  prospect  of  their  success.  The 
government  issued  orders  proscribing  the  reformed  religion,  and 
prepared  four  armies  to  reduce  those  towns  which  refused  obedience. 
The  heroic  resistance  offered  by  two  towns,  Rochelle  and  Sancerre, 
rivals  the  most  celebrated  deeds  of  antiquity.  And  meanwhile 
the  massacres  had  called  into  existence  a  new  party  called  the 
Politique*,  which  adhered  to  neither  of  the  rival  creeds,  but  in- 
sisted on  the  necessity  of  toleration.  At  its  head  were  the  Mont- 
7* 


122  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ix. 

morencies,  the  sons  of  the  Constable,  who,  though  Catholics,  inherited 
their  father's  opposition  to  the  Guises.  The  government  found  it 
impossible  to  carry  out  their  policy.  The  edict  of  July,  1573, 
secured  liberty  of  conscience  and  permitted  the  Huguenot  worship 
in  Rochelle,  Nismes,  and  Montauban.  Through  the  mediation  of 
the  Polish  envoy,  Sancerre  was  admitted  to  the  same  privileges. 

Thus  the  policy  of  massacre  proved  a  failure.  The  Huguenots 
could  not  be  crushed  by  such  measures.  Charles  IX.,  who  never 
recovered  after  the  horrors  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  was  ever 
haunted  by  imaginary  visions  of  its  victims,  died  without  male 
issue  on  May  30,  1574.  The  crown  passed  to  his  brother, 
Henry  III.,  who  had  just  ascended  the  throne  of  Poland,  but 
who  promptly  deserted  his  northern  kingdom,  and  made  his  way 
through  Italy  to  France.  Till  his  arrival  the  administration  fell 
once  more  into  the  hands  of  Catharine  de  Medici. 

§  10.  The  moderate  party  endeavoured  to  take  advantage  of  the 
change  of  government.  Damville  de  Montmorency  met  the  new 
king  on  the  frontier,  and  obtained  from  him  promises  of  toleration. 
But  when  Henry  III.  reached  Paris,  he  soon  fell  under  the 
influence  of  his  mother  and  the  Catholics,  and  adopted  the  extreme 
policy  to  which  his  own  nature  iuclintd  him.  The  contest  was 
at  once  renewed.  The  Politiques  were  strengthened  by  the 
junction  of  Francis  of  Alencon,  Henry  of  Navarre,  and  the  young 
prince  of  Conde.  John  Casimir  of  the  Palatinate  advanced  to  their 
assistance  with  German  troops.  Against  this  powerful  confederacy 
the  Government  could  only  proceed  with  weapons  of  deceit.  Con- 
cessions were  made  to  break  up  the  hostile  alliance  without  any 
intention  of  observing  them.  The  Huguenots  were  allowed  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion  everywhere  except  in  Paris  and  the  country 
round ;  they  were  to  be  admitted  to  offices,  and  the  judicial 
authority  was  to  be  vested  in  mixed  parliaments.  Alencon  was 
bought  off  with  the  duchy  of  Anjou,  and  Conde  with  the  administra- 
tion of  Picardy.  John  Casimir  received  compensation  and  pay  for 
his  troops.  The  allies  also  demanded  a  meeting  of  the  States- 
General,  and  these  were  convened  at  Blois  in  December,  1576  ;  but 
with  a  very  unexpected  result.  They  adopted  an  attitude  of 
uncompromising  hostility  to  the  reformed  religion,  and  thus 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Government.  The  Huguenots  again 
took  up  arms;  but,  after  an  uneventful  campaign,  the  king 
suddenly  concluded  peace  by  the  edict  of  Poitiers  or  Bergerac,  the 
most  important  of  the  numerous  religious  treaties.  By  this  the 
extreme  concessions  of  1575  were  revoked;  but  the  reformed 
worship  was  allowed  in  all  places  where  it  was  exercised  on  the 
day  of  the  treaty.     One  town  in  each  district  and  nine  fortified 


a.d.  1573-1584.  THE   LEAGUE.  123 

places  of  refuge  were  ceded  to  the  Huguenots,  while  the  nobles 
retained  the  privilege  of  private  service.  In  the  parliaments  ot 
Bordeaux,  Grenoble,  Aix,  and  Toulouse,  four  judges  out  of  twelve 
were  to  be  Protestants. 

§  11.  Thus  at  last  the  great  question  as  to  how  the  two  religions 
could  exist  side  by  side  seemed  to  have  received  a  practical  solution. 
For  the  next  seven  years  France  enjoyed  an  unwonted  respite  from 
warfare.  The  peace  might  have  been  permanent  but  for  the 
disastrous  influence  of  foreign  states.  Never  was  the  spirit  of 
religious  bigotry  so  active  as  at  this  period.  By  rulers  who  had 
applauded  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  who  favoured 
plots  for  the  assassination  of  Elizabeth  of  England  and  William  of 
Orange,  the  vacillating  government  of  France  was  regarded  with 
abhorrence.  Philip  II.  was  especially  concerned.  The  Catholic 
reaction,  for  which  he  lived  and  worked,  could  not  be  completed 
without  French  co-operation.  And  he  had  personal  motives  for 
opposing  a  peaceful  settlement  of  religious  differences.  A  united 
France  offered  the  greatest  obstacles  to  Spanish  ambition.  Even 
in  the  court  of  Henry  III.  there  were  symptoms  of  opposition  to 
his  annexation  of  Portugal.  And  Henry's  brother,  Francis  of 
Anjou,  appeared  in  the  Netherlands  as  the  avowed  opponent  of 
Spain,  and  the  aspirant  for  the  hand  of  the  English  queen. 
Before  long  events  occurred  which  enabled  Philip  to  interfere 
decisively  in  French  politics. 

On  June  10,  1584,  Francis  of  Anjou-Alencon  died  unmarried. 
The  house  of  Valois  was  evidently  on  the  verge  of  extinction. 
Henry  III.,  its  last  representative,  had  no  children,  nor  was  he 
likely  to  have  any.  By  the  law  of  succession  hitherto  observed 
in  France,  the  heir  to  the  throne  was  Henry  of  Bourbon,  the 
Calvinist  king  of  Navarre  and  Beam.  But  the  prospect  of  a 
heretic  king  roused  the  bitterest  feelings  among  the  French 
Catholics,  and  especially  among  the  Guises.  They  were  already 
alienated  by  the  promotion  of  royal  favourites,  who  excluded 
them  from  office.  At  the  instigation  of  the  Spanish  envoy,  the 
Catholic  League  was  formed  at  Joinville.  Its  leaders  were  Henry 
of  Guise  and  his  two  brothers,  the  duke  of  Mayenne  and  the 
cardinal  of  Guise.  Their  avowed  objects  were  to  fgjjrfttn 
Piotestantism  in  France,  to  exclude  Henry  of  Navarre  from  the 
throne,  which  was  to  be  given  to  his  uncle,  the  cardinal  of 
Bourbon,  and  to  cede  Navarre  and  Beam  to  Philip  II.  as  the 
price  of  Spanish  assistance. 

Thus  a  Catholic  king  of  France  found  himself  sujnjrscded  by 
subjects  of  his  own  religion,  who  presumed  to  arrange  the  suc- 
cession to  the  crown,  and   to  conduct  indej)endent  negotiations 


VZi  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  ix. 

with  foreign  powers.  Had  Henry  III.  been  a  man  of  foresight 
and  energy,  he  would  have  allied  himself  with  Henry  of  Navarre, 
with  the  still  loyal  Catholics,  and  with  the  Protestants  both  in 
France  and  the  Netherlands.  But  under  his  mother's  influence, 
he  negotiated  with  the  League,  and  placed  himself  altogether  in 
their  power.  All  the  edicts  of  pacification  were  revoked,  and  the 
Protestant  religion  was  proscribed.  The  result  was  the  outbreak 
of  a  new  war,  known  as  that  of  the  three  Henries.  Henry  III., 
Henry  of  Guise,  Henry  of  Navarre,  were  at  the  head  of  in- 
dependent armies.  An  army  of  mixed  Germans  and  Swiss, 
under  the  command  of  Count  Dohna,  entered  France  to  assist 
the  Huguenots.  The  king  went  to  meet  them,  while  he  despatched 
the  duke  of  Joyeux  against  Henry  of  Navarre.  The  latter  won 
the  first  Huguenot  victory  at  Coutras.  Meanwhile  Henry  III.  met 
the  Germans,  and  induced  Dohna  and  his  troops  to  quit  the  king- 
dom. But  the  duke  of  Guise,  disregarding  this,  attacked  and 
inflicted  great  loss  on  the  retreating  army. 

§  12.  The  result  of  the  war  was  an  immense  increase  of  popularity 
for  the  League.  Guise  was  welcomed  as  the  heroic  conqueror  of 
the  foreign  invaders,  to  whom  the  king  had  basely  truckled.  In 
Paris,  still  the  stronghold  of  Catholic  bigotry,  these  feelings  were 
especially  strong.  Henry  III.  found  himself  powerless  in  his  own 
capital.  The  arrival  of  Guise  gave  new  energy  to  the  fanatical 
mob;  they  erected  barricades  in  the  streets,  disarmed  the  royal 
troops,  and  Henry  III.  only  escaped  captivity  by  a  hasty  flight 
from  Paiis,  which  he  never  saw  again  (1588). 

In  spite  of  this  humiliation  the  king  continued  to  treat  with 
his  enemies  He  again  summoned  the  States-General  at  Blois, 
and  they  insisted  on  the  complete  suppression  of  the  Huguenots. 

The  king  gave  way  to  them  on  every  point,  but  they  proceeded 
to  cut  down  the  royal  revenues,  and  to  insist  on  the  removal  of 
the  royal  favourites.  Guise,  who  had  arrived  at  Blois,  was 
evidently  all-powerful.  In  these  straits  Henry  came  to  one  of 
those  violent  resolutions  which  so  often  commend  themselves  to 
weak  minds.  The  duke  of  Guise  was  invited  to  a  conference  in 
the  royal  cabinet  and  there  murdered  (December  23,  1588). 
His  brother  the  cardinal  wras  seized  and  executed,  and  the  cardinal 
of  Bourbon  imprisoned.  In  the  midst  of  these  fearful  events, 
Catharine  de  Medici  died  at  Blois  on  January  5,  1589. 

The  assassination  of  Guise  produced  oj^en  war  between  the  king 
and  the  League.  Under  Mayenne's  guidance,  Paris  threw  off  its 
allegiance  and  established  a  provisional  government.  The  ex- 
ample was  followed  by  most  of  the  large  towns.  Henry  III. 
found   that  he  was  a  king  without  a  kingdom.     At  last  he  was 


a.d.  1585-1592.      ACCESSION   OF   HENRY   IV.  125 

forced  to  take  the  step  which  might  before  have  saved  him.  He 
united  his  forces  with  those  of  Henry  of  Navarre.  Together  they 
advanced  to  lay  siege  to  Paris.  Here  Henry  III.  paid  the  penalty 
of  his  weakness  and  his  crimes.  A  mouk,  Jacques  Clement,  made 
his  way  into  the  royal  presence,  and  stabbed  the  king  mortally 
with  a  dagger  (August  1,  1589). 

§  13.  The  line  of  Valois,  which  had  ruled  France  since  1328,  was 
now  extinct,  and  the  legitimate  claimant  to  the  throne  was  Henry 
of  Navarre,  who  could  trace  his  descent  back  to  a  younger  son 
of  Louis  IX.  He  at  once  assumed  the  royal  title  as  Henry  IV. 
But  his  position  was  one  of  extraordinary  difficulty,  and  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  conquer  a  kingdom  before  he  could  reign.  He 
could  only  secure  the  support  of  the  Catholics  in  his  own  camp 
by  changing  his  religion,  and  this  would  alienate  the  Huguenots. 
He  took  a  middle  course.  He  declared  himself  still  open  to 
conviction  on  religious  matters,  and  he  promised  complete  tolera- 
tion and  the  appointment  of  Catholic  officers.  But  there  was  no 
prospect  of  a  peaceful  submission  of  his  extreme  enemies.  In 
Paris,  where  the  news  of  Henry  III.'s  death  was  welcomed  with 
enthusiastic  rejoicing,  the  cardinal  of  Bourbon  was  proclaimed 
king  as  Charles  X.  This  was  a  mere  form,  as  the  cardinal  was 
a  prisoner  in  Henry's  hands.  The  real  leader  of  the  League,  and 
therefore  the  ruler  of  Catholic  France,  was  the  duke  ot  Mayenne, 

Henry  IV.,  who  confronted  his  difficulties  with  unflinching 
courage,  might  have  succeeded  in  conquering  his  enemies  but  for 

the   a— i-tanre  :h«-y    reerived  tr-in    Spain.      1  lr  .iclral.  -i  Ma\  <nne  at 

Jvry,  and  had  already  reduced  1  at  straits,  when  Alexander 

of  Parma  marched  into  France  from  the  Netherlands,  and  compelled 
him  to  raise  the  siege  (1590).  In  15i«2  Parma  again  appeared  in 
Normandy  and  saved  Rouen  from  the  royalist  forces.  Henry  IV., 
with  all  his  personal  courage  and  activity,  was  out -general  led  by 
the  cautious  Spanish  commander.  But,  fortunately  for  him  and 
for  France,  Parma  died  after  his  return  to  the  Netherlands  in  1592. 
While  Henry  was  thus  freed  from  Ins  m<*t  fonnidaUe  opponent, 
he  also  reaped  great  advantages  from  the  divisions  UDOOg  the 
French  Catholics.  France,  divided  into  hostile  camps,  without  any 
central  authority,  was  in  a  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion,  which 
if  continued  must  end  in  national  ruin.  Henry  IV.  offered  one 
solution,  his  own  accession  and  religious  toleration.  His  enemies 
were  bound  to  offer  an  alternative.  The  cardinal  of  Pourbon,  who 
was  only  used  as  a  puppet,  had  died,  still  in  captivity,  in  1590. 
Spanish  influence  was  all-powerful  among  the  leaguers,  and  was 
wielded  by  the  envoy  Mendoza.  It  was  almost  decided  to  put 
aside  the  Salic  law,  and   to  acknowledge    Philip's  daughter   the 


126  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ix. 

Infanta  Isabella.  But  a  difficulty  arose  about  the  choice  of  a 
husband  for  her.  Philip  himself  wished  her  to  marry  her  second 
cousin,  Ernest  of  Austria.  He  hoped  to  compensate  the  Hapsburge 
for  their  losses  in  the  war  with  England  and  the  Netherlands 
by  gaining  for  them  the  ciown  of  France.  But  the  national 
spirit,  weakened  as  it  was  by  religious  differences,  was  too  strong 
to  submit  to  a  foreign  king.  Philip  then  rjroposed  Charles  of 
Guise,  the  son  of  the  murdered  duke.  This  was  acceptable  to  most 
of  the  Catholics,  but  not  to  Mayenne,  who  aimed  at  the  crown 
himself  and  refused  to  be  put  aside  in  favour  of  his  nephew. 
These  divisions  ruined  the  Catholic  cause.  And  in  1593  Henry  IV. 
decided  the  fate  of  France  by  formally  adopting  the  Catholic 
religion.  The  reaction  against  Spanish  influence  induced  many 
of  the  leaguers  to  embrace  this  opportunity  of  going  over  to  the 
legitimate  king.  Henry  entered  Paris  in  triumph  in  1594.  He 
at  once  declared  war  against  Spain,  which  still  supported  the 
remnants  of  the  League.  All  loyal  Frenchmen  rallied  to  his 
standard.  In  1595  the  pope,  Clement  VIII.,  withdrew  the  bull  of 
excommunication  and  acknowledged  him  as  king.  In  1596  the 
duke  of  Mayenne  submitted  on  very  favourable  terms.  In  1598 
Philip  II.,  conscious  that  he  was  near  the  end  of  his  life,  and 
that  his  policy  had  proved  a  failure,  concluded  the  Peace  of 
Vervins,  which  confirmed  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis.  All 
the  conquests  which  had  been  made  by  Spain  and  Savoy  were 
restored,  and  France  regained  its  ancient  boundaries.  The  most 
obstinate  member  of  the  league,  the  duke  of  Mercceur,  at  last 
submitted,  and  acknowledged  Henry  IV. 

§  14.  Thus,  after  nearly  forty  years  of  anarchy,  a  national  monarchy 
was  re-established  in  France.  But  still  Henry  IV.  had  only  crossed 
the  threshold  of  his  difficulty.  It  required  years  of  cautious  and 
enlightened  government  before  the  kingdom  could  recover  from  the 
confusion  and  losses  of  the  civil  wars.  The  first  necessity  was  the 
settlement  of  a  religious  peace,  which  was  accomplished  by  the 
famous  Edict  of  Nantes  (April  13,  1598).  The  Catholic  church 
retained  its  supremacy  and  its  revenues,  and  all  dissenters  from  it 
were  compelled  to  pay  tithes  and  to  observe  the  religious  festivals. 
But  the  Huguenots  obtained  liberty  of  conscience  and  the  right  of 
public  service  in  all  places  where  it  had  been  celebrated  in  1577. 
Their  ecclesiastical  expenses  were  to  be  defrayed  by  themselves 
with  the  help  of  a  yearly  contribution  from  the  king.  The  nobles 
retained  the  special  religious  privileges  which  had  been  given  them 
by  previous  edicts.  Offices  were  to  be  open  to  members  of  both 
creeds,  and  the  parliaments  were  to  be  composed  of  mixed  chambers. 
As  a  security  for  these  concessions,  a  number  of  fortresses,  including 


a.d.  1593-1G01.     ADMINISTRATION  OF   SULLY.  327 

Nismes,  Montauban  and  La  Rochelle,  were  ceded  to  the  Huguenots 
for  eight  years.  The  king  promised  to  defray  part  of  the  expense 
of  the  garrisons.  The  pope,  Clement  VIII.,  was  induced,  not 
without  difficuity,  to  confirm  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  He  also 
divorced  the  king  from  his  first  wife,  Margaret  of  Valois,  and 
enabled  him  to  marry  Mary  of  Medici,  daughter  of  Francis  grand 
duke  of  Tuscany  (1599).  In  1601  the  birth  of  an  heir  ensured  the 
continuance  of  the  Bourbon  dynasty. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  religious  settlement  came  the  question 
of  finances.  Ever  since  the  death  of  Francis  L  the  financial  condi- 
tion of  France  had  gone  from  bad  to  worse.  Corruption  prevailed 
among  all  the  officials :  the  most  reckless  methods  of  raising  money 
had  beep  resorted  to.  Patents  of  nobility  had  been  sold,  and  thus 
the  number  of  taxpayers  was  reduced.  Though  the  taxes  were  enor- 
mously heavy,  so  wasteful  was  the  administration  that  they  brought 
hardly  anything  into  the  treasury.  The  expenditure  was  ten 
times  larger  than  the  revenue.  Every  year  the  deficit  increased, 
and  at  Henry  IV.'s  accession  the  public  debt  was  estimated  at 
£345,000,000,  an  enormous  sum  for  those  days.  And  the  rate  of 
interest  varied  from  eight  to  ten  per  cent.,  so  that  it  absorbed 
the  whole  of  the  annual  revenue,  which  was  not  more  than 
£30,000,000. 

The  task  of  evolving  order  in  the  midst  of  this  confusion  was 
entrusted  to  one  of  Henry's  comrades  in  arms,  the  duke  of  Sully, 
the  most  conscientious,  if  not  the  most  able  of  French  administra- 
tors. Heedless  of  the  interests  of  individuals  when  they  were  at 
variance  with  the  welfare  of  the  state,  Sully  instituted  a  series  of 
sweeping  reforms.  A  number  of  sinecure  offices,  which  had  been 
created  merely  to  raise  money  by  their  sale,  were  swept  away. 
Seats  in  the  parliament,  hitherto  purchasable,  were  made  heredi- 
tary on  the  payment  of  an  annual  tax  (the  Paulette)  by  their 
holders.  Thus  a  lawyer-caste  was  created  in  France  which  occupied 
a  unique  position  in  the  history  of  the  country.  Holders  of  royal 
domains  were  compelled  to  prove  their  title,  and  large  territories 
were  recovered.  The  system  of  collecting  the  taxes  was  reformed 
and  made  more  orderly  and  economical.  Patents  of  nobility  wen- 
revised  and  in  many  cases  revoked.  While  he  thus  increased  the 
revenues,  Sully  also  diminished  expenses,  and  was  thus  enabled  to 
pay  off  £147,000,000  of  the  debt.  These  and  other  reforms,  which 
affected  so  closely  the  interests  of  powerful  classes,  could  only  have 
been  carried  out  by  a  minister  like  Sully  whose  personal  honesty 
was  above  suspicion. 

§  15.  Nor  was  the  king  himself  behindhand  in  the  work  of  reform. 
Henry   IV.'s  devotion   to  the  national  welfare  has  been   fondly 


128  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  ix. 

recorded  by  his  countrymen  in  the  wish  attributed  to  him  that 
"  every  peasant  might  have  a  fowl  in  his  pot  on  Sundays."  While 
Sully  was  especially  anxious  to  revive  agriculture,  Henry  set 
himself  to  encourage  manufactures  and  commerce.  The  silk- 
manufacture,  which  has  become  so  important  an  industry  in 
France,  was  introduced  by  him,  and  he  planted  the  Tuileries 
gardens  with  mulberry-trees.  Marseilles  became  a  great  mercan- 
tile and  Toulon  a  great  naval  port.  Discoverers  were  sent  out 
under  royal  patronage  to  establish  colonies  in  America.  Port 
Royal  (Annapolis)  was  founded  in  1604,  and  Quebec  in  1608. 
Henry  even  aimed  at  the  formation  of  an  Indian  company  which 
might  rival  the  enterprise  of  the  English  and  Dutch  in  the  east. 

By  these  and  similar  measures  a  foundation  was  laid,  for  the 
revival  of  national  prosperity  in  France.  But  for  the  government 
of  Henry  IV.  there  could  have  been  no  *  age  of  Louis  XIV."  It 
is  no  wonder  that  the  chivalrous,  popular  Henry  of  Navarre  has 
lived  long  in  the  grateful  memory  of  his  people.  Yet  the  permanent 
interests  of  France  undoubtedly  suffered  from  his  rule.  He  made 
no  effort  to  establish  constitutional  government  under  which  the 
people  might  have  been  trained  in  the  habits  of  self-rule.  It 
was  perhaps  impossible  for  him  to  do  so.  It  has  been  one  of  the 
misfortunes  of  France  that  it  has  been  periodically  brought  to  the 
verge  of  ruin  either  by  foreign  invasion  or  domestic  divisions.  It 
has  been  necessar}7-  to  restore  order  with  the  strong  hand,  and 
despotism  has  been  welcomed  by  the  people  as  the  only  antidute 
for  existing  evils.  Henry  IV.  and  Sully  unquestionably  con- 
tributed to  that  over-centralisation  which  was  completed  by 
Richelieu,  and  of  which  the  monarchy  paid  the  penalty  in  the 
Revolution. 

The  foreign  policy  of  Henry  IV.  was  as  simple  and  consistent  as 
the  objects  of  his  domestic  government.  He  wished  to  combine 
against  the  Austro-Spanish  power  all  hostile  elements  in  Germany, 
the  Netherlands,  Italy  and  the  northern  States.  By  destroying  the 
Hapsburg  supremacy,  he  hoped  to  establish  a  new  system  of 
European  politics,  of  which  France  should  be  the  centre.  He  did 
not  live  long  enough  to  execute  so  grand  a  project,  but  he  bequeathed 
it  to  his  successors.  Henry  IV.  was  preparing  a  great  force  to 
interfere  decisively  on  behalf  of  the  Protestant  powers,  when  he 
was  assassinated  in  the  streets  of  Paris  by  the  dagger  of  Francois 
Ravaillac  f  May  14,  1610). 


CHAPTER  X. 
GERMANY  AFTER  CHARLES  V.,  AND  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR 


•> 


§  1.  Germany  and  the  Counter-Reformation.  §  2.  Progress  of  Protestan- 
tism under  Ferdinand  1.  and  Maximilian  II.  §  3.  Protestant  disunion 
and  Cathnli.   idvanes.     §  4.  Biriolf  II.     §  *».     Mspvtai  between  P*©- 

•  1 1 1 s  :md  Catholics.  §  »».  The  I'nion  and  |bi  Lift.  | 
sion  question  in  Jiilich  and  C'leve.  §  8.  Rudolf  II.  and  Matthias.  §  9. 
Ferdinand  of  Styria  and  the  succession  to  the  Hapsburg  territories. 
§  10.  Bohemian  insurrection;  crown  accepted  by  the  Elector  Palatine. 
§  11.  War  in  Bohemia;  victory  of  the  Catholic  League.  §  IS.  Atti- 
tude of  France,  Denmark  and  Sweden.  §  18.  Danish  war;  Wallen- 
stein's  successes  and  policy;  siege  of  SlraUund.  §  14.  Mantuan 
succession;  Edi<  t  <t  ll.-titut  ion  and  dismissal  of  \Vallen»teiii.  $  1 .'.. 
Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Germany  ;  his  Miccesses.  §  16.  Wallenstvin's 
second  command ;  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  at  Liitzen.  §  17. 
Assassination  of  Wallenstein  ;  battle  of  Nordlingcn  ;  treaty  of  Prague. 
§  18.  Last  period  of  the  war.  §19.  Negotiations;  peace  of  Westphalia; 
results  of  the  war. 

i  1.  The  ninin  interest  of  the  history  of  all  European  countries  during 
the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  centres  round  the  success  or 
failure  of  the  Counter- Reformation.  In  Italy  and  Spain  Catholicism 
succeeded  not  only  in  holding  its  ground  but  also  in  sternly 
repressing  all  opposing  beliefs.  In  France  the  long  wars  of  religion 
ended  in  a  compromise,  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  but,  on  the  whole, 
victory  rested  with  the  Catholics.  In  the  Netherlands  the  grand 
conflict  with  Spain  produced  a  division  between  the  provinces.  The 
northern  states  formed  a  republic  under  the  house  of  Orange  The 
Walloon  provinces,  more  exposed  to  Romish  influence,  returned  to 
the  Spanish  allegiance.  In  England  the  Catholic  reaction  failed 
altogether  owing  to  the  national  spirit  evoked  by  S;  anish  interven- 
tion. In  Sweden  the  Jesuits  almost  accomplished  the  conversion  of 
John  III.  (1568-92),  the  second  son  of  Gustavus  Vasa  ;  but  national 
interests  proved  in  the  end  too  strong  for  them.  John's  son, 
Sigismuijd,  an  avowed  Catholic,  was  elected  king  of  Poland,  but 
forfeited  the  Swedish  crown  to  his  uncle,  Charles  IX.  Germany, 
the  starting-point  of  the  Reformation,  was  affected  no  less  than 
other  countries  by  the  reactionary  movement.     The  Thirty  Years' 


130  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

War,  to  which  this  ultimately  gave  rise,  proved  a  more  desolating 
and  extensive  conflict  than  any  of  the  other  religious  wars. 

The  Treaty  of  Augsburg  (1555)  was  in  itself  too  vague  and  too 
distasteful  both  to  Protestants  and  Catholics,  to  furnish  a  satisfac- 
tory basis  of  peace.  The  so-called  "  ecclesiastical  reservation  " 
proved  a  fertile  source  of  disputes.  The  spread  of  Calvinism 
produced  a  number  of  Protestants  whose  interests  were  not  recog- 
nised by  the  treaty.  But  its  cardinal  defect  was  that  it  gave  no 
security  for  freedom  of  conscience,  but  placed  the  settlement  of 
religious  questions  in  the  hands  of  the  territorial  princes.  This 
makes  German  history  at  this  period  more  than  usually  difficult 
and  complicated.  Religion  is  no  longer,  as  under  Charles  V.,  a 
question  for  the  whole  empire,  but  for  each  individual  state. 

§  2.  The  Catholics  had  hoped  by  the  ecclesiastical  reservation  to 
stay  the  further  progress  of  Protestantism.  In  this  they  were  dis- 
appointed. In  almost  every  province  the  adherents  of  the 
reformed  faith  increased  in  numbers  and  importance.  Protestant 
"  administrators  "  obtained  the  bishoprics  of  Magdeburg,  Bremen, 
Halberstadt,  Liibeck  and  others.  In  the  great  archbishoprics  of 
Trier  and  Cologne  it  was  found  impossible  to  exclude  Protestant 
preachers.  Even  in  Bavaria  and  the  Austrian  provinces  the 
Lutheran  doctrine  spread  rapidly.  A  Venetian  envoy  computed 
thct  in  1558  only  a  tenth  part  of  the  German  population  remained 
faithtul  to  Catholicism.  Charles  V.'s  successor,  Ferdinand  I., 
though  he  remained  personally  orthodox,  took  no  measures  to 
repress  reform.  It  is  worth  remembering  that  this  prince  was  the 
first  who  deflnitely  gave  up  the  old  ceremony  of  a  papal 
coronation.  Henceforth  the  elected  king  of  Germany  assumes  at 
once  the  title  of  emperor,  and  thus  the  popes  are  deprived  of  their 
chief  means  of  interference  in  German  affairs.  Ferdinand  was 
succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Maximilian  II.,  who  was  seriously 
inclined  to  Lutheranism,  and  it  was  only  his  connection  with  Spain 
and  his  regard  for  family  interests  that  prevented  his  public 
conversion.  But  he  pursued  a  policy  of  enlightened  toleration, 
in  which  he  was  unfortunately  far  in  advance  of  his  age.  Thus 
the  policy  of  Charles  V.  was  completely  surrendered  by  his  suc- 
cessors. The  emperor  no  longer  seeks  to  establish  the  religious 
unity  of  Germany,  but  stands  as  mediator  between  the  two  opposing 
beliefs. 

§  3.  For  a  time  Protestantism  advanced  so  rapidly  that  it  appeared 
possible  that  Germany  might  be  altogether  severed  from  the 
Church.  But  the  greatness  of  the  danger  aroused  corresponding 
energy  in  the  declining  faith  and  led  to  a  strong  Catholic  reaction. 
This  was  facilitated  by  disunion  among  the  Protestants  themselves. 


a.d.  1555-1600.     GERMANY  AFTER  CHARLES  V.  131 

Their  leaders  were  the  duke  of  Saxony  and  the  Elector  Palatine, 
and  they  were  unfortunately  opposed  to  each  other  on  doctrinal 
points.  Saxony  was  fanatically  Lutheran.  When  Christian  I. 
(1586-1591),  under  the  influence  of  his  chancellor  Crell,  en- 
deavoured to  secure  toleration  for  the  Calvinists  as  the  basis  of 
a  general  Protestant  alliance,  he  met  with  vehement  opposition 
from  his  own  subjects.  The  sudden  death  of  the  elector  left  the 
guardianship  of  his  infant  son  to  a  Lutheran  relative,  Frederick 
William.  Crell  was  imprisoned  and  put  to  death  in  1601. 
Calvinism  was  suppressed  in  Saxony  with  a  strong  hand.  Christian 

II.  was  succeeded  in  1611  by  his  brother  John  George,  who  during 
a  long  reign  was  the  head  of  the  Lutheran  party,  and  by  his 
obstinate  antipathy  to  Calvinism  did  incalculable  harm  to  the 
Protestant  cause  in  Germany. 

In  the  Palatinate,  owing  to  its  geographical  position,  the  influence 
of  France  ami  the  Netherlands  was  strongly  felt  This  led  to  the 
establishment  of  Calvinism  under  Frederick  IIL  (1557-1576),  the 
first  elector  of  the  Simmern  branch.  His  son  and  successor,  Lewis 
VI.  ( 1576-1580),  was  a  Lutheran,  and  tried  to  effect  a  reconciliation 
between  the  two  creeds.  But  the  scheme  ended  with  his  life.  II is 
brother,  John  Casimir,  became  guardian  of  the  young  elector, 
rick  IV.  (1583-1610).  Under  the  new  rule  Calviuism  was 
thoroughly  re-established  in  the  Palatinate.  Frederick  was  succeeded 
in  1610  by  his  son  Frederick  V.,  who  married  the  English  princess 
Elizabeth,  and  who  figures  very  prominently  in  the  first  part  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War. 

This  division  of  the  Protestants  into  two  hostile  camps  was  fatal 
to  their  advance,  and  gave  a  great  opportunity  to  the  champions  of 
the  Catholic  reaction.  The  Jesuits  bad  been  admitted  into  Germany 
by  Ferdinand  I.,  and  before  long  their  zeal  and  energy  produced 
important  results.  Their  schools  surpassed  those  of  the  Protestant 
teachers,  and  enabled  them  to  gain  a  firm  hold  over  the  rising 
generation.  But  their  great  object  was  to  induce  those  princes 
who  remaimd  Catholic,  to  pursue  a  more  active  policy  in  their 
dominion*.     In   Bavaria,  Protestantism  was  put  down  by  Albert 

III.  (1550-1579),  and  this  duchy  became  the  centre  of  the  Catholic 
movement.  In  Trier,  Bamberg,  Fulda,  and  other  places  a  simi- 
liar  policy  was  successfully  pursued.  Protestants  were  first 
excluded  from  all  offices  and  finally  forced  into  either  recantation  or 
exile. 

§  4.  A  great  object  of  the  Catholics  was  to  make  some  impression 
on  the  hereditary  domains  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  where,  under 
Ferdinand  I.  and  Maximilian  II.,  Protestantism  had  made  startling 
progress.     Maximilian  had  five  sons  by  his  wife  Mary,  a  daughter  of 


132  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

Charles  V.,  but  he  wisely  gave  up  the  family  custom  of  subdivision 
and  left  the  administration  of  Hungary,  Bohemia  and  Austria  to 
the  eldest,  Rudolf  II.,  who  was  also  elected  emperor.  Rudolf,  educated 
first  by  his  mother  and  afterwards  at  the  court  of  Phillip  II.,  was 
imbued  with  Spanish  ideas  both  in  religion  and  politics.  He  had 
an  exaggerated  conception  of  his  own  dignity,  and  no  respect  for  the 
religious  beliefs  or  political  interests  of  his  subjects.  His  first  act 
was  to  expel  from  Vienna  Opitz  and  other  Protestant  preachers,  and 
he  thus  gave  the  first  impulse  to  a  Catholic  reaction  in  Austria. 
Unfortunately,  however,  for  the  Catholic  party,  Rudolf,  though  not 
without  ability,  was  not  of  a  character  to  interfere  vigorously  in  the 
affairs  of  the  empire.  He  held  himself  aloof  from  politics  and 
devoted  himself  in  his  castle  of  Prague  to  alchemy  and  astrology. 
But  it  was  a  great  thing  that  the  policy  of  his  two  predecessors  was 
given  up  by  Rudolf,  and  that  the  imperial  influence,  however  small, 
was  henceforth  assured  to  the  Catholics.  They  were  now  determined 
to  enforce  throughout  the  empire  their  interpretation  of  the  religious 
peace  and  especially  of  the  ecclesiastical  reservation.  Thus  they 
hoped  to  resist  any  further  progress  of  Protestantism,  and,  ifcircum- 
stances  favoured  them,  to  reduce  it  to  the  old  limits  of  1552. 

§  5.  At  the  Diet  of  1582  an  important  contest  arose  about  the 
bishopric  of  Magdeburg,  to  which  was  attached  the  presidency  in 
the  College  of  Princes.  Its  present  holder  was  a  Protestant,  Joachim 
Frederick  of  Brandenburg.  The  Catholics  refused  to  his  deputy 
not  only  the  presidency,  but  even  admission  to  the  Diet,  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  not  lawful  bishop.  This  was  a  point  of  the 
highest  importance,  as  the  admission  of  the  Catholic  ruling  would 
have  excluded  many  of  the  Protestant  princes  from  political  in- 
fluence. It  was  impossible  to  come  to  any  compromise  on  the 
question,  which  remained  a  source  of  difficulty  at  each  successive 
diet.  A  similar  question  arose  in  the  third  College  of  the  Diet,  that 
of  the  cities.  Aachen,  long  a  Catholic  city,  had  fallen  at  last  under 
the  government  of  a  Protestant  majority.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  exclude  its  deputies  from  the  Diet,  but  the  other  towns  regarded 
this  as  an  attack  on  their  liberties,  and  admitted  the  deputies, 
though  they  had  received  no  regular  summons.  This  also  remained 
unsettled  until  1598  when  Catholicism  was  restored  in  Aachen  by 
a  military  force. 

Still  more  important  were  the  events  in  Cologne  at  this  time. 
The  Protestant  interpretation  of  the  ecclesiastical  reservation  was 
that  it  did  not  apply  to  the  case  of  a  Protestant  bishop  lawfully 
elected  by  the  chapter.  But  they  had  never  yet  held  that  a 
Catholic  bishop  might  go  over  to  Protestantism  and  yet  hold  his 
see  in  defiance   of  the   chapter.     A   previous  elector  of  Cologne, 


a.d.  1581.  GEBHARD  TRUCHSESS.  133 

Hermann  von  der  Wied,  had  married,  and  had  at  once  resigned. 
Bnt  in  1581,  the  archbishop  Gebhard  Truchsess  married  AgneB 
of  Mansfeld,  and  announced  his  conversion  to  the  reformed  faith 
and  at  the  same  time  his  determination  to  retain  his  see.  This 
was  of  immense  importance,  because  the  defection  of  the  archbishop 
of  Cologne  would  give  the  Protestants  a  majority  in  the  electoral 
College.  The  Catholics  took  the  strongest  measures.  The  popo 
issued  a  bull  of  deposition,  and  the  temporal  princes  armed  to 
support  it.  Truchsess,  having  adopted  Calvinism,  found  no 
supporters  among  the  Lutherans.  He  was  driven  from  his  see, 
and  lived  in  exile  till  his  death  in  1601.  This  was  a  great  victory 
for  the  Catholics,  and  encouraged  them  to  take  further  measures. 
They  had  a  majority  in  the  Imperial  Chamber,  the  supreme  court 
of  the  empire.  All  legal  disputes  were  decided  against  the  Pro- 
testants. Besides  this,  an  attempt  was  made  to  increase  the  authority 
of  the  Aulic  Council,  an  institution  which  had  no  imperial  sanction, 
but  was  merely  a  private  court  of  the  emperor,  whose  wishes  it 
unhesitatingly  carried  out. 

§  <>.  Thus  the  imperial  constitution  failed  to  supply  an  efficient 
administrative  machinery.  The  Diet  could  come  to  no  decisions, 
and  even  if  it  did,  they  were  rejected  by  the  minority.  The  judicial 
courts  were  on  the  side  of  one  party,  and  the  other  refused  to  re- 
cognise their  authority.  It  was  evident  that  the  Protestants  could 
only  rely  for  security  on  their  own  exertions.  Their  obvious  policy 
was  to  form  a  defensive  union  among  themselves.  This  object 
was  steadily  pursued  by  the  court  of  the  elector  palatine  under 
the  guidance  of  an  able  minister,  CfcrfaHtn  of  Anhalt.  But  for 
some  time  all  attempts  failed  through  the  want  of  union  between 
(Jalvinists  and  Lutherans,  and  the  invincible  sluggishness  of  Saxony. 
But  at  last  events  happened  which  compelled  immediate  action. 

Donauwiirth,  a  free  imperial  city,  was  so  completely  Protestant 
that  the  attempt  of  an  abbot  to  conduct  a  religious  procession 
through  the  streets  produced  ;i  violent  tumult.  The  matter  was 
brought,  with  doubtful  legality,  before  the  Aulic  Council,  aud  that 
body,  without  a  formal  trial,  issued  the  imperial  ban  against  the 
town  and  entrusted  its  execution  to  Maximilian  of  Bavaria.  That 
prince  was  one  of  the  ablest  of  German  princes  and  the  recognised 
leader  of  the  Catholic  party.  His  devotion  to  his  religion  did  not, 
however,  prevent  an  enlightened  regard  for  his  own  interests.  He 
had  long  foreseen  the  possibility  of  war  and  was  prepared  for  the 
emergency.  His  troops  marched  against  Donauworth,  and  not  only 
forcibly  suppressed  the  Protestant  religion,  but  practically  annexed 
the  town  to  Bavaria.  This  high-handed  act  on  the  part  of  the 
Aulic  Council  and  of  Maximilian  convinced  the  Protestants  of  the 


134  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

danger  in  which  they  stood.  At  the  diet  of  Ratisbon  (1608)  they 
made  vehement  protests,  and  these  being  disregarded,  they  left  the 
assembly.  Almost  directly  afterwards,  Christian  of  Anhalt  suc- 
ceeded in  inducing  the  Protestant  princes  and  towns  of  southern 
Germany  to  form  a  league  at  Ahausen.  It  was  impossible  as 
yet  to  persuade  the  Lutherans  of  Germany  to  join  them.  The 
Catholics  on  their  side  were  equally  prompt.  Under  the  leadership 
of  Maximilian,  a  Catholic  league  was  formed  at  Munich  in  July 
1609. 

§  7.  Thus  the  imperial  constitution  was  broken  down  by  religious 
differences,  and  the  two  parties  stood  face  to  face,  both  prepared 
for  war,  but  neither  willing  to  strike  the  first  blow.  A  disputed 
succession  in  Julich  and  Cleve  almost  precipitated  the  struggle. 
On  the  death  of  the  childless  duke,  John  William,  in  1609,  a 
number  of  claimants  to  his  territories  arose.  Of  these  the  most 
prominent  were  John  Sigismund  of  Brandenburg  and  Wolfgang 
William,  son  of  the  duke  of  Neuburg.  But  both  were  Lutherans, 
and  the  presence  of  heretics  so  near  to  the  Netherlands  aroused 
the  fears  of  Spain.  The  emperor  Rudolf  was  induced  to  claim  the 
vacant  provinces  as  imperial  fiefs.  In  face  of  this  danger  the  two 
claimants  formed  an  alliance  and  took  joint  possession.  A  general 
war  seemed  inevitable.  As  the  Catholics  relied  on  Spain,  so  the 
Protestants  turned  to  France,  and  in  1610  a  treaty  was  made 
between  Henry  IV.  and  the  Union.  Henry  was  determined  to 
seize  the  opportunity  of  humbling  his  old  enemies  the  Hapsburgs. 
He  was  preparing  to  lead  a  large  army  from  France,  when  his  life 
was  taken  by  Ravaillac.  France  fell  under  the  miserable  regency 
of  Marie  de  Medici,  arid  the  danger  of  a  European  war  was  for  the 
time  over.  Julich  and  Cleve  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  two 
joint  possessors.  But  the  difficulty  of  finding  a  permanent  settle- 
ment again  endangered  peace.  Wolfgang  William  proposed  to  his 
rival  to  marry  his  daughter  and  to  take  the  whole  territories.  The 
elector  of  Brandenburg,  enraged  at  the  impudent  proposal,  boxed 
the  youthful  speaker's  ears.  Wolfgang  William  went  over  to 
Catholicism,  married  a  daughter  of  Maximilian,  and  threw  himself 
on  the  protection  of  the  League.  Spanish  and  Dutch  troops  were 
called  in  by  either  side.  But  there  was  still  a  general  abhorrence 
of  war.  At  Xanten  a  truce  was  concluded  by  which  Julich  and 
Cleve  were  divided  between  Brandenburg  and  Neuburg.  Thus  the 
outbreak  of  war  was  again  postponed.  For  its  immediate  causes 
we  must  turn  to  the  history  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg. 

§  8.  Ferdinand  I.  had  divided  his  territories  between  his  three 
sons.  Maximilian  II.  received  Austria,  Hungary,  and  Bohemia; 
Ferdinand,  Tyrol ;  and  Charles,  Styria  and  Carinthia.     Ferdinand 


a.d.  1576-1612.  REIGN  OF  RUDOLF  II.  135 

died  without,  legitimate  issue  and  Tyrol  reverted  to  the  elder  line. 
Charles  of  Styria  was  succeeded  in  1596  by  his  son,  afterwards  the 
emperor  Ferdinand  II.  Maximilian's  territories  passed,  as  has  been 
seen,  to  Rudolf  II.,  while  the  younger  sons  received  compensation 
elsewhere.  Ernest  was  intrustc d  with  the  administration  of  Austria, 
which  fell  after  his  death  to  Matthias;  Maximilian  was  made 
governor  of  Tyrol ;  and  Albert  was  married  to  Philip  Il/s  daughter 
and  became  regent  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands. 

Rudolf  II.'s  government  in  his  hereditary  dominions  was  more 
active  but  quite  as  unsuccessful  as  in  the  empire.  His  ■ftftempti  to 
put  down  the  Protestant  doctrines,  and  with  them  the  ]>olitical 
privileges  of  his  subjects,  led  to  open  revolts.  In  Hungary  the 
rebels  gained  the  support  of  the  Turks,  and  established  virtual 
indcj>endence.  So  serious  did  matters  api>ear,  that  the  other 
memliem  of  the  family  detennin.d  t.»  combine  against  their  in- 
.apiMc  head  and  to  entrust  the  administration  to  the  archduke 
Matthias.  But  Rudolf  resisted  all  attempts  to  diminish  his  power 
with  an  obstinacy  akin  to  madness.  Compelled  to  entrust  a  (Tans  in 
Hungary  to  his  brother,  he  refused  to  ratify  his  acts,  and  especially 
his  treaty  with  the  Turks.  At  last,  in  1608,  the  archdukes  took  up 
arms  and  compelled  Rudolf,  by  the  treaty  of  Lieben,  to  cede 
Hungary,  Austria,  and  Moravia  to  Matthias,  and  to  promise  him  the 
succession  in  Bohemia.  These  events  were  unfavourable  to  the 
Catholics.  Matthias  was  forced  to  make  concessions  in  Hungary 
and  Austria,  while  the  Bohemians  took  advantage  of  Rudolfs 
difficulties  to  extort  from  him  the  famous  «'  Letter  of  Majesty" 
(1609).  This  secured  freedom  of  conscience  to  all  Bohemians,  hut 
freedom  of  worship  only  to  members  of  the  assembly  of  estates.  On 
the  royal  domains  complete  toleration  was  to  be  assured.  Rudolf 
tried  hard  to  evade  these  conditions,  which  placed  him  in  an  inferior 
position  to  other  landholders.  But  he  only  provoked  a  new  revolt, 
which  in  loll  demised  him  and  transferred  the  Bohemian  crown  to 
Matthias.  In  January,  1612,  while  still  struggling  to  regain  his 
lost  power,  Rudolf  died.  The  imperial  crown  followed  the  others 
and  was  conferred  by  the  electors  upon  Matthias. 

§  9.  Matthias  had  now  stepped  altogether  into  Rudolfs  place,  and 
found  himself  face  to  face  with  the  difficulties  which  had  crushed 
his  brother.  In  Bohemia  and  Austria  religious  differences  were  by 
no  means  ended  by  the  concessions  made  to  the  Protestants,  and 
the  attempt  to  evade  these  concessions  produced  serious  disaffection. 
In  Hungary  the  royal  power  was  almost  null.  Transylvania  had 
been  made  practically  independent  by  Bethlen  Gabor,  who  was 
supported  by  the  Turks.  The  empire  would  render  no  assistance. 
At  a  diet  at  Ratisbon  in  1613  Matthias  demanded  aid  against  the 


136  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

Turks ;  but  the  assembly  would  consider  nothing  but  the  old 
religious  questions  and  had  to  be  dissolved.  This  was  the  last  diet 
held  before  the  war,  and  marks  the  final  collapse  of  orderly 
constitutional  arrangements.  Matthias  being  old  and  childless,  the 
Austrian  princes  saw  that  family  interests  required  some  settlement 
of  the  succession.  The  elder  archdukes  agreed  to  renounce  their 
claims  in  favour  of  Ferdinand  of  Styria,  the  emperor's  cousin.  He 
had  been  educated  with  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  at  the  Jesuit 
university  of  Ingolstadt,  and  was  imbued  with  the  most  extreme 
ideas  of  the  Catholic  reaction.  He  had  earned  the  papal  gratitude 
by  the  forcible  restoration  of  Catholicism  in  Styria  and  Carinthia. 
A  prince  of  equal  bigotry  and  ability  was  now  to  become  head  of 
the  Hapsburgs  and  to  resume  the  policy  which  had  been  abandoned 
since  Charles  V.'s  def  .at  by  Maurice  of  Saxony. 

§  10.  The  only  province  where  serious  opposition  to  Ferdinand  was 
anticipated  was  Bohemia,  where  the  anti-Catholic  party  was  very 
strong  and  inherited  some  of  the  spirit  of  the  old  Hussites,  and 
where  the  crown  was  considered  elective.  Ferdinand  I.  had 
declared  the  succession  to  be  hereditary,  but  Matthias  himself  had 
in  1608  acknowledged  the  right  of  election.  This  difficulty,  how- 
ever, was  overcome.  The  estates  were  suddenly  summoned  in  1617 
and  induced  by  promises  and  threats  to  recognise  Ferdinand  as  heir 
to  the  throne.  It  was  soon  evident  that  the  Bohemians  had  lost 
the  most  favourable  opportunity  of  maintaining  their  liberties. 
The  government  became  more  and  more  Catholic  and  tyrannical. 
The  Letter  of  Majesty,  which  Ferdinand  had  sworn  to  observe, 
was  disregarded.  Protestant  churches  were  demolished  and  the 
government  was  entrusted  to  two  men,  Martinitz  and  Slawata,  who 
were  fanatical  Catholics.  In  these  circumstances  the  Bohemian 
nobles,  headed  by  count  Thurn,  determined  to  take  up  arms.  The 
revolt  commenced  in  Prague,  where  the  two  unpopular  ministers 
were  thrown  from  a  window  of  the  town-hall.  This  act  proved  the 
commencement  of  an  European  war.  Want  of  space  forbids  any 
detailed  account  of  military  movements,  and  a  general  sketch  of  the 
main  events  must  suffice. 

Ferdinand  II.  at  once  determined  to  enforce  his  authority  in 
Bohemia.  An  army  of  mercenaries  was  despatched  thither  under 
Bucquoi,  which  was  opposed  by  a  native  force  under  Thurn  and  by 
count  Ernest  of  Mansfield,  who  commanded  troops  in  the  pay  of 
the  duke  of  Savoy.  Nothing  decisive  was  done  in  1618.  The 
next  year  Thurn  made  a  bold  march  upon  Vienna,  and  Ferdinand 
was,  for  a  moment,  in  extreme  danger.  But  he  was  saved  by  a 
defeat  inflicted  on  Mansfeld  by  Bucquoi  which  compelled  the 
Bohemians  to  retire.     Ferdinand   at   once   hurried    to   Germany, 


a.d.  1617-1620.         OUTBREAK  OF  THE  WAR.  137 

where  Matthias'  death  had  necessitated  a  new  imperial  election. 
The  division  between  Saxony  and  the  Palatinate,  and  the  modera- 
tion of  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  secured  to  him  the  crown  (28  August, 
1619).  Two  days  beforehand  an  election  of  equal  importance  took 
place  in  Bohemia.  The  rebels  were  anxious  to  fortify  themselves 
with  foreign  alliances.  They  had  gained  over  Bethlen  Gabor,  the 
adventurous  prince  of  Transylvania,  and  they  received  support  from 
Savoy.  But  their  great  object  was  to  enlist  on  their  side  the 
tant  Union  of  Germany.  It  was  decided  to  ofTer  the 
Bohemian  crown  to  Frederick  V.,  elector  Palatine  and  head  of 
the  I  'niou.  Pazzled  by  ambition,  and  urged  on  by  Christian  of 
Anhalt,  he  accepted  the  offer,  though  his  allies  were  hesitating 
and  his  lather-in-law,  James  I.,  refused  any  active  support  On 
the  26th  of  August,  Ferdinand  was  deposed  and  Frederick  elected 
in  his  place.  With  great  pomp  he  left  Heidelberg  and  was  crowned 
at  Prague. 

§  11.  This  act  of  aggression,  which  threatened  to  give  a  second 
electorate  to  a  Protestant  prince,  stirred  the  Catholic  world  to  its 
depths.  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  and  the  League  at  once  espoused 
Hapsburg  cause,  from  which  they  had  hitherto  held  aloof. 
Ferdinand  promised  the  UpfttC  1'alatiuate  to  Maximilian,  and  in 
the  meantime  offered  to  cede  Upper  Austria  as  a  security  for  his 
military  expenses.  The  northern  Protestants,  who  were  unwilling  to 
support  a  Calvini-t  QtVfptt',  pledged  themselves  to  neutrality  at 
Muhlhausen.  In  return  for  this,  Ferdinand  promised  to  respect  the 
secularised  bishopries,  and  ceded  Lausitz  to  the  Lutheran  leader, 
John  George  of  Saxony.  By  these  sacrifices  Ferdinand  insured  his 
success.  Frederick's  cause  was  hopckl  His  new  subjects  were 
alienated  by  his  bigoted  Calvinism.  The  army  of  the  League  under 
Tilly,  a  Walloon  leader  of  capacity  and  experience,  entered  Bohemia 
defeated  Frederick  at  the  White  Hill  (8  Nov.  1620),  and  drove  him 
from  the  kingdom.  Spanish  troops  under  Spinola  invaded  the 
Palatinate.  The  allies  of  the  unfortunate  "winter-king"  did 
nothing  to  help  him.  James  I.  trusted  to  futile  negotiations  with 
Spain.  The  Union  gave  no  support  to  its  nominal  head,  and  soon 
afterwards  was  formally  dissolved. 

Thus  the  Catholic  League  obtained  immediate  and  complete 
victory.  The  only  troops  which  held  the  field  against  them  were 
commanded  by  adventurers  like  Christian  of  Brunswick  and  Mans- 
fcld.  As  they  had  no  regular  pay,  the  soldiers  lived  by  pillaging 
the  countries  where  they  were  quartered.  Such  troops  might  do 
infinite  damage,  but  could  hardly  gain  any  lasting  success.  Tilly 
was  more  than  a  match  for  them  even  when  united.  Had  the 
Catholics  been  content  to  make  a  moderate  use  of  their  triumph, 
8 


138  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

they  might  have  speedily  ended  the  war.  But  they  were  encouraged 
to  adopt  an  extreme  and  aggressive  policy.  In  Bohemia,  Protes- 
tantism was  suppressed  with  such  rigour  that  it  never  afterwards 
raised  its  head.  Upper  Austria  was  purged  of  heresy  by  similar 
measures.  Still  more  unpopular  was  the  rigorous  vengeance  taken 
on  the  elector  palatine.  His  hereditary  dominions  were  conquered, 
the  Lower  Palatinate  by  the  Spaniards,  the  Upper  by  Bavaria. 
Frederick  was  forced  to  live  in  exile  at  the  Hague,  ever  busied  with 
futile  schemes  for  the  recovery  of  his  territory.  Even  his  electoral 
dignity  was  declared  forfeited,  and  in  1623  was  transferred  to 
Maximilian.  This  was  of  the  greatest  importance,  because  the 
Bavarian  vote  added  to  those  of  the  three  clerical  electors,  gave 
the  Catholics  a  definite  majority  in  the  electoral  college,  hitherto 
equally  divided. 

§  12.  These  high-handed  measures  produced  an  inevitable  reaction. 
It  was  feared  that  Ferdinand,  with  the  support  of  Spain,  might  now 
revive  Charles  V.'s  schemes,  and  restore  religious  unity  in  Germany 
under  the  absolute  rule  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  Those  princes 
who  had  refused  to  strike  a  blow  for  Protestantism  were  alarmed 
by  the  danger  to  their  independence.  The  Lower  Saxon  circle 
showed  the  greatest  uneasiness,  but  they  dared  take  no  decisive 
steps  without  external  assistance.  Germany  seemed  prostrate  at 
the  feet  of  emperor  and  League.  But  this  sudden  revival  of  the 
Austrian  power  aroused  misgivings  not  only  in  Germany  but  also 
among  the  neighbouring  states.  France,  the  old  antagonist  of  the 
Hapsburgs,  was  naturally  the  first  to  take  alarm.  Ever  since 
Henry  IV.'s  death,  the  French  government,  absorbed  in  petty 
court  intrigues,  had  done  nothing  of  importance  in  foreign  politics. 
But  pressing  danger  at  last  put  an  end  to  this  inactivity.  For  the 
rise  of  Austria  was  not  only  alarming  in  itself,  it  also  gave  new 
strength  and  courage  to  Spain.  The  two  Hapsburg  powers  had 
lately  obtained  a  definite  geographical  connexion  by  the  Spanish 
occupation  of  the  Valtelline,  a  pass  which  gave  easy  communica- 
tion between  Italy  and  the  Austrian  province  of  Tyrol.  Here  was 
a  serious  danger  for  France.  It  was  at  this  moment  that  Richelieu 
(1624)  became  chief  minister  of  Louis  XIII.  His  great  object  was 
to  depress  the  Austro-Spanish  power,  and  to  raise  the  French 
monarchy  to  its  place.  He  succeeded  in  breaking  off  the  proposed 
alliance  between  England  and  Spain,  an!  prince  Charles  was 
married  to  the  French  princess  Henrietta  Maria  instead  of  the 
Infanta.  Although  a  Catholic  and  a  cardinal,  Richelieu  had  no 
hesitation  in  supporting  the  Protestant  cause  in  Germany.  In  this 
he  was  only  following  the  lines  of  policy  laid  down  by  Francis  I. 
and  Henry  II.     His  first  direct  interference  was  in  Italy,  where 


a.d.  1623-1G26.      INTERVENTION  OP  DENMARK.  139 

French  troops  drove  the  Spaniards  from  the  Valtelline.  But  this 
active  policy  was  suddenly  checked  by  the  outbreak  of  a  Huguenot 
revolt  in  France.  Richelieu  was  compelled  to  conclude  the  treaty 
of  Monzon  frith  Spain  and  to  concentrate  his  attention  on  the 
reduction  of  the  Hujiuenot  fortress  of  La  Rochelle.  By  the  treaty 
the  Valtelline  was  n  stored  to  the  Protestant  community  of  the 
Grisons,  from  which  it  had  been  conquered  by  Spain. 

Though  the  allies  of  France  were  dhoOPCCcted  by  this  sudden 
desertion,  the  Protestant  cause  had  undoubtedly  received  a  great 
impulse.  The  war  had  begun  to  absorb  the  interest  of  Europe.  It 
was  no  longer  possible  to  regard  it  as  an  internal  affair  of  Germany. 
Political  as  well  as  religious  interests  were  involved  and  both  of  tho 
highest  importance.  Two  princes  deeply  interested  in  the  course  of 
German  events  were  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark  and  Gustavus 
Adolphus  of  Sweden.  Christian,  as  duke  of  Holstein,  was  a  member 
of  the  Lower  Saxon  circle,  and  a  prince  of  the  empire.  He  had 
obtained  for  his  son  the  bishopric  ot  Verden  and  the  coadjutor- 
ship  of  Bremeu.  He  was  thus  directly  interest  <1  in  ■i'ntninlng 
the  Protestant  bishoprics,  which  were  threatened  by  the  Catholic 
victory.  The  Swedish  king  was  more  ardently  Protestant  than 
Christian,  and  had  also  secular  interests  at  stake.  His  chief 
enemy  was  Sigismund  III.  of  Poland,  who  by  strict  herediiary 
right  could  claim  the  Swedish  crown,  and  who  relied  for  assi- 
on  his  hroiher-in-law  Ferdinand  II.  The  independence  of  Sweden, 
too,  would  be  je<  j.  trdfci  d  by  the  establishment  of  a  strong  taperfe] 
power  in  northern  Germany.  Thus  both  these  kings  were  anxious 
to  head  the  Protestant  0|  position  to  the  Hapsburgs,  but  internal 
jealousies  prevented  their  acting  together.  The  decision  as  to 
which  should  undertake  the  task  rested  with  the  English  king. 
He  decided  in  favour  of  Christian,  whose  plans  were  the  more 
sanguine  and  demanded  less  money.  In  1626  the  Danish  kin 
acknowledged  head  of  the  Lower  Saxon  circle,  and  prepared  with 
the  aid  of  English  men  and  money  to  interfere  in  Germany. 
Gustavus  had  to  content  himself  with  the  w*r  in  Poland,  which 
was  indirectly  of  assistance  to  the  Protestant  cause. 

§  13.  Besides  the  Danish  king,  the  emperor  had  to  make  head 
against  Mansfeld  and  Christian  of  Brunswick,  who  still  held  the  field, 
and  also  Bethlen  Gabor,  who  threatened  an  attack  from  the  east.  To 
these  numerous  enemies  he  could  only  oppose  one  army,  that  of  the 
League  commanded  by  Tilly.  The  imperial  treasury  was  empty. 
At  this  juncture  one  of  Ferdinand's  own  subjects  came  forward  with 
a  noteworthy  scheme.  Albert  of  Waidstein,  or  Wallenstein,  was 
the  descendant  of  an  old  Bohemian  noble  family.  By  espousing 
the  royal  cause  in  the  Bohemian  wars  he  had  obtained  distinction 


140  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

and  wealth  and  liad  been  created  prince  of  Friedland.  He  now 
offered  to  raise  an  army  for  the  emperor's  service  which  was  to  cost 
him  nothing.  It  was  to  be  supported,  not  by  disorderly  pillage 
like  ihe  soldiers  of  Mansfeld,  but  by  forced  contributions.  Regard- 
less of  the  fact  that  such  measures  were  of  doubtful  legality, 
Ferdinand  accepted  the  offer.  The  new  army  was  speedily  formed, 
and  advanced  to  support  Tilly.  Mansfeld  was  defeated  at  the 
bridge  of  Dessau,  and  retreated  into  Hungary  to  join  Bethlen  Gabor. 
While  Wallenstein  pursued  him,  Tilly  routed  the  forces  of 
Christian  IV.  at  Lutter  (August,  1626).  In  the  east  Wallenstein 
was  completely  successful.  Mausfeld  had  to  retire  to  Venetian 
territory,  where  he  died.  Christian  of  Brunswick  was  already  dead. 
A  treaty  with  the  Turks  (1627),  who  were  occupied  with  a  Persian 
war,  put  an  end  to  further  danger  from  Bethlen  Gabor.  Wallen- 
stein was  now  free  to  turn  his  attention  to  German  affairs.  He 
defeated  the  Danes  at  Cosel,  and  drove  them  from  Silesia.  Follow- 
ing the  enemy  northwards,  he  occupied  Mecklenburg,  and  then 
attacked  the  Danish  territories.  Holstein,  Schieswig,  and  Jutland 
were  overrun,  and  it  was  only  the  want  of  a  fleet  that  prevented  the 
complete  conquest  of  Denmark.  Foreign  relations  at  the  same 
time  were  favourable  to  the  emperor.  France  and  England  had 
quarrelled,  and  Buckingham  led  a  fleet  to  the  assistance  of  La 
Rochelle  (1627).  And  Charles  I.'s  disputes  with  his  parliament 
rendered  him  unable  to  send  the  stipulated  supplies  to  Christian, 
without  which  his  army  could  not  be  paid. 

The  victory  of  the  Catholic  cause  was  as  complete  in  northern 
Germany  in  1627  as  it  had  been  in  Bohemia  and  the  Palatinate 
in  1623.  But  circumstances  had  completely  changed  between  the 
two  years.  The  earlier  victory  had  been  won  by  the  Catholic 
League,  and  the  emperor  had  to  carry  out  their  wishes.  But  in  the 
second,  or  Danish  period  of  the  war,  the  emperor  had  an  army  of  his 
own  which  had  gained  the  greatest  successes.  It  was  not  Tilly  but 
Wallenstein  who  had  saved  the  eastern  provinces  and  had  driven 
the  Danes  from  the  north.  And  with  Wallenstein  politics  rather 
than  religion  were  the  guiding  motive.  Protestants  were  admitted 
to  his  army  and  even  to  high  command.  Under  his  influence  the 
most  magnificent  schemes  were  entertained  at  Vienna  for  the 
revival  of  the  imperial  supremacy  over  all  hostile  interests.  But 
these  were  to  the  full  as  distasteful  to  the  Catholics  as  to  the 
Protestants.  The  ideas  of  princely  independence,  always  strong  in 
Germany,  and  never  more  so  than  at  the  present  moment,  set  them- 
selves in  direct  opposition  to  Ferdinand  and  his  general.  The  ill- 
feeling  against  Wallenstein  was  increased  by  the  fact  that  he  sought 
his  own  aggrandisement  as  well  as  that  of  the  imperial  authority. 


a.d.  1626-1629.  WALLENSTEIN.  141 

After  the  conquest  of  Silesia,  he  had  received  the  principality  of 
Sagan,  and  afterwards  he  obtained  from  Ferdinand  the  investiture 
of  Mecklenburg.  This  arbitrary  interference  with  German  territory, 
and  the  rise  to  equal  rank  with  themselves  of  a  Bohemian  ad- 
venturer, aroused  the  greatest  disaffection  among  the  princes.  The 
forced  contributions  for  the  imperial  troops,  and  their  oppressive 
conduct,  were  another  great  grievance.  The  Catholic  electors 
combined  to  demand  Wallenstein's  dismissal.  But  Ferdinand  and 
his  minister  Eggenberg  were  in  complete  accord  with  the  schemes 
of  their  general,  and  the  attack  on  him  failed.  This  set  him  free  to 
continue  his  policy  in  Germany. 

His  great  object  now  was  to  revive  the  German  maritime  power 
in  the  northern  seas,  and  thus  to  complete  the  humiliation  of  the 
Scandinavian  kingdoms.  In  this  he  relied  on  the  Hanseatic 
League,  which  still  existed,  though  the  new  commercial  routes  had 
cut  off  n.ost  of  its  trade.  Already  the  Rj  aniards,  anxious  t<>  deprive 
the  Dutch  of  their  commerce,  had  sent  envoys  to  the  Hansa  pro- 
posing a  commercial  alliance  on  very  advantageous  terms.  But  the 
merchants  refused  to  advance  their  interests  at  the  expense  of 
Protestantism.  Wallenstein  relied  upon  force  instead  of  diplomacy, 
and  determined  to  make  himself  master  of  the  southern  Baltic 
coa*t.  His  troops  occupied  Wismar  and  laid  siege  to  Stralsund 
(1628),  where  the  inhabitants  offered  a  heroic  resistance.  The 
was  of  vast  importance.  Had  the  town  fallen,  Germany 
would  have  been  completely  at  the  emperor's  feet.  Sweden  and 
Denmark  would  have  been  excluded  from  further  interference. 
Wallenstein  strained  every  nerve  to  take  Stralsund,  but  was  foiled 
by  the  want  of  a  fleet,  which  left  the  sea  oj>en  to  his  enemies.  In 
the  face  of  the  danger  of  imperial  supremacy  on  the  Baltic, 
Gustavus  Adolphus  gave  up  his  old  rivalry  with  Denmark  and  sent 
assistance  to  the  besieged.  Wallenstein  sent  to  beg  troops  from 
Tilly,  who  referred  the  matter  to  his  employers,  the  princes  of  the 
Catholic  League.  They  were  unwilling  even  to  ensure  the  fall  of 
Protestantism  if  ihey  thereby  endangered  their  own  liberties,  and 
the  request  was  refused.  After  six  months  Wallenstein  was 
com jelled  to  raise  the  siege  and  thus  experienced  his  first  reverse. 
This  encouraged  Christian  IV.  to  attempt  another  landing  in 
Germany.  But  Wallenstein  was  still  too  strong  in  the  open  field, 
and  forced  him  to  conclude  the  treaty  of  Liibeck  (1629).  By  this 
he  received  back  his  conquered  territories,  but  in  return  gave  up  all 
claims  to  his  son's  bishoprics  and  promised  to  abstain  from  further 
interference  in  German  affairs. 

§  14.  During  the  years  1627-9  the  House  of  Hapsburg  seemed  to  be 
as  powerful  in  Europe  as  it  had  been  even  under  Charles  V.     The 


142  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

division  into  two  branches  had  weakened  it  for  a  time,  but  now  the 
Austrian  and  Spanish  lines  were  in  the  closest  union.  Philip  IV. 
and  his  minister,  Olivarez,  were  Ferdinand  II.'s  most  ardent  sup- 
porters. In  Germany  the  emperor  seemed  supreme,  and  an 
opportunity  now  occurred  of  reviving  his  rule  in  Italy.  The  death 
of  Vincenzo  Gonzaga,  the  duke  of  Mantua,  in  1627,  left  as  the  next 
heir  a  Frenchman,  the  duke  of  Nevers.  But  both  Spain  and 
Austria  dreaded  the  establishment  of  French  influence  in  Italy. 
Mantua  was  declared  to  be  an  escheated  imperial  fief,  and  was 
occupied  by  Spanish  troops.  But  again,  as  in  1623,  the  rise  of  the 
Hapsburg  power  excited  the  greatest  opposition  in  Europe.  The 
lesser  Italian  states  appealed  to  France ;  and  Richelieu,  as  soon  as 
lie  had  crushed  the  Huguenots  by  the  capture  of  La  Rochelle 
(1628),  led  troops  into  Italy  which  forced  the  Spaniards  to  raise  the 
sie^e  of  Casale  (1629).  In  the  next  year,  1630,  imperialist  troops 
joined  the  Spaniards  in  Mantua.  But  Richelieu  again  crossed  the 
Alps,  made  himself  master  of  Piedmont,  and  again  raised  the  siege 
of  Casale,  though  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  take  Mantua.  He 
now  determined  to  make  a  diversion  on  the  side  of  Germany  by 
calling  in  Gustavus  Adolphus.  He  negotiated  a  peace  between 
Sweden  and  Poland,  and  thus  set  the  king's  hands  free. 

At  the  same  time  hostility  to  the  emperor  appeared  in  Germany 
itself.  The  imperial  supremacy  was  based  on  the  army  raised  by 
Wallenstein,  and  this  army  and  its  leader  were  the  objects  of  bitter 
hatred  to  all  German  princes.  The  four  Catholic  electors,  with 
Maximilian  of  Bavaria  at  their  head,  renewed  their  demand  for 
Wallenstein's  dismissal.  At  the  same  time  they  wished  to  utilise 
the  victory  which  he  had  won  for  the  advantage  of  their  religion. 
They  induced  Ferdinand  to  issue  the  Edict  of  Restitution  (March  6, 
1629),  by  which  all  ecclesiastical  property  that  had  been  secularised 
since  the  peace  of  Passau  was  to  be  restored  to  the  Catholic  church. 
The  measure  was  entirely  opposed  to  the  policy  of  Wallenstein, 
who  wished  to  subordinate  all  religious  questions  to  his  grand 
object,  the  establishment  of  imperial  supremacy.  It  roused  the 
bitterest  discontent  among  the  Protestants,  even  those  who  had 
hitherto  been  neutral,  and  thus  gave  great  advantages  to  the 
Swedish  king. 

It  was  obvious  that  for  once  the  interests  of  the  A ustro- Spanish 
house  and  those  of  Catholicism  were  at  variance.  The  electors  were 
read}7  to  throw  themselves  on  the  side  of  France  rather  than  submit 
to  any  diminution  of  their  territorial  independence.  This  offered  a 
great  opening  for  Richelieu's  intrigues.  While  on  the  one  hand  he 
was  urging  Gustavus  Adolphus  to  espouse  the  Protestant  cause,  on 
the  other  he  was  encouraging  the  extreme   Catholics    in  their 


a.d.   1630.  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHU8.  143 

opposition  to  the  emperor.  His  right-hand  man,  the  Capuchin 
Father  Joseph,  played  an  important  part  in  the  meeting  atRatisbon 
in  1630,  where  the  attack  on  Wallenstein  was  vigorously  renewed. 

Ferdinand,  who  hoped  by  conciliating  the  prirjces  to  procure  his 
son's  election  as  King  of  the  Romans,  at  last  gave  way,  and  the 
great  general  went  into  temporary  retirement.  Tho  command  of 
his  army  was  transferred  to  Tilly.  Thus  at  the  very  moment  of  its 
greatest  triumph,  the  imperial  authority  was  once  more  over- 
shadowed by  the  power  of  the  League,  from  which  it  had  attempted 
to  free  itself. 

§  15.  At  this  all-important  conjuncture  Gustavus  Adolphus  landed 
at  Usedom  without  opposition.  He  forced  the  aged  duke  of  Pome- 
rania  to  make  an  alliance  with  him,  and  made  himself  master  of  the 
southern  Baltic  coast.  Tilly  failed  in  an  attempt  to  oppose  his 
progress  and  was  compelled  to  retire  to  the  Elbe.  The  only  great 
obstacle  in  Gustavus'  way  was  the  extreme  unwillingness  of  the 
German  princes  to  join  him.  A  few  of  the  lesser  princes,  who  had 
more  to  gain  than  to  lose  appeared  in  his  camp,  prominent  among 
whom  was  Bernhard  of  Saxe-Weimar,  a  representative  of  the 
Ernestine  line  of  Saxony.  But  the  great  Lutheran  leaders,  John 
George  of  Saxony  and  George  William  of  Brandenburg,  the  latter  of 
whom  was  the  Swedish  king's  brother-in-law,  adhered  obstinately 
to  their  feeble  and  ruinous  neutrality.  They  summoned  a  Protestant 
conference  at  Leipzig,  where  tley  demanded  once  more  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Edict  of  Restitution.  But  they  took  no  steps 
to  enforce  their  demand,  which  was  unhesitatingly  refused.  The 
persecution  of  the  Protestants  was  continued.  Magdeburg,  which 
had  refused  to  accept  the  edict,  was  vigorously  besieged.  To 
strengthen  his  forces  Ferdinand  concluded  the  treaty  of  Cherasco 
(1631)  with  France,  by  which  the  duke  of  Nevers  obtained  Mantua, 
and  the  imperial  troops  were  enabled  to  quit  Italy.  Gust;ivus 
Adolphus  was  above  all  tilings  anxious  to  advance  to  the  relief  of 
Magdeburg.  But  he  dared  not  stir  southwards  till  he  had  gained 
over  Saxony  and  Brandenburg,  and  they  rejected  all  his  offers.  Tilly 
stormed  the  devoted  town,  and  it  was  sacked  with  a  cruelty  which 
stands  out  even  among  the  atrocities  of  tho  Thirty  Years'  War. 
Thus  the  Catholics  gained  a  new  victory,  but  it  was  their  last. 
Gustavus  advanced  to  Berlin,  and  the  Swedish  troops  and  cannon 
forced  his  vacillating  brother-in-law  into  an  alliance,  as  security  for 
which  two  important  fortresses  were  ceded.  But  John  George  of 
Saxony  was  harder  to  deal  with,  and  Gustavus  might  have  been 
foiled  but  for  the  imprudent  conduct  of  the  emperor  himself.  Tilly 
received  orders  to  invade  Saxony  and  to  force  the  elector  to  disarm 
his  troops.     This  ungrateful  treatment  was  too  much  for  the  most 


144  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

peace-loving  prince.  John  George  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of 
the  Swedes  and  concluded  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with 
them.  A  combined  army  marched  to  attack  Tilly  and  met  him  in 
the  great  battle  of  Breitenfeld.  The  untrained  Saxons  were  put  to 
flight,  but  the  Swedes  held  their  ground  and  completely  routed  the 
imperial  troops. 

The  defeat  undid  at  one  blow  all  that  the  Catholics  had  hitherto 
gained.  The  enforcement  of  the  Edict  of  Restitution  in  northern 
Germany  became  impossible.  And  Gustavus  did  not  remain 
content  with  1his  success.  The  Saxon  army  was  sent  into 
Bohemia,  where  it  occupied  Prague  without  opposition,  but  did 
nothing  further.  The  king  himself  undertook  a  marvellous  march 
against  the  ecclesiastical  principalities  of  south-western  Germany. 
Passing  through  Thuringia  he  reached  the  Main  and  the  Rhine. 
One  after  another  Wurzburg,  Bamberg,  even  Mainz  fell  into  his 
hands.  Everywhere  the  Catholics  fled  before  him,  and  the  work  of 
the  Counter-Reformation  was  undone.  The  exiled  elector  Palatine 
joined  him  and  might  have  recovered  his  territories,  but  that  his 
bigotry  forbade  him  to  promise  the  least  toleration  to  the  Catholics. 
It  was  in  vain  that  French  diplomacy,  astounded  and  dismayed  at 
the  Swedish  successes,  sought  to  make  peace  between  them  and  the 
League,  so  as  to  direct  ail  hostility  against  the  house  of  Hapsburg. 
Gustavus  Adolphus  refused  to  become  the  tool  of  Richelieu.  Eariy 
in  1632  he  turned  eastwards  to  attack  Bavaria,  the  head-quarters  of 
Catholicism.  Nuremberg  welcomed  him  with  effusive  demonstra- 
tions. Tilly,  who  had  re-formed  his  army,  tried  to  dispute  the 
passage  of  the  Lech,  but  was  again  defeated  and  himself  slain. 
Gustavus  entered  Munich,  and  the  whole  of  Bavaria,  except  Ingol- 
stadt,  lay  at  his  feet. 

§  16.  Thus  was  Ferdinand  II.  rewarded  for  his  concessions  to  the 
Catholics  in  1630.  For  their  sake  be  had  sacrificed  Wallenstein, 
and  resigned  the  prospect  of  imperial  absolutism  both  in  Italy  and 
Germany.  And  now  his  allies  had  proved  unable  to  protect  either 
their  religion  or  themselves.  Protestantism  was  triumphant,  and 
the  emperor's  hereditary  territories  were  only  spared  by  the  invincible 
moderation  of  the  elector -of  Saxony.  In  these  circumstances  it  was 
natural  that  he  should  turn  again  to  his  old  general  who  had  before 
rendered  him  such  important  service.  During  his  enforced  retire- 
ment Wallenstein  had  by  no  means  lost  sight  of  politics,  though  he 
regarded  them  with  altered  views.  Stung  with  the  ingratitude 
shown  to  him,  he  had  made  overtures  to  the  Swedes,  and  had 
offered  to  drive  the  Hapsburgs  into  Italy.  The  news  of  Breitenfeld 
filled  him  with  joy.  When  these  schemes  failed,  he  still  kept  up  a 
close  connection  with  the  Saxons,  whose  commander,  Arnim,  was  his 


A.D.  1632.      GUSTAVUS  AND   WALLENSTEIN.  145 

old  companion  in  arras.  Now  came  the  imj>erial  offer  to  restore 
him  to  his  old  command.  He  accepted  on  conditions  which  were 
to  give  him  both  military  and  political  independence,  and  to  secure 
him  from  the  possibility  of  another  abrupt  dismissal.  His  name  alone 
was  sufficient  to  create  an  army.  But  Wallenstein  entered  upon  his 
second  command  with  a  very  different  policy  to  that  which  had 
guided  him  before.  He  was  no  longer  the  devoted  champion  of 
imperial  supremacy.  He  was  determined  not  to  become  the  tool 
of  the  League  or  of  the  Catholic  party  at  Vienna.  He  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Catholic  reaction.  Through  bis  connexion 
with  Saxony  he  hoped  to  establish  a  religious  compromise,  if 
necessary  by  force;  he  would  exclude  all  foreigners,  Swedes, 
Frenchmen,  even  S|»niards,  from  interference  in  Germany  :  and 
lastly,  he  would  found  a  great  principality  for  himself.  Wallenstein 
is  no  longer  an  Austrian  general  but  an  independent  potentate. 
His  first  act  was  to  drive  the  Saxons  from  Bohemia,  and  he 
endeavoured  to  force  a  peace  on  the  elector.  But  John  George  had 
some  honourable  feeling,  and  refused  to  break  bis  promise  to  the 
Swedes. 

The  news  of  Wallenstein's  movements  reached  Gustavus  Adolphus 
as  he  was  trying  by  organisation  to  secure  some  pennanent  result 
of  his  successes.  For  himself  he  wished  to  obtain  Pomerania, 
which  would  give  him  absolute  control  of  the  Baltic,  and  a  position 
of  a  prince  of  the  empire.  In  this  latter  capacity  he  wished  to 
place  himself  at  the  head  of  a  new  Protestant  union,  a  corpus 
tvangelicorum,  which  was  to  have  an  internal  constitution,  and 
which  might  defend  itself  against  all  attacks.  It  is  possible  that 
he  looked  forward  to  a  time  when  a  Protestant  majority  of  the 
electors  might  place  the  imperial  crown  on  his  own  head.  But  in 
all  his  schemes  he  had  to  contend  with  the  political  incapacity  of 
the  Germans,  and  their  incurable  jealousy  of  himself  as  a  foreigner. 
Saxony  was  especially  reluctant  to  submit  to  Swedish  headship. 
And  now  Gustavus  had  to  stand  on  the  defensive,  for  Wallenstein 
had  marched  from  Bohemia  against  Nuremberg.  The  king  threw 
himself  into  the  town,  and  held  out  till  the  arrival  of  reinforce- 
ments made  him  strong  enough  to  meet  the  enemy.  But  Wallensteiu 
refused  a  battle,  and  an  attack  on  his  strong  intrenchments  was 
repulsed  with  loss.  For  once  Gustavus  had  to  retreat  unsuccessful. 
Instead  of  pursuing  him,  Wallenstein  broke  up  his  camp  and  iD- 
vaded  Saxony,  hoping  to  compel  the  elector  to  desert  the  Swedes. 
Gustavus  had  to  give  up  the  plan  of  a  direct  march  on  Vienna, 
and  advanced  to  assist  his  ally.  At  Liitzen  the  two  great  generals 
were  again  face  to  face.  An  obstinate  battle  ended  in  favour  of 
the  Swedes,  but  Gustavus  fell  a  victim  to  his  personal  rashness, 
8* 


146  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

and  his  loss  was  far  more  disastrous  than  a  defeat  could  have 
been. 

The  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  fatal  to  the  last  chance 
of  forming  a  Protestant  union  in  Germany.  If  Saxony  had 
objected  to  the  Swedish  king,  it  was  not  likely  to  submit  to  the 
influence  of  the  chancellor  Oxenstiern,  who  undertook  the  manage- 
ment of  affairs  during  the  minority  of  queen  Christina.  All  he 
could  do  was  to  form  the  League  of  Heilbronn  among  the  south 
German  states,  the  nearest  approach  that  was  ever  made  to  the 
projected  corpus  evangelicorum.  The  great  object  of  Swedish 
diplomacy  was  to  induce  the  north-German  states  to  join  the 
League,  but  it  proved  impossible.  And  the  death  of  the  king  was 
a  terrible  disaster  from  a  military,  as  well  as  from  a  political  point 
of  view.  Numerous  able  leaders  had  been  trained  under  his  eye, 
notably,  Bernhard  of  Saxe-Weimar,  Horn,  Baner,  Torstenson,  and 
others.  But  the  requisite  unity  was  gone ;  and  what  was  worse, 
the  old  discipline  could  no  longer  be  maintained.  The  Swedes, 
hitherto  remarkable  for  their  temperate  conduct,  were  henceforth 
as  great  a  scourge  to  Germany  as  had  been  the  troops  of  Mansfeld 
or  Tilly. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  the  imperialist  cause  did  not  reap  any 
immediate  advantage  from  Gustavus'  death.  The  alliance  between 
France  and  Sweden  was  renewed,  and  French  influence  was 
gradually  extending  itself,  though  Richelieu  had  not  yet  declared 
war  against  either  Austria  or  Spain.  The  elector  of  Trier  had 
admitted  a  French  garrison  into  Ehrenbreitstcin,  which  commanded 
the  Rhine  and  Moselle.  The  duke  of  Lorraine,  a  partisan  of  Spain, 
had  been  driven  from  his  territories,  whence  the  French  obviously 
threatened  Alsace.  Bernhard  of  Saxe-Weimar  maintained  the 
Swedish  preponderance  in  Franconia  and  Bavaria,  and  before  the 
end  of  1633  took  Ratisbon.  His  object  was  to  restore  the  Ernestine 
line  to  its  old  dignity,  and  he  demanded  and  obtained  from  Oxenstiern 
the  grant  of  the  bishoprics  of  Bamberg  and  Wiirzburg,  which  were 
to  be  made  into  the  duchy  of  Franconia.  The  assumption  by  a 
Swedish  noble  of  the  right  to  dispose  of  German  territories, 
increased  the  alienation  of  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  and  other  states. 

§  17.  Meanwhile  all  eyes  were  fixed  on  Wallenstein  ;  who,  after 
Liitzen,  had  retired  to  Bohemia,  where  he  occupied  a  strong 
defensive  position,  and  could  advance  at  will  either  to  the  north 
or  south.  He  was  still  pursuing  his  favourite  scheme,  to  come  to 
terms  with  Saxony  as  the  basis  of  a  general  peace.  He  was 
prepared  to  revoke  the  Edict  of  Restitution  altogether.  At  one  time 
a  treaty  was  on  the  verge  of  conclusion,  but  it  was  doubtful 
how  far  Wallenstein  could  insist  on  his  policy  at  Vienna.     Thus 


a.d.  1632-1634.      DEATH  OF  WALLENSTEIN.  147 

disappointed,  he  took  the  offensive,  drove  the  Swedes  from  Silesia, 
and  threatened  Saxony  and  Brandenburg.  But  the  fall  of  Ratisbon 
checked  his  advance,  and  he  returned  to  Bohemia,  refusing  to 
assist  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  towards  whom  he  felt  no  good  will. 
His  conduct,  and  especially  his  policy  of  peace  and  religious  com- 
promise, had  aroused  the  greatest  antipathy  among  the  Catholic 
powers.  A  strong  party  was  formed  against  at  him  at  Vieuna, 
headed  by  the  emperor's  confessor.  The  Spanish  influence,  which 
had  once  supported  him,  was  now  hostile.  He  had  proposed  to 
obtain  the  Palatinate  for  himself,  but  the  Spaniards  were  afraid  of 
a  strong  power  in  that  neighbourhood.  And  he  had  shown  himself 
resolutely  hostile  to  all  attempts  of  Spain  to  secure  a  territorial 
connexion  between  Italy  and  the  Netherlands.  All  the  hostile 
influences  combined  to  sow  discord  between  the  emperor  and  his 
general.  Ferdinand  was  naturally  jealous  of  the  independent 
attitude  of  Wallenstein,  and  was  induced  to  believe  that  he  aimed 
at  the  Bohemian  crown.  It  was  determined  to  get  rid  of  so  in- 
convenient a  servant.  Many  of  Wallenstein's  chief  officers  were 
induced  to  desert  him.  It  was  in  vain  that  he  did  all  in  his  power 
to  secure  the  allegiance  of  his  army.  The  officers  signed  all  kinds 
of  promises,  but  reserved  their  fealty  to  the  emperor.  In  an 
unlucky  moment  Wallenstein  moved  from  Pilsen,  where  the 
garrison  were  devoted  to  him,  to  Eger.  There  his  two  chief 
supporters  were  killed  at  a  banquet  by  Scotch  and  Irish 
mercenaries,  and  the  murderers  completed  their  work  by  assas- 
sinating Wallenstein  in  his  bedroom.  Thus  perished  a  leader 
whose  character  will  always  be  variously  interpreted,  but  who 
ranks  with  Richelieu  and  Gustavus  Adolphus  as  one  of  the  great 
men  of  the  age. 

The  House  of  Hapsburg  reaped  undeserved  advantages  from 
Wallenstein's  death.  His  army  passed  under  the  command  of  the 
emperor's  son,  Ferdinand,  king  of  Hungary.  It  was  joined  by 
the  Spanish  troops  from  Italy,  which  Wallenstein  had  tried  to 
exclude.  Thus  strengthened  it  advanced  to  the  relief  of  Bavaria, 
where  the  troops  of  the  Heilbronn  League  were  wholly  inferior. 
At  Nordlingen,  Bernhard  of  Saxe- Weimar  induced  his  cautious 
colleague  Horn  to  risk  a  battle,  in  which  they  were  wholly  routed 
and  Horn  taken  prisoner  (September,  1634).  Nordlingen  did  for 
the  Catholics  of  the  south  what  Breitenfeld  had  done  for  the 
Protestants  of  the  north.  The  work  of  Gustavus  was  undone,  and 
almost  the  whole  of  Southern  Germany  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
imperialists. 

The  first  great  result  of  the  battle  of  Nordlingen  was  to  throw 
the  defeated   Protestants  into  the  arms  of  France.     Richelieu's 


148  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

object  was  at  last  obtained,  and  French  influence  tends  to  supplant 
that  of  Sweden.  Oxenstiern  was  forced  to  cede  the  fortresses  of 
El.^ass  to  France,  and  thus  to  commence  that  dismemberment  of 
the  empire,  which  Gustavus  had  hoped  to  avoid.  War  between 
France  and  Spain  was  declared  in  1635.  Another  great  result  of 
the  battle  was  the  treaty  of  Prague.  John  George  of  Saxony  was 
more  than  ever  averse  to  the  war.  If  he  'had  been  jealous  of  the 
Swedes,  he  was  far  more  so  of  the  French.  The  negotiations  which 
Wallenstein's  death  had  interrupted,  were  resumed.  Ferdinand 
had  learnt  some  wisdom  from  adversity,  and  was  willing  to  give 
up  in  fact,  though  not  in  word,  the  Edict  of  Restitution.  The  year 
1627  was  to  replace  1552.  All  bishoprics  held  by  Protestants  at 
that  date  were  to  remain  in  their  hands.  The  Calvinists  were 
excluded  from  the  treaty,  which  could  not  therefore  be  permanently 
satisfactory.  Such  as  it  was,  however,  it  was  accepted  by  most  of 
the  Protestant  states,  and  the  great  conflict  might  have  ended  in 
1635,  but  for  the  foreign  interests  that  had  become  involved  in  it. 

§  18.  Henceforth  the  war  ceases  to  be  German  ;  and  becomes  a  mere 
struggle  of  French  and  Swedes  against  Austria  and  Spain  which 
is  fought  out  on  Geiman  soil.  No  regard  for  German  interests  is 
displayed  by  any  of  the  combatants  after  the  death  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  The  Swedes  fight  for  compensation  in  the  shape  of 
Pomerania,  the  French  for  the  Rhine  frontier.  As  soon  as  the 
empire  can  be  forced  to  gratify  these  claims,  the  war  may  come  to 
an  end.  There  is  henceforth  a  double  military  centre;  in  the 
north  the  Swedes  fight  against  Saxony  and  occasionally  invade 
the  Austrian  territories  under  the  successive  command  of  Baner, 
Torstenson  and  Wrangel,  all  leaders  of  eminent  ability.  In  the  south- 
west Bernhard  of  Saxe-Weimar  enters  into  the  service  of  France, 
and  carries  on  a  stubborn  contest  with  Austrians  and  Spaniards 
for  Elsass  and  the  Rhine  country.  At  first  the  imperialists  had  the 
upper  hand,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  foreigners  from  Germany 
seemed  imminent.  The  Swedes  were  gradually  driven  back  towards 
the  Baltic  and  in  1636  Oxenstiern  retired  to  Sweden.  In  the  south 
the  French  were  equally  unsuccessful.  Not  only  were  they  driven 
back  from  the  Rhine,  and  their  ally  the  elector  of  Trier  taken 
prisoner,  but  the  enemy  even  entered  France  and  threatened  Paris. 
But  now,  as  under  Francis  I.,  the  defensive  strength  of  France 
showed  itself  invincible,  and  the  invaders  retired.  In  October,  1636, 
Baner  recovered  some  of  the  lost  ground  for  Sweden  by  a  victory  at 
Wittstock. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  next  year,  Ferdinand  II.  died.  On  him 
more  than  on  any  other  individual,  rests  the  responsibility  for  a 
war  which  was  perhaps  in  some  form  or  other  inevitable.    He  was 


a.d.  1635-1645.      LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  WAR.  149 

succeeded  both  in  the  empire  and  in  his  hereditary  territories  by 
his  son  Ferdinand  111.,  a  prince  c.f  far  less  capacity  than  his  father. 
In  the  campaign  of  this  year  all  ]  arties  seemed  exhausted  by  their 
previous  efforts.  But  in  1638  Bernhard  of  Saxe- Weimar  by  a  sudden 
attack  seized  the  chief  fortresses  of  Elsass,  and  thus  obtained  a  firm 
stronghold  for  the  enemies  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  Richelieu 
wished  to  treat  the  conquered  land  as  a  French  province,  but 
Bernhard,  with  some  lingering  regard  for  the  unity  of  the  empire, 
refused  to  consent  to  its  dismemberment.  His  plan  was  to  make 
Elsass  into  a  duchy  for  himself,  and  having  thus  established  an 
independent  position,  to  resume  the  policy  of  Wallenstein,  and  force 
a  peace  on  the  combatants.  But  his  sudden  death  in  1639  put  an 
end  to  his  schemes  and  gave  the  greatest  advantages  to  France. 
Bernhard's  army  and  with  it  Elsass  passed  into  French  hands. 

Meanwhile  Baner  in  the  north  had  invaded  Bohemia  without  any 
permanent  success.  In  1640,  his  lorces,  combined  with  the  French 
made  a  bold  attack  in  winter  on  Ratisbon,  where  the  emperor  was 
holding  a  diet.  The  town  was  saved  by  the  flood  caused  by  a 
sudden  thaw,  and  Baner  was  forced  to  retreat  to  Saxony.  In  I'll 
he  died,  and  the  command  passed  to  Torstenson.  He  concluded  a 
truce  with  Brandenburg,  where  the  new  elector  Frederick  William 
gave  up  that  policy  of  dependence  on  the  Hapeburgs  which  his 
father  had  pursued  in  conjunction  with  Saxony,  This  treaty  secured 
the  position  of  the  Swedes  in  northern  Germany. 

The  death  of  Richelieu  in  December,  1642,  followed  by  that  of  his 
master  Louis  XIII.,  made  no  change  in  the  policy  of  France,  which 
was  now  directed  by  the  cardinal's  pupil,  Mazarin  Hitherto  the 
French  troops  had  done  nothing  but  hold  their  own,  but  they  had 
gradually  become  inured  to  war  and  were  now  to  acquire  fame  under 
worthy  commanders.  The  brilliant  Conde\  devoid  of  the  higher 
qualities  of  a  general  and  prodigal  of  his  soldiers'  lives,  had  a  genius 
for  fighting  battles.  Turenne,  a  far  greater  strategist,  was  able  to 
supply  the  defects  of  his  more  dashing  rival.  In  1643  Conde  won 
the  first  of  a  series  of  victories  over  tho  Spaniards  at  Rocroy,  and 
took  Thionville.  In  the  next  year  a  three  days'  battle  at  Freiburg 
ended  in  the  retreat  of  the  imperialists.  A  second  battle  of  Nordlingcn 
in  1645  cost  an  enormous  number  of  lives,  and  was  only  converted 
into  a  French  victory  by  the  death  of  the  hostile  commander,  Mercy. 
In  the  same  year  Torstenson  had  invaded  Bohemia  and  had  won  a 
great  victory  at  Jankow.  Thence  he  advanced  against  Vienna,  but 
was  compelled  to  retreat,  and  soon  after  resigned  the  command  to 
Wrangel. 

§  19.  It  was  evident  that  no  great  advantage  was  to  be  gained  from 
the  continuance  of  a  war  of  which  all  parties  were  weary.     Already  in 


150  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  x. 

1643  the  diplomatists  had  met  in  Westphalia  to  negotiate  a  peace. 
At  Osnabruck  the  emperor  treated  with  Sweden  and  the  Protestant 
states,  at  Minister  with  France  and  the  Catholics.  The  great 
difficulty  was  the  emperor's  disinclination  to  dismember  the  Haps- 
burg  territories  by  the  cession  of  Alsace.  Maximilian  of  Bavaria, 
who  cared  little  for  Hapsburg  interests,  was  more  desirous  of  inducing 
France  to  consent  to  his  retention  of  the  Upper  Palatinate.  In 
these  circumstances  it  was  determined  by  a  vigorous  movement  to 
detach  Bavaria  from  the  imperial  alliance.  Saxony  had  already 
made  a  truce  with  the  Swedes,  and  in  1646  Turenne,  by  a  brilliant 
manoeuvre,  passed  the  hostile  army,  joined  W  ran  gel,  and  deliberately 
laid  waste  the  Bavarian  territory.  Maximilian  had  to  conclude  a 
truce,  which  was  no  sooner  made  than  broken.  But  the  enemy  was 
upon  him  again,  and  he  was  completely  defeated  at  Zusmarshausen 
(May,  1648).  Ferdinand  III.,  unable  to  carry  on  the  war  by  himself, 
was  compelled  at  last  to  come  to  terms.  The  various  treaties  were 
arrangt  d  at  Osnabruck  and  Miinster,  but  are  usually  and  conveniently 
classed  together  as  the  peace  of  Westphalia. 

The  religious  settlement  effected  by  the  treaty  followed  the  lines 
laid  down  at  Passau  and  Augsburg.  The  one  important  difference 
was  that  Calvinism  at  last  obtained  formal  recognition.  '1  he  great 
question  as  to  church  property  was  arranged  by  the  selection  of  a 
fresh  date,  1624.  Benefices  were  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  members 
of  that  creed  to  which  they  belonged  in  that  year.  This  secured  to 
the  Protestants  greater  advantages  than  the  treaty  of  Prague  had  done. 
To  secure  an  impartial  administration  of  justice  the  Imperial  Chamber 
was  to  be  composed  of  Protestants  and  Catholics  in  equal  numbers. 
The  territorial  changes  sanctioned  by  the  treaty  were  of  considerable 
importance.  Sweden  obtained  the  bishoprics  of  Bremen  and  Verden 
and  the  greater  part  of  Pomerania,  and  thus  secured  that  command 
of  the  Baltic  which  had  been  so  great  an  object  of  Gustavus  Adolphus- 
The  rest  of  Pomerania  went  to  Brandenburg,  which  had  legal  claims 
on  the  whole.  In  compensation  for  these  claims  the  elector  received 
the  bishoprics  of  Magdeburg,  Halberstadt  and  Minden.  Maximilian 
of  Bavaria  retained  the  Upper  Palatinate  and  his  electoral  dignity. 
The  Lower  Palatinate  was  restored  to  Charles  Lewis,  son  of  the 
deposed  Frederic  V.,  for  whom  an  eighth  electorate  was  created. 
France  obtained  the  legal  cession  of  Metz,  Toul  and  Verdun,  which 
had  been  seized  in  1552  by  Henry  II.,  and  also  retained  Austrian 
Elsass,  with  the  exception  of  Strasburg  and  the  immediate  vassals  of 
the  empire.  Switzerland  was  declared  formally  separated  from  the 
empire.  At  the  same  time  Spain  recognised  the  independence  of 
the  Dutch.  Between  France  and  Spain  it  was  found  impossible  to 
arrange  terms,  and  the  war  was  continued  till  1658. 


a.d.  1648.  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA.  151 

The  great  result  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  of  the  religious 
differences  from  which  it  had  arisen,  was  the  complete  annihilation 
of  German  unity.  The  name  of  the  empire  was  retained,  but  it 
had  no  longer  any  practical  reality.  Ferdinand  II.  had  identified 
the  imperial  authority  with  the  suppression  of  Protestantism.  Pro- 
testantism survived  the  danger,  and  the  result  was  the  destruction  of 
the  authority  which  had  menaced  it  Germany  became  a  loose 
federation  in  which  the  territorial  princes  were  all-powerful.  The 
light  to  determine  the  religion  of  their  subjects,  which  had  been 
admitted  in  the  peace  of  Augsburg,  was  confirmed  in  that  of  West- 
phalia. The  imperial  diet  continued  its  meetings,  but  it  became  a 
congress  of  plenipotentiaries.  One  great  blessing  the  peace  brought 
with  it,  the  absolute  termination  of  those  religious  quarrels  which 
had  produced  such  havoc  and  misery,  and  which  were  ended  less 
by  agreement  than  by  exhaustion. 


152  MODEEN  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  XT. 
FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

§  1.  Regency  of  Mary  de  Medici;  change  of  foreign  policy;  Concini; 
revolts  of  the  nobles  ;  States-General  of  1614;  fall  of  Concini  and  end 
of  the  regency.  §  2.  Huguenot  revolts  ;  death  of  Luynes  ;  peace  of 
Montpellier.  §3.  Richelieu  becomes  minister;  second  revolt  of  the 
Huguenots ;  its  suppression ;  conspiracy  against  Richelieu  ;  domestic 
reforms.  §  4.  Huguenots  again  revolt ;  siege  of  La  Rochelle.  §  5. 
Opposition  to  Richelieu  ;  the  day  of  Dupes ;  exile  of  Mary  de  Medici 
and  Gaston  of  Orleans.  §  6.  Rising  in  Languedoc;  execution  of 
Montmorency  ;  Richelieu  triumphs  over  his  domestic  enemies.  §  7. 
Conspiracy  of  Cinq-Mars ;  death  of  Richelieu;  character  of  his  admini- 
stration ;  his  foreign  policy.  §  8.  Mazarin  becomes  minister ;  death  of 
Louis  XIII.  ;  regency  of  Anne  of  Austria ;  the  Impoi*tants.  §  9. 
Financial  distress;  the  Parliament  of  Paris  ;  opposition  to  the  govern- 
ment. §  10.  Arrest  of  Broussel ;  outbreak  of  the  Fronde;  attitude  of 
the  nobles;  peace  of  Rueil.  §11.  The  second  Fronde;  victory  of 
Mazarin ;  junction  of  the  old  and  new  Frondes ;  Conde's  triumph  ; 
Turenne  gained  over  by  the  Regent ;  civil  war;  collapse  of  the  Fronde. 
§  12.  War  with  Spain;  France  gains  the  alliance  of  Cromwell ;  treaty 
of  the  Pyrenees.     §  13.  Death  of  Mazarin  ;  his  will. 

§  1.  On  the  death  of  Henry  IV.  (1610),  France  fell  for  fourteen 
years  under  the  most  worthless  government  that  even  that 
country  had  ever  endured.  As  Louis  XIII.  was  a  minor,  the 
regency  was  claimed  by  his  mother,  Mary  de  Medici,  and  her 
claim  was  sanctioned  by  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  She  at  once 
reversed  her  husband's  policy,  deserted  the  Protestant  allies  of 
France,  and  concluded  a  close  alliance  with  Spain.  Louis  XIII. 
was  betrothed  to  Philip  III.'s  daughter,  Anne  of  Austria.  The 
favour  of  the  queen  raised  to  power  a  native  of  her  own  Tuscany, 
Concini,  who  became  marquis  d'Ancre,  and  a  marshal  of  France. 
Sully  was  driven  into  retirement.  Concini 's  rule  excited  the 
natural  enmity  of  the  great  nobles,  who  had  been  kept  down  by 
the  strong  hand  of  Henry  IV*.,  but  who  hoped  on  his  death  to 
recover  their  independent  power.  They  found  a  leader  in  the  Prince 
of  Conde,  the  king's  cousin,  who,  as  the  nearest  prince  of  the  blood 
royal,  considered  that  he  had  a  juat  claim  to  the  regency.     A  series 


A.D.  1610-1623.      EARLY  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  XIII.  153 

of  revolts  ensued,  all  equally  unimportant,  because  they  involved 
no  political  principle.  The  objects  of  the  nobles  were  purely  selfish, 
and  they  could  always  be  bought  off  with  pensions,  places  and  titles. 
As  in  the  old  war  of  the  Public  Weal,  they  put  forth  a  flimsy 
claim  to  be  the  champions  of  popular  privileges,  and  demanded 
the  summons  of  the  States-General.  They  met  at  Paris  in  1614 
only  to  display  once  more  the  weakness  arising  from  the  jealousies 
among  the  three  orders.  They  were  dissolved  without  any  result, 
and  no  other  meeting  of  the  States-General  wa«*  held  till  1789. 
The  factious  turbulence  of  the  nobles  continued  to  harass  and 
weaken  the  government  till,  in  1617,  the  king  determined  to  take 
the  reins  into  his  own  hands.  He  ordered  Concini's  arrest,  but  the 
soldiers  who  executed  the  order  shot  him.  His  wife,  the  queen- 
mother's  attendant,  was  accused  of  sorcery,  condemned  and  executed. 
This  event  only  transferred  the  government  to  the  king's  favourite, 
Luynes,  who  had  suggested  the  attack  on  the  late  minister.  Disorder 
was  increased  by  the  accession  of  Mary  de  Medici  to  the  party  of 
opposition. 

§  2.  The  one  notable  point  in  the  selfish  policy  of  the  nobles  had 
been  their  efforts,  more  successful  than  they  deserved,  to  arouse  the 
discontent  of  the  Huguenots.  The  Edict  of  Nantes  had  secured  to 
them  not  only  religious  toleration  but  also  a  lar_e  amount  of 
political  independence.  They  formed  an  inner  state  within  the 
state.  This  was  a  real  danger  to  the  unity  of  France,  and  was 
certain  to  give  rise  to  future  evils.  In  1620  the  re-establishment 
of  Catholicism  in  Be'arn  by  the  royal  authority,  together  with  the 
contemporary  events  in  Germany,  aroused  the  greatest  apprehension 
among  the  Huguenots,  and  led  France  into  a  new  religious  war. 
A  great  assembly  at  La  Kochelle  determined  to  resort  to  arms. 
A  central  organisation  was  formed  and  the  Protectant  districts  were 
divided  into  circles  under  regular  officers.  The  example  of  the 
Dutch  had  evidently  great  influence  over  their  fellow  Calvinists 
in  France.  The  king  confirmed  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  order  to 
reassure  the  moderate  Huguenots,  and  then  prepared  to  put  down 
the  revolt.  Luynes  undertook  the  reduction  of  Montauban,  but 
was  repulsed,  and  died  soon  afterwards  of  fever  (December,  1621). 
But  the  central  government  was  too  strong  for  the  rebels,  and  in 
1623  they  were  compelled  to  accept  the  treaty  of  Montpellier.  By 
this  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  confirmed,  but  all  political  meetings 
were  prohibited,  and  only  two  towns  of  security  were  left,  La 
Bochelle  and  Montauban. 

§  3.  The  death  of  Luynes  restored  some  of  her  former  power  to  the 
queen-mother,  and  her  influence  brought  into  the  ministry  a  man 
who  was  destined  to  alter  the  whole  character  of  the  reign.    Armand 


154  MODERN  EUROPE,  Chap.  xi. 

Duplessis  de  Richelieu,  a  member  of  an  old  family  of  Poitou,  was 
born  at  Paris  in  1585,  he  was  made  bishop  of  Lueon  at  an  early 
age,  and  in  the  States-General  of  1614  he  appeared  as  an  orator  of 
the  clergy;  in  1623  he  received  the  cardinal's  hat.  Formerly  a 
supporter  of  Concini,  he  now  assumed  an  independent  position,  and 
from  1624  he  may  be  regarded  as  the  real  ruler  of  France.  During 
a  ministry  of  eighteen  years  he  had  to  contend  with  great  difficulties, 
the  open  opposition  of  the  great  nobles,  his  own  ill-health,  and  the 
feeble  vacillation  of  the  king.  But  he  triumphed  over  all,  and 
must  be  regarded  as  the  greatest,  though  not  the  noblest,  statesman 
France  has  ever  produced.  The  objects  of  his  policy  were  simple 
and  comprehensive;  within  France,  the  establishment  of  national 
union  by  the  suppression  of  the  factious  nobles  and  ok  the  political 
independence  of  the  Huguenots ;  without  France,  the  annihilation 
of  the  supremacy  claimed  by  the  Austro-Spanish  power.  His  foreign 
policy,  which  was  eminently  successful,  has  been  sufficiently  considered 
in  connexion  with  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  It  remains  only  to  speak 
of  his  internal  administration,  which  was  of  no  less  importance  and 
success,  but  the  merits  of  which  are  more  open  to  question. 

While  Richelieu's  attention  was  absorbed  in  Italian  affairs  and 
the  question  of  the  Valtelline,  a  second  revolt  of  the  Huguenots 
broke  out  in  1625  under  Soubise  and  Rohan.  Its  cause  was  the 
alarm  aroused  in  La  Rochelle  by  the  erection  of  a  royal  fort  in  the 
neighbourhood.  The  war  was  mainly  a  naval  one,  and  the  defeat 
of  the  Huguenot  fleet  was  followed  by  a  treaty  which  renewed, 
that  of  Montpellier.  But  the  revolt  convinced  the  cardinal  of  the 
necessity  of  establishing  perfect  unity  at  home  before  embarking  in 
extensive  foreign  projects.  Deserting  his  allies,  therefore,  he  con- 
cluded the  treaty  of  Monzon  and  threw  himself  at  once  into 
domestic  affairs.  A  series  of  edicts  in  1626  prohibited  duelling, 
ordered  the  demolition  of  all  fortresses  which  were  not  on  the 
frontiers,  and  attacked  the  worst  abuses  that  had  sprung  up  under 
the  government  of  grasping  courtiers.  These  measures  excited  great 
discontent  and  gave  rise  to  the  first  of  a  series  of  court  intrigues 
against  Richelieu.  The  intriguers  found  a  useful  instrument  in  the 
king's  brother,  Gaston  of  Anjou,  a  weak  and  dissolute  prince.  He 
was  induced  by  the  count  of  Chalais,  a  young  royal  favourite,  to 
refuse  a  marriage  with  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  which  the 
cardinal  proposed.  The  duke  of  Vendome  and  his  brother,  two 
natural  sons  of  Henry  IV.,  a  number  of  lords  and  ladies,  and  even 
the  queen  Anne  of  Austria,  were  concerned  in  a  plot  to  depose 
Louis  XI II.,  to  give  the  crown  to  his  brother  and  to  assassinate 
Richelieu.  But  the  cardinal's  vigilance  detected  the  plot,  and  his 
vengeance  was  unsparing.     Chalais  was  arrested,  tried  and  executed. 


A.D.  1624-1629.  RICHELIEU.  155 

The  duke  of  Vendome  with  a  crowd  of  nobles  was  sent  into  exile. 
Gaston,  who  made  a  full  confession,  was  left  unpunished,  but  had 
to  marry  Mademoiselle  de  Mont|«nsier  and  was  made  duke  of  Orlsans. 
Even  the  young  queen  was  severely  reprimanded,  and  was 
henceforth  regarded  by  her  husband  with  jealousy  and  suspicion. 
Having  thus  crushed  sedition  for  a  time,  Hichelieu  summoned 
an  assembly  of  notables,  before  which  he  developed  his  plans 
for  administrative  reform.  The  expenditure  amounted  to  thirty- 
six  millions,  and  the  revenue  only  to  sixteen.  This  was  to 
be  remedied  by  the  recovery  of  domain* right,  the  reduction  of  the 
royal  household,  and  the  abolition  of  the  old  offices  of  constable  and 
admiral.  Steps  were  to  be  taken  for  the  raising  of  a  navy,  and  pro- 
tective measures  adopted  for  the  development  of  French  cmmm-ree. 
Tins  assembly  is  important  as  showing  that  Hichelieu  had  really 
some  consideration  for  the  popular  welfare,  and  that  in  more  for- 
tunate times  he  might  have  obtaiued  fame  as  a  reformer.  But  the 
(MM taut  succession  of  ware  and  conspiracies  absorbed  his  attention, 
and  increased  the  exj>enditure.  Mod  <  t  his  schemes  were  left  to  be 
carried  out  by  his  successors. 

§4.  In  1627  the  alliance  between  England  and  France  was  broken 
off  by  a  dispute  about  Henrietta  Maria's  marriage  treaty,  and,  as 
rumour  declared,  by  Buckingham's  passion  for  Anne  of  Austria. 
The  prospect  of  English  assistance  aroused  a  new  revolt  in  La 
Rochelle,  and  the  restless  Kohan  again  took  up  arms  in  Languedoc. 
'I  In-  danger  called  forth  all  the  cardinal's  energies.  The  English 
fleet,  which  had  been  led  by  Buckingham  against  the  island  of  Hhe, 
was  repulsed,  and  Richelieu  determined  to  crush  Huguenot  dis- 
affection once  for  all  by  the  reduction  of  La  Rochelle.  The  great 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  a  blockade  was  that  the  beseified  commanded 
the  approach  by  sea.  To  put  an  end  to  this  Richelieu  determined 
to  build  a  huge  mole  across  the  mouth  of  the  harbour.  All 
attempts  to  interrupt  or  destroy  the  work  were  foiled.  At  Inst 
the  town,  after  a  heroic  resistance,  was  starved  into  submission 
(28  October,  1628),  and  received  fairly  favourable  terms,  though  its 
walls  and  fortifications  were  demolished.  Thus  a  great  step  was 
made  towards  centralisation.  No  other  French  city  ventured  to 
oppose  the  monarchy  until  the  devolution.  The  assassination  of 
Buckingham  by  Felton  removed  the  chief  obstacle  to  peace  with 
England,  which  was  concluded  in  1629.  Hichelieu  was  now  free  to 
turn  to  Languedoc,  where  the  rising  was  put  down  and  a  treaty 
concluded  at  Alais.  The  Huguenots  retained  their  religious  liberty 
and  their  rights  as  citizens,  but  they  lost  that  political  independence 
which  was  dangerous  to  the  unity  of  the  kingdom.  Their  towns  of 
security  were  taken  away,  and  they  became  ordinary  subjects  of  the 


156  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xi. 

crown.  It  is  evident  that  Richelieu,  though  a  cardinal,  was 
imbued  with  none  of  the  fanaticism  of  the  Catholic  reaction.  He 
was  anxious  to  conciliate  the  Huguenots  after  rendering  them 
harmless,  and  he  had  no  desire  to  drive  them  to  despair. 

§  5.  The  anti-Spanish  policy  which  Richelieu  so  conspicuously 
manifested  in  1629  in  the  affair  of  the  Mantuan  succession,  aroused 
against  him  a  more  formidable  enemy  than  he  had  yet  encountered. 
This  was  the  queen-mother,  Mary  de  Medici.  She  regarded  the 
cardinal  as  her  own  creature,  and  was  astounded  and  enraged  when 
he  acquired  an  independent  influence  over  the  king  which  threatened 
to  exclude  her  from  all  control  over  the  government.  She  there- 
fore allied  herself  with  the  opposition  party  and  determined  to 
overthrow  the  minister.  His  place  was  to  be  taken  by  the  two 
Marillacs,  one  of  whom  held  the  seals  and  the  other  was  a  marshal 
with  the  army  now  in  Italy.  By  coarse  violence  she  triumphed 
over  her  son's  weakness  and  induced  him  to  sign  an  order  entrust- 
ing supreme  authority  to  Marshal  Marillac  and  removing  the  other 
commanders  who  were  Richelieu's  friends.  All  Paris  exulted  in 
the  minister's  fall,  and  the  political  world  crowded  to  Mary's  recep- 
tion at  the  Luxemburg,  Even  Richelieu  himself  believed  for  a 
moment  that  all  was  lost.  But  the  queen-mother,  with  fatal  con- 
fidence, had  allowed  Louis  XIII.  to  escape  from  her  presence  to 
Versailles.  There  Richelieu  visited  him  and  at  once  recovered  his 
old  influence.  The  next  day  a  new  order  was  sent  to  Italy  for 
Marillac's  arrest.  The  Parisians,  astonished  at  this  sudden  reversal 
of  anticipations,  called  it  "  the  day  of  Dupes."  Mary  de  Medici 
saw  all  her  schemes  ruined  and  became  more  and  more  embittered 
against  tbe  author  of  her  humiliation.  The  cardinal  spared  no 
pains  to  gain  over  Gaston  of  Orleans,  the  worthless  heir  to  the 
throne.  But  the  mother's  influence  prevailed  over  her  younger 
and  favourite  son.  He  renounced  all  friendship  towards  the  cardinal 
and  retired  to  Orleans.  Richelieu  now  determined  by  a  skilful 
manoeuvre  to  rid  himself  of  so  constant  a  source  of  danger  as  the 
the  queen-mother's  presence  in  Paris.  The  court  was  suddenly 
removed  to  Compiegne.  Mary,  mindful  of  her  recent  error,  at  once 
followed  her  son.  But  Louis  and  Richelieu  rode  back  to  Paris, 
whence  the  former  wrote  to  his  mother  forbidding  her  return  and 
offering  her  the  government  of  Anjou.  This  great  success  being 
gained,  steps  were  taken  to  reduce  Orleans.  Gaston  had  no  means 
of  resistance,  and  fled  to  Charles  III.  of  Lorraine,  who  was  the  ally 
of  Spain  against  France,  and  whose  sister  he  secretly  married.  Soon 
afterwards  Mary  de  Medici,  who  had  refused  the  proffered  governor- 
ship, escaped  across  the  frontier  to  Brussels,  where  she  was  welcomed 
by  the  Spaniards.     At  the  same  time  the  duke  of  Guise,  governor 


a.d.  1629-1632.      PLOTS  AGAINST  RICHELIEU.  157 

of  Provence,  who  had  been  involved  in  the  opposition  to  Richelieu, 
found  it  prudent  to  retire  from  France,  and  ultimately  died  in  exile 
in  1640. 

§  6.  Although  the  flight  of  his  enemies  was  a  great  triumph  for 
Richelieu  he  was  still  by  no  means  secure.  The  House  of  Hapsburg 
was  profoundly  interested  in  the  plots  for  his  destruction.  Spanish 
influence  had  been  at  the  bottom  of  the  recent  intrigues,  and  now 
the  exiles  relied  upon  Spanish  money  and  troops  to  effect  their 
return.  There  was  no  patriotism  in  either  Mary  de  Medici  or 
Gaston.  But  for  the  bold  march  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  upon  the 
Ithine  it  is  possible  that  France  might  have  been  exposed  to  a 
.       ,         B  10  successes  were  fatal  t<>  the  hopes 

ol  the  exiles,  but  they  determined  to  do  what  they  could  with 
the  help  of  internal  discontent.  The  provinces,  and  especially 
th<-  provincial  governors,  were  alienated  by  Richelieu's  policy  of 
centralisation,  which  threatened  their  ancient  privileges.  Of  all  the 
provinces  Lauguedtic  had  enjoyed  t  t  independence,  and 

moreover,  some  of  the  Huguenot  disaffection  still  survived  in  its 
old  stronghold.  Mont  inorenc y ,  who  was  now  governor  of  Languedoc, 
had  formerly  been  a  WppOttot  of  the  cardinal's,  but  was  induced 
to  join  in  a  scheme  for  his  overthrow.  He  received  Gaston  of 
Orleans  into  the  province  and  headed  a  rebellion.  Richelieu  at 
once  despatched  a  force  against  him  under  Schomberg.  At  the 
battle  of  Castelnaudari,  Montmorency  was  wounded  by  a  musket- 
bullet  and  taken  prisoner.  Gaston  had  to  submit,  and  as  usual 
received  favourable  terms.  The  rebellious  province  was  also  treated 
with  jiolitic  lenient  v.  Rut  Richelieu  felt  it  necessary  to  make  some 
examph-  ol  tfci  danger  of  revolt.  At  the  beginning  of  the  trouble! 
Marshal  M  aril  lac  had  been  brought  before  a  social  commission  on  a 
charge  of  peculation,  condemned  and  executed.  A  similar  fate 
befell  Montmorency,  who  was  tried  by  the  Parliament  of  Toulouse 
and  sentenced  to  death.  Strenuous  Bfloftl  were  made  to  secure  a 
royal  pardon,  but  Richelieu  kept  the  king  firm,  aud  the  sentence 
was  carried  out.  The  last  of  a  family  famous  in  the  history  of 
France  perished  on  the  scaffold  (October,  1632).  Thus  Richelieu 
advanced  the  French  monarchy  by  a  policy  at  once  consistent  and 
ruthless. 

Gaston  of  Orleans,  enraged  at  the  death  of  Montmorency,  again 
retired  to  Brussels  and  resumed  his  connection  with  Spain.  Riche- 
lieu, who  after  the  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  became  more  deeply 
involved  in  European  politics,  was  extremely  anxious  to  deprive 
the  Spaniards  of  the  advantage  which  they  had  derived  from  their 
hold  over  the  heir  of  the  French  throne.  The  great  difficulty  was 
to  induce  Gaston  to  return  without  his  mother,  whom  Richelieu 


158  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xl 

wished  to  keep  as  far  as  possible  from  court.  At  last  this  was 
accomplished,  and  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  reconciled  to  his  brother 
and  the  cardinal.  His  marriage  with  Margaret  of  Lorraine  was 
declared  null  by  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  and  as  the  pope  refused 
to  confirm  this,  the  requisite  ecclesiastical  authority  was  obtained 
from  an  assembly  of  Gallican  clergy.  Richelieu's  triumph  over  his 
domestic  enemies  was  completed  by  the  birth  of  a  son  to  Anne  of 
Austria,  after  twenty-two  years  of  married  life.  This  at  once 
deprived  the  untrustworthy  Gaston  of  his  political  importance. 
About  the  same  time  Mary  de  Medici  was  forced  to  leave  Flanders, 
and  found  refuge  with  her  daughter  in  England.  Richelieu  was 
now  all-powerful  in  France.  The  great  European  war  in  which  he 
was  engaged  strengthened  his  control  over  the  feeble  mind  of  Louis 
XIII.  and  did  much  to  create  a  national  spirit  in  the  Freuch 
people.  A  marvellous  system  of  espionage  enabled  Richelieu  to 
detect  and  crush  all  hostile  intrigues. 

§  7.  It  was  not  till  towards  the  close  of  his  life  that  Richelieu's 
authority  was  again  seriously  threatened.  Tn  1641  the  count  of 
Soissons,  imbued  with  the  old  jealousy  of  the  nobles  against  the 
minister,  collected  a  number  of  exiles  at  the  frontier-fortress  of 
Sedan.  The  royal  troops  which  were  despatched  against  them 
were  routed,  but  Soissons  was  killed  by  a  pistol-bullet  while  heading 
the  pursuit.  His  followers  came  to  terms  and  laid  down  their  arms. 
More  formidable  was  a  conspiracy  at  court.  Louis  XIII.,  weaker 
than  ever  in  his  old  age,  had  fallen  under  the  influence  of  a  favourite, 
Cinq-Mars,  whom  Richelieu  himself  had  introduced.  The  empty- 
headed  but  ambitious  youth  conceived  the  project  of  supplanting 
the  great  minister.  He  had  opened  relations  with  Soissons  and  was 
undismayed  by  the  death  of  his  ally.  Louis  XIII.  had  never  loved 
the  cardinal,  whose  intellect  had  so  long  dominated  his  own,  and 
who  had  learnt  to  lecture  his  royal  pupil  with  scanty  respect.  The 
king  lent  an  ear  to  the  accusations  which  the  favourite  showered 
freely  against  the  presumption  and  arrogance  of  the  minister. 
Richelieu  wTas  already  suffering  from  the  illness  which  proved 
mortal,  and  was  unable  to  follow  his  master.  His  overthrow 
seemed  assured,  when  he  fortunately  discovered  a  treasonable  inter- 
course of  Cinq-Mars  with  Spain.  Louis  had  already  learnt  that  he 
could  not  do  without  the  servant  on  whom  he  had  so  long  relied. 
He  was  convinced  of  the  treachery  of  his  favourite,  who  was  arrested 
with  his  confidant,  de  Thou,  the  son  of  the  historian.  Gaston  of 
Orleans,  who  had  been  involved  in  the  conspiracy  against  his  old 
enemy,  was  induced  to  betray  his  comrades  when  their  cause  was 
seen  to  be  hopeless.  Richelieu  was  as  implacable  as  ever  in  his  old 
age,  Cinq-Mars  and  de  Thou  were  tried  and  executed.     This  was 


a.d.  1642.  DEATH   OF  RICHELIEU.  159 

the  cardinal's  last  triumph.     On  4th  December,  1642,  he  died,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-eight. 

Richelieu  will  live  for  ever  in  French  history  as  the  creator  of 
absolute  power  in  France,  as  the  founder  of  that  system  of  govern- 
ment which  became  an  abuse  in  the  hands  of  his  successors  and 
was  overthrown  by  the  Revolution.  It  is  not  true  that  he  was 
entirely  regardless  of  the  interests  of  the  subject  people.  It  was 
only  the  constant  pressure  of  foreign  wars  and  of  internal  dissensions 
that  prevented  his  carrying  through  reforms  which  would  have 
been  of  the  utmost  benefit  to  France.  But  it  is  true  that  he 
refused  to  admit  the  people  to  any  share  in  their  own  government. 
The  States-General  he  never  summoned  at  all.  Provincial  liberties 
were  crushed  by  the  appointment  of  Intendants,  the  agents  of  the 
central  power.  Judicial  institutions  were  made  subservient  to  the 
monarchy.  The  most  ancient  and  powerful  of  them,  tin*  Parliament 
of  Paris,  was  constantly  humiliated  by  the  minister.  Constitu- 
tional pedants  have  made  these  facts  the  foundation  of  their 
gravest  charge  against  Richelieu.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
no  statesman,  however  great,  can  free  hiimelf  from  the  intii 
of  past  history.  Richelieu  worked,  as  he  could  hardly  have  lu  lj*d 
doing,  <>n  the  lines  laid  down  by  the  greatest  of  preceding  rulers, 
by  Louis  XL,  Francis  I.  and  Henry  IV.  'Hie  French  people  in  the 
seventeenth  century  were  incapable  of  constitutional  government, 
they  did  not  even  desire  it.  A  strong  central  |»ower  was  needed  to 
create  the  nation.  But  for  Richelieu  neither  the  glories  of  Louis 
XIV.  nor  the  reforms  of  Colbert  would  have  been  possible.  One 
great  service  he  undoubtedly  rendered,  the  reduction  to  political 
nullity  of  a  greedy  and  degenerate  noble  class,  and  this  has  won  for 
him  the  praise  even  of  revolutionists  whom  he  would  have  abhorred. 
The  means  which  he  adopted  for  this  end  were  creditable  to  his 
courage  if  not  to  his  heart.  His  vengeance  was  ever  directed 
against  the  great  and  powerful ;  he  never  condescended  to  punish 
their  ignorant  accomplices.  But  in  pursuit  of  vengeance  he  too 
often  transgressed  the  spirit  if  not  the  letter  of  the  law,  and  he 
showed  a  personal  animosity  which  excited  natural  unpopularity. 
The  execution  of  Marillac  for  an  offence  of  which  hardly  any  official 
was  guiltless,  remains  a  stain  on  his  administration.  Kichelieu 
himself  maintained  even  on  his  death- bed  that  he  had  no  enemies 
save  those  of  the  state.  Contemporaries  did  not  believe  this,  nor 
will  posterity. 

Richelieu's  services  to  literature  have  often  been  enumerated. 
He  was  the  founder  of  the  Academy,  which  has  exercised  so  great 
an  influence  over  style  and  thought  in  France.  He  may  be 
credited  also  with  the  establishment  of  the  Gazette,  the   first  of 


160  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xt. 

French  newspapers.  In  the  words  of  Martin,  he  "  gave  birth  at 
once  to  the  two  great  enemies,  whose  contest  was  to  fill  the 
modern  world,  absolutism  and  the  press."  But  government  patron- 
age has  never  been  an  unmixed  benefit  to  literature.  CorneilH  the 
greatest  poet  of  the  age,  was  no  favourite  of  the  cardinal,  who  set 
himself  to  ensure  the  failure  of  the  "  Cid."  Descartes,  ihe  greatest 
of  French  philosophers,  found  Holland  a  more  favourable  soil  for 
independent  thought  than  his  native  country,  and  published  most  of 
his  works  at  Amsterdam. 

It  was  in  foreign  politics  that  Richelieu  was  most  completely 
successful.  He  broke  the  force  of  the  Catholic  reaction,  and  by  his 
alliance  with  Sweden  saved  Protestantism  in  northern  Europe.  He 
shattered  the  power  of  the  Austro-Spanish  empire,  and  paved  the 
way  for  the  aggrandisement  of  France  under  Louis  XIV.  Under 
different  circumstances,  and  by  different  means,  he  did  for  France 
what  Chatham  did  for  England,  and  made  his  country  the  foremost 
of  European  powers.  It  has  been  well  remarked  that  Richelieu 
invariably  selected  the  rising  cause  in  every  country  with  which  he 
was  concerned  and  made  it  the  instrument  of  his  designs.  "In 
England  he  was  on  the  side  of  Parliamentary  opposition  to  the 
crown.  In  Germany  he  was  on  the  side  of  the  opposition  of  the 
princes  against  the  emperor.  In  Italy  he  was  on  the  side  of  the 
independence  of  the  states  against  Spain.  In  the  Peninsula  he 
was  on  the  side  of  the  provinces  against  the  monarchy.  There  is 
not  the  slightest  reason  to  suppose  that  he  cared  one  atom  for  these 
causes  except  so  far  as  they  might  promote  his  own  ends.  Yet  in 
every  case  he  selected  those  causes  by  which  the  real  wants  of  the 
several  countries  were  best  expressed."  x 

§  8.  Louis  XIII.  received  the  news  of  Richelieu's  death  without 
emotion  and  without  regret.  But  he  was  nevertheless  determined 
to  carry  out  his  policy.  He  at  once  called  into  his-  council 
the  man  who  more  than  any  other  represented  the  views  of  the 
departed  minister,  cardinal  Mazarin.  Mazarin  was  in  personal 
character  a  complete  contrast  to  his  predecessor.  He  could  boast 
none  of  his  commanding  qualities.  Adroit,  supple,  and  without 
pride,  he  would  fawn  and  cringe  where  Richelieu  had  dictated. 
His  success  was  due  to  his  great  diplomatic  talents,  and  he 
remained  a  diplomatist  all  his  life.  For  domestic  government  he 
was  unfitted,  but  in  foreign  politics  and  intrigues  he  was  quite  at 
home.  In  spite  of  his  defects,  his  unquestionable  ability  enabled 
him  to  retain  the  reins  of  power  until  his  death. 

The  first  symptom  of  a  change  of  government  was  seen  in  a 

1  Gardiner,  '  Thirty  Years'  Waj,'  p.  199. 


a.d.  1G43-1G48.   REGENCY   OF  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA.        161 

relaxation  of  the  recent  severity.  Most  of  the  political  prisoners 
were  set  at  liberty,  and  a  large  number  of  exiles  returned  to  France. 
In  foreign  politics  the  old  system  was  unhesitatingly  continued. 
But  it  was  doubtful  how  long  it  could  survive  the  king,  who  was 
already  dying.  The  heir  to  the  throne  was  not  yet  five  years  old, 
and  the  only  possible  claimants  to  the  regency  were  the  queen, 
Anne  of  Austria,  aud  the  king's  brother,  Gaston  of  Orleans.  Both 
had  been  the  life-long  enemies  of  Richelieu,  and  both  had  been  in 
constant  connexion  with  Spain.  The  king  determined  if  possible  to 
tie  their  hands  by  an  ordinance,  which  gave  the  regency  to  Anne 
and  the  lieutenant-gjneralship  to  Gaston,  but  made  their  authority 
dependent  on  a  standing  council  of  which  Mazarin  was  the  chief 
member.  On  14th  May,  1643,  Louis  XIII.  died.  He  had  enjoyed 
little  real  power  during  his  life-time,  and  had  naturally  less  after 
his  death.  His  ordinance  found  no  defenders,  and  was  promptly 
cancelled  by  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  which  entrusted  absolute 
power  to  Anne  of  Austria.  Everybody  expected  from  the  regent 
a  complete  reversal  of  French  policy  in  favour  of  her  native  Spain. 
Intense  was  the  astonishment  when  it  was  announced  that  Mazarin 
was  to  remain  chief  minister.  The  subtle  Italian  had  obtained  a 
marvellous  influence  over  the  queen,  who  afterwards  was  secretly 
married  to  him.  Still  more  intense  was  the  disappointment  of  the 
young  courtiers  who  formed  the  queen's  court.  They  had  so 
confidently  anticipated  a  new  era,  in  which  they  were  to  govern 
France,  that  they  received  the  nickname  of  the  "  Importants."  In 
their  despair  they  resorted  to  conspiracies  under  the  duke  of 
Beaufort,  the  son  of  the  duke  of  Vendome.  But  their  plot*  were 
soon  discovered,  and  were  suppressed  with  an  energy  and  firmness 
which  showed  that  the  influence  of  Richelieu's  example  had  survived 
him.  Beaufort  was  suddenly  seized  and  imprisoned.  Vendome  and  a 
number  of  lords  and  ladies,  including  the  veteran  intriguer  Madame 
de  Chevreuse,  were  driven  into  exile.  For  the  next  five  years 
Mazarin  and  the  regent  ruled  without  opposition.  They  were  in 
close  alliance  with  the  prince  of  Conde\  whose  son  Enghien  gave 
increased  strength  to  the  government  by  his  brilliant  victories.  In 
1G48  the  treaty  of  Westphalia  was  concluded,  and  may  be  regarded 
as  the  triumph  of  the  policy  of  Richelieu  and  his  successor.  France 
obtained  important  territories  in  the  direction  of  the  Rhine,  and 
succeeded  in  severing  Austria  from  its  alliance  with  Spain.  With 
the  latter  power  war  still  continued. 

§  9.  While  success  attended  French  arras  and  diplomacy  abroad,  the 

home  government  was  threatened  by  formidable  disaffection.     The 

chief  source  of  difficulty  lay  in  the  wretched  financial  administration 

which  had  prevailed  ever  since  Henry  IV.'s  death.     Sully's  reforms 

9 


162  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xi. 

had  perished  with  him ;  Richelieu's  short-lived  attempt  to  follow  his 
example  had  been  a  failure.  Not  only  had  the  great  European  war 
immensely  increased  the  expenditure,  but  Mazarin  found  it  necessary 
to  employ  large  sums  of  money  in  bribing  possible  opponents  of  his 
power.  Extraordinary  measures  were  resorted  to  to  obtain  supplies. 
But  the  worst  grievance  was,  that  of  the  money  paid  by  the  people 
a  large  portion  of  it  never  found  its  way  into  the  coffers  of  the  state. 
To  the  bankers  who  advanced  loans  were  assigned  the  proceeds  of 
certain  taxes  as  security  for  principal  and  interest.  These  "  partisans  " 
as  they  were  called,  grew  enormously  wealthy,  while  the  people 
were  ground  down  by  intolerable  exactions. 

The  task  of  representing  the  popular  grievances  was  undertaken 
by  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  This  institution  had  its  origin  in  the 
court  of  peers  created  in  the  12th  century  by  Philip  Augustus.  St. 
Louis  was  the  first  to  admit  lawyers  into  the  court,  which  he 
employed  to  restrict  the  judicial  independence  of  feudalism.  Under 
Philip  the  Fair,  the  lawyers  rendered  the  greatest  services  to  the 
monarchy,  and  from  this  time  the  nobles  tended  to  disappear  from 
the  parliament  altogether,  which  becomes  purely  an  assembly  of 
lawyers.  It  was  not  the  only  parliament  in  France,  because  a 
number  of  similar  courts  were  created  by  successive  kings  in  the 
provinces;  but  it  was  the  most  important,  partly  on  account  of  its 
origin  and  partly  because  it  was  established  in  the  capital.  A  seat 
in  the  parliament  was  to  be  purchased  like  any  other  office  in  France. 
Under  Henry  IV.,  as  we  have  seen,  the  right  to  a  seat  became 
hereditary,  as  long  as  the  holder  paid  the  paulette  to  the  royal 
treasury.  As  the  position  of  the  lawyers  became  thus  permanent 
and  honourable,  the  assembly,  which  had  once  been  the  servile 
instrument  of  the  crown,  began  to  make  itself  heard  in  opposition. 
By  old  usage  royal  edicts  and  ordinances  had  to  be  registered  in  the 
parliament  before  being  carried  out.  This  gave  the  members  their 
only  pretension  to  interfere  with  legislation  or  administration. 
They  claimed  the  right  to  refuse  to  register  an  edict,  and  that  this 
refusal  made  it  invalid.  This  would  have  given  them  a  right  of 
veto,  which  must  have  produced  a  dead-lock.  To  overcome  their 
opposition  there  was  only  one  available  method,  the  anomalous 
transaction  known  as  a  "  bed  of  justice."  This  was  an  occasion 
when  the  king  appeared  in  person  in  the  grand  chamber  and 
ordered  the  registration  of  an  edict  by  his  own  authority.  It  was 
held  that  the  king's  personal  presence  superseded  the  ordinary 
Powers  of  the  magistrates.  Under  Richelieu  the  attempts  of  the 
parliament  to  control  the  administration  had  met  with  persistent 
and  contemptuous  refusal.  But  they  had  now  a  better  ground  for 
their  pretensions  in  the  part  they  had  played  in  undoing  the  will  of 


a.d.  1648.  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  PARIS.  163 

the  late  king.  It  was  they  who  had  conferred  the  absolute  regency 
upon  Anne  of  Austria,  and  they  naturally  deemed  themselves  in 
some  sense  superior  to  a  regent  of  their  own  creation. 

The  Parliament  of  Paris,  therefore,  was,  strictly  speaking,  only  a 
central  law  court ;  it  had  no  share  in  the  executive  or  legislative 
powers.  Nothing  but  the  name  was  common  between  it  and  the 
English  Parliament ;  it  was  more  like  our  court  of  King's  Bench. 
Still,  such  as  it  was,  it  was  the  only  institution  in  France  which 
had  sufficient  strength  and  consistency  to  oppose  the  government. 
It  did  not  in  any  sense  represent  the  people,  it  had  not  even  a  very 
deep  interest  in  the  popular  welfare,  but  it  found  that  a  popular 
cause  was  a  very  useful  instrument  for  advancing  its  own  importance. 
Great  influence  was  exercised  in  France  by  contem|>orary  events  in 
England,  where  the  parliament  had  headed  a  successful  revolt  against 
the  monarchy  and  was  about  to  give  a  signal  illustration  of  its  power 
by  the  execution  of  the  king  himself. 

Under  Mazariu  the  chief  control  of  finances  was  entrusted  to 
d'Emeri,  who  was  also  an  Italian,  and  who  on  that  ground  shared  the 
unpopularity  of  the  chief  minister.  One  of  his  measures  for  raising 
supplies  was  the  imposition  of  a  duty  on  all  food  brought  into  Paris. 
The  measure  was  not  unjust,  but  was  very  unpopular,  and  the 
parliament  refused  its  consent.  Mazarin  had  none  of  the  unswerving 
firmness  of  Richelieu,  and  gave  way.  But  money  had  to  be  obtained, 
and  new  taxes  were  imposed,  which  were  registered  by  the  authority 
of  the  young  king  in  a  bed  of  justice  (Jan.  1648).  The  next  day 
the  parliaim'iit  maintained  that  such  an  exercise  of  royal  power  by  a 
minor  was  invalid,  and  revoked  the  registration.  Just  at  this  time 
the  period  for  which  the  paulette  was  granted  had  expired,  and  the 
government  determined  to  use  the  opportunity  for  enriching  itself 
and  for  teaching  a  lesson  to  the  too  independent  magistrates.  The 
paulette  was  not  renewed,  and  thus  the  hereditary  character  of  their 
offices  was  destroyed.  At  the  same  time  four  years*  wages  of  the 
chief  courts  were  declared  to  be  confiscated.  This  attack  on  their 
common  privileges  exas{>erated  the  whole  official  class.  The  four 
superior  courts,  or  cours  souveraines,  agreed  to  issue  an  "edict 
of  union,"  and  to  send  delegates  to  a  joint  assembly  held  in  the 
chamber  of  St.  Louis.  There  they  agreed  upon  a  number  of  demands 
which  were  of  great  constitutional  importance.  The  recently  ap- 
pointed intendants  were  to  be  withdrawn ;  the  taille  was  to  be 
diminished  by  a  quarter ;  no  impost  was  to  be  levied  without  the 
consent  of  the  sovereign  courts  ;  and,  to  prevent  the  arbitrary 
imprisonments  so  common  in  France,  every  person  arrested  was  to 
be  brought  before  a  judicial  tribunal  within  twenty-four  hours.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  magistrates  were  aiming  at  powers  far  beyond  any 


164  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xi. 

they  had  hitherto  exercised.  The  younger  members  of  the  parlia- 
ment compared  themselves  with  the  senators  of  Rome. 

§  10.  Aune  of  Austria,  who  was  imbued  with  Spanish  conceptions  of 
royal  power,  was  enraged  beyond  measure  at  the  insolent  opposition 
of  the  parliament.  But  Mazarin,  less  haughty  and  less  courageous, 
persuaded  her  to  concede  most  of  the  demands  made  in  the 
chamber  of  St.  Louis.  But  similar  assemblies  were  to  be  strictly 
forbidden  for  the  future.  The  parliament  regarded  the  concessions 
thus  limited  as  unsatisfactory,  and  refused  to  accept  them.  They 
were  supported  by  the  sympathy  of  the  Parisian  populace,  which 
was  filled  with  a  democratic  spirit,  and  was  under  the  influence  of 
the  most  accomplished  of  agitators,  Paul  de  Gondi,  coadjutor  of  the 
archbishop  of  Paris,  and  known  to  fame  as  the  cardinal  de  Retz. 
It  was  apparent  that  the  quarrel  between  court  and  parliament  was 
tending  towards  civil  war,  and  this  was  precipitated  by  the  action 
of  the  government.  Encouraged  by  the  news  of  a  great  victory 
gained  by  Conde  at  Lens,  the  regent  ordered  the  arrest  of  three 
prominent  members  of  the  parliament,  one  of  whom,  Broussel,  was 
the  idol  of  the  populace.  His  arrest  roused  the  passions  of  the  mob, 
barricades  were  raised  in  the  streets,  and  the  troops  which  attempted 
to  restore  order  were  repulsed.  Thus  began  the  war  of  the  Fronde, 
so  called  from  a  derisive  comparison  of  the  rebels  to  the  Parisian 
gamins,  who  were  accustomed  to  fight  with  slings  (frondes).  * 

Anne  of  Austria,  despite  her  haughty  utterances,  was  compelled 
to  release  Broussel.  The  aged  citizen,  in  himself  of  no  ability 
or  importance,  was  received  with  extravagant  demonstrations  by 
the  populace.  The  weakness  of  the  government  encouraged  its 
oppouents.  The  most  insulting  language  was  openly  used  towards 
both  regent  and  minister,  and  there  was  no  power  to  punish  it. 
Orderly  government  being  impossible,  the  court  suddenly  quitted 
Paris  for  Rueil  (September,  1648).  It  was  thought  that  a  siege  of 
the  capital  was  imminent,  and  the  parliament  ordered  the  citizens 
to  arm.  But  the  government  soon  found  that  war  was  out  of  the 
question.  Money  necessities  were  pressing ;  the  peace  of  Westphalia 
was  not  yet  signed,  and  the  enemies  of  France  triumphed  in  her 
internal  dissensions.  The  regent  again  promised  to  grant  the 
demands  made  by  the  chamber  of  St.  Louis,  and  returned  to 
Paris.  The  great  peace  was  now  concluded,  and  Mazarin  was  free 
to  devote  himself  to  domestic  affairs.  But  the  first  financial 
measures  aroused  all  the  old  dissensions.  A  permanent  settlement 
was  as  far  off  as  ever.  De  Retz  was  the  most  powerful  man  in 
Paris.  Once  more  the  court  determined  to  retire,  this  time  to 
St.  Germain,  with  the  definite  intention  of  reducing  the  rebellious 
capital  by  force  of  arms.     The  great  Conde,  who  had  shown  some 


A.r.   1648.  THE  FRONDE.  165 

inclination  to  supix>rt  the  Fronde,  was  won  over  to  the  cause  of 
monarchy.  A  speedy  military  success  was  anticipated.  The 
parliament,  however  showed  no  fear.  It  undertook  the  vacant 
government,  levied  taxes,  and  raised  troops  for  defence.  Mazarin 
was  declared  a  traitor,  and  condemned  to  exile.  And  the  city  and 
parliament  were  now  joined  by  important  allies.  The  French 
nobles  gleefully  regarded  the  outbreak  of  civil  war  as  an  opportunity 
for  regaining  that  position  from  which  Richelieu  had  ousted  them. 
Condon  brother,  the  prince  of  Conti,  the  dukes  of  Longueville, 
Rochefoucauld  and  Bouillon  apjwared  in  Paris  to  supjjort  the 
popular  movement.  The  duke  of  Beauiort,  the  leader  of  the 
"important*"  6ve  years  ago,  escaped  from  his  prison  at  Vincennes, 
and  at  once  ac  juired  the  greatest  popularity  as  the  "  roi  dex  hnttc*-" 
Still  more  important  than  the  nobles  were  the  noble  Udtrs  who 
crowded  to  Paris,  headed  by  the  brilliant  and  beautiful  duch- 
Longueville.  They  threw  themselves  with  all  the  energy  ol  their 
pleasure-loving  natures  into  the  jiame  of  political  intrigue.  I 
this  time  the  Fronde  degenerates.  It  is  do  longer  the  attorn  t  i  ; 
the  ma»istrature  to  im|x>se  constitutional  elMcks  on  the  monarchy, 
and  becomes  a  seltish  struggle  of  the  aristocracy  to  regain  their  k»l 
piivilcges.  The  welfare  of  the  people,  once  so  prominent  a  pretext, 
is  more  and  more  thrust  into  the  background. 

The  civil  war  was  as  devoid  of  bnporttlioe  as  of  principle.    Conde* 
took  place  after  place  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Paris.     The 
troops  were  defeated  in  every  engagement     But  the  li-ht-hearted 
nobles  were  wholly  indifferent.  arded  these  reverses  as  a 

subject  for  merriment  and  epigrams.  The  more  serious  leaders  of 
the  parliament  were  soon  convinced  that  they  had  little  to  hope 
from  their  new  allies,  and  were  dis|>oscd  to  come  to  terms  with  the 
court.  This  disposition  was  increased  by  the  intrigues  of  the 
nobles  with  the  anhduke  Leo|>old,  governor  of  the  Spanish 
Netherlands,  which  alienated  all  patriotic  citizens.  Mazarin,  on  his 
side,  was  inclined  to  treat,  on  account  of  the  threatening  attitude 
assumed  by  Spain.  Throughout  domestic  difficulties  he  never  lotl 
sight  of  foreign  politics.  The  President  M0I6,  the  leader  of  the 
moderate  party,  headed  an  embassy  to  the  court,  and  concluded  a 
treaty  at  Rneil.  But  the  nobles,  who  had  already  concluded  an 
alliance  with  Spain,  refused  to  accept  the  treaty,  and  induced  the 
parliament  to  reject  it.  Turenne  had  been  seduced  by  the  duchess 
of  Longueville  to  brim:  his  army  to  the  side  of  the  Fronde.  The 
Spaniards  entered  Champagne.  For  a  moment  the  military  advan- 
tage seem«d  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  rebels.  Hut  Mazarin  bribed 
the  troops  of  Turenne  to  desert  their  leader,  and  the  citizens  showed 
themselves  more  and  more  averse  to  Spanish  intervention.    The 


166  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xi. 

regent  on  her  side  consented  to  give  more  favourable  terms  to  {he 
parliament,  and  bought  off  the  nobles  with  pensions  and  provincial 
governorships.  The  treaty  thus  modified  was  at  last  accepted,  and 
the  court  returned  to  Paris. 

This  closes  the  first  period  of  the  Fronde. 

§  11.  The  difficulties  of  the  government  were  by  no  means  at  an 
end.  The  Fronde  retained  its  organisation  and  its  pretensions.  Still 
more  formidable  was  the  prince  of  Conde,  who  regarded  the  return 
of  the  court  as  his  work,  and  was  determined  to  exercise  supreme 
authority.  He  had  not  the  slightest  sympathy  with  the  popular 
interests  or  wishes,  and  he  regarded  the  parliament  with  undisguised 
contempt.  His  intention  was  to  rely  only  on  the  noblesse,  who 
were  to  resume  their  old  position  under  his  leadership.  The 
members  of  the  new  aristocratic  Fronde  were  nicknamed,  from 
their  haughty  affectation,  the  "  '■  petits-maitres."  Conde's  insolent  dis- 
regard of  parliament  and  people  gave  Mazarin  an  opportunity  for 
getting  rid  of  the  prince.  He  formed  an  alliance  with  the  leaders 
of  the  old  Fronde,  so  recently  his  bitter  enemies.  De  Retz  was 
won  over  by  the  prospect  of  a  cardinal's  hat.  Suddenly,  in  January, 
1650,  Conde  was  arrested,  with  his  brother  Conti  and  his  brother- 
in-law  Longueville,  and  sent  to  Vincennes.  The  populace  rejoiced 
in  the  event. 

But  the  imprisonment  of  the  princes,  so  far  from  ending  existing 
troubles,  only  gave  rise  to  new  ones.  Discontent  had  spread  from 
the  capital  to  the  provinces,  and  two  of  the  great  ladies  of  France 
set  themselves  to  effect  the  release  of  the  prisoners.  Condi's  sister, 
the  duchess  of  Longueville,  escaped  to  Normandy,  and  thence  to 
Holland,  where  she  once  more  secured  the  support  of  Turenne,  and 
concluded  a  treaty  with  Spain.  At  the  same  time  Conde's  wife 
raised  a  revolt  in  Guienne.  In  face  of  these  dangers  Mazarin  took 
energetic  measures.  Guienne  was  pacified  by  concessions  which 
undid  the  centralising  policy  of  Richelieu.  Thence,  at  the  head  of 
an  army,  the  cardinal  marched  to  Champagne,  which  had  been 
invaded  by  Turenne  and  the  Spaniards.  The  former  was  completely 
defeated  at  Rethel,  and  his  army  dispersed. 

But  Mazarin's  triumph  over  the  party  of  the  nobles  only  aroused 
fresh  enemies  against  him.  The  old  Fronde  had  sacrificed  Conde 
merely  because  he  treated  their  claims  with  contempt.  They  had 
never  ceased  to  hate  Mazarin,  and  they  were  not  prepared  to 
acquiesce  in  a  new  period  of  ministerial  absolutism.  Once  more  an 
alliance  was  arranged  between  the  nobles  and  the  party  of  the 
parliament.  The  two  Frondes  combined  to  attack  Mazarin,  and  to 
demand  Conde's  release.  The  duke  of  Orleans,  hitherto  under  the 
influence  of  Anne  of  Austria,  was  gained  over  by  de  Retz,  and 


AJX  1649-1651.        WARS  OF  THE  FRONDE.  167 

refused  to  sit  in  the  royal  council  as  long  as  the  cardinal  was 
admitted  to  it.  The  regent  was  anxious  to  resist  to  the  uttermost. 
She  regarded  Charles  I.'s  sacrifice  of  Strafford  as  the  source  of  his 
misfortunes,  and  was  determined  to  avoid  a  similar  error.  But 
Mazarin  decided  to  yield.  He  went  in  person  to  release  the  princes 
in  the  vain  hope  of  earning  their  gratitude,  and  then  retired  to 
Briihl  in  the  electorate  of  Cologne,  whence  he  continued  to  corres- 
pond with  the  queen  and  to  direct  her  actions. 

Conde*  returned  in  triumph  to  Paris  (February,  1651),  and  soon 
showed  that  he  had  learnt  no  wisdom  from  adversity.  He  refused 
to  acknowledge  the  services  rendered  by  the  old  Fronde,  and 
treated  the  magistrates  with  his  former  haughtiness.  The  duke  of 
Orleans  he  regarded  as  a  possible  rival  in  power,  and  he  hated 
de  Retz  for  the  part  he  had  played  at  the  time  of  his  imprison- 
ment. All  his  efforts  were  directed  towards  the  aggrandisement  of 
the  nobles,  and  especially  of  his  own  family.  Ho  demanded  for 
himself  the  government  of  Languedoc  and  Guienne,  for  his  brother 
that  of  Provence.  He  treated  with  Spain  as  an  independent  power. 
He  compelled  the  regent  to  dismiss  the  ministers  who  had  been 
appointed  under  Maztrin.  But  Conde's  violence,  and  his  con- 
temptuous disregard  of  all  allies,  were  again  fatal  to  his  supremacy. 
Anne  of  Austria,  acting  always  under  Mazarin's  advice,  succeeded 
once  more  in  gaining  over  de  Hetz  and  the  party  of  the  old  Fronde. 
Conde*  soon  found  himself  powerless  in  the  capital,  and  retired  to  the 
south,  determined  to  restore  his  power  by  force  of  arms.  Anne  of 
Austria,  in  order  to  weaken  the  influence  of  Orleans  and  Condd,  had 
the  young  king  Louis  XIV.  formally  declared  of  a^e.  Opposition 
to  the  government  became  now  rebellion  auainst  the  king's  person. 
The  parliament  was  induced  to  declare  Conde'  and  his  followers 
guilty  of  treason. 

France  was  again  involved  in  civil  war.  Cond6  was  joined  by 
the  nobles  of  southern  France  and  speedily  raised  a  considerable 
force.  The  Spaniards,  ever  eager  to  profit  by  French  dissensions, 
agreed  to  assist  him  by  an  invasion  ol  Champagne.  Turenne 
was  expected  to  support  them.  The  court  on  its  side  prepared  two 
armies,  one  under  d'Harcourt  to  prevent  Conde's  advance  from 
Guienne,  the  other  to  oppose  the  Spaniards.  The  king  with  his 
mother  left  Paris  for  Poitiers.  There  Anne  of  Austria  felt  herself 
strong  enough  to  recall  Mazarin  from  his  retirement.  Louis  XIV. 
went  out  in  person  to  greet  the  cardinal,  who  brought  a  third  army 
at  his  own  expense,  and  who  at  once  resumed  his  position  as  chief 
minister.  One  important  success  Mazarin  had  already  gained.  He 
had  induced  Turenne  to  desert  Conde\  and  to  come  over  to  the 
king's  side.      The  two  greatest  generals  of  France  were  now  to  be 


168  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xi. 

opposed  to  each  other.  Conde  saw  at  once  that  the  struggle  was 
not  to  be  decided  in  the  south.  Leaving  his  brother  Conti  to 
oppose  d'Harcourt,  he  made  his  way  with  a  handful  of  men  through 
central  France,  and  after  a  number  of  hairbreadth  escapes  he 
reached  the  northern  army  under  the  dukes  of  Nemours  and 
Beaufort.  At  once  assuming  the  command,  he  defeated  a  portion  of 
the  royalist  army  under  d'Hocquincourt,  and  it  was  only  the 
superior  strategy  of  Turenne  that  saved  the  court  from  the  danger 
of  capture.  Conde  now  determined  to  secure  his  position  by  gaining 
over  the  capital.  He  marched  towards  Paris  and  Turenne  followed 
him. 

In  Paris  Mazarin's  return  had  produced  a  profound  impression. 
All  the  enmity  of  the  old  Fronde  revived  against  the  hated  minister. 
The  parliament  considered  his  recall  a  direct  attack  on  its  own 
authority.  Not  only  were  new  edicts  of  banishment  issued  against 
the  cardinal,  but  a  price  was  put  upon  his  head  as  a  public  enemy. 
The  alliance  so  recently  concluded  with  the  court  was  thus  broken 
off.  But  there  was  as  yet  no  general  desire  to  go  over  to  Conde. 
De  Retz  and  the  other  leaders  wished  to  form  a  third  party,  with 
the  duke  of  Orleans  as  its  nominal  head,  and  to  utilise  for  their  own 
advantage  the  contest  between  Conde  and  the  court.  When,  there- 
fore, the  prince,  hurry iog  on  in  advance  of  his  army,  entered  Paris, 
he  found  no  geneial  inclination  to  receive  him.  He  was  compelled 
to  rejoin  his  troops  in  order  to  check  the  advance  of  Turenne,  who 
had  brought  the  court  back  to  tSt.  Germain.  After  a  number  of 
skirmishes,  in  which  the  royalists  had  the  better,  Turenne  forced  a 
general  engagement  on  his  opponent  near  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine. 
Conde  was  out-numbered  and  out-manceuvred.  The  gates  of  the 
city  were  closed  against  him,  and  his  army  must  have  been  cut  to 
pieces  but  for  the  energy  of  Mademoiselle,  daughter  of  Gaston  of 
Orleans.  Parading  the  streets,  she  roused  the  mob,  and  compelled 
the  council  to  order  the  opening  of  the  gate  of  St.  Antoine.  While 
Conde's  defeated  troops  poured  into  the  city,  she  entered  the 
Bastille  and  compelled  the  gunners  to  fire  on  the  royalist  troops. 
Turenne  was  forced  to  retire,  and  Conde  was  master  of  Paris.  A 
large  number  of  magistrates  and  the  bourgeois  class  were  still  hostile 
to  him.  But  he  had  gained  over  the  mob,  which  attacked  and 
pillaged  the  Hotel  de  Yille.  Conde  took  no  steps  to  restrain  a 
lawlessness  which  served  his  own  ends.  The  parliament,  which 
had  refused  to  espouse  his  cause,  was  now  compelled  by  terror  to 
join  him.  A  revolutionary  government  was  set  on  foot.  Gaston 
of  Orleans  was  named  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom,  Conde 
commander-in-chief,  Beaufort,  "  the  king  of  the  markets,"  governor 
of  Paris,  and  Broussel,  the  hero  of  the  barricades,  provost  of  the 


a.d.  1652-1653.        TRIUMPH  OF  MAZARIN.  169 

merchants.  But  it  was  obvious  that  such  a  government,  founded 
on  violence,  could  not  last  long.  All  business  was  at  an  end,  and 
the  peaceful  burghers  saw  themselves  ruined  unless  order  could  be 
restored.  This  could  only  be  done  by  the  return  of  the  king  and 
court,  to  which  all  inclinations  gradually  tended.  The  great  obstacle 
to  peace  was  the  old  enmity  against  Mazarin,  and  this  was  removed 
by  the  action  of  the  minister  himself.  Again  of  his  own  accord  he 
determined  to  leave  the  court.  But  this  time  he  had  no  fear  of  an 
overpowering  combination  of  his  enemies.  His  departure  was  only 
to  assure  his  ultimate  success;  it  would  detach  the  citizens 
from  their  alliance  with  the  nobles,  and  bring  about  a  speedy 
peace. 

Mazarin's  anticipations  were  fully  veriBed.  Conde"s  government 
found  it  impossible  to  maintain  itself  against  the  general  desire  for 
peace.  The  Spanish  troops  withdrew  to  defend  the  Nethei lands, 
and  the  duke  of  Lorraine  was  bribed  by  Mazarin.  Conde,  timing 
himself  no  longer  master  of  the  situation,  quitted  Paris,  October  14, 
1652,  and  sought  a  refuge  with  his  Spanish  allies.  Within  a  week 
the  court  returned  to  the  capital,  and  the  royal  power  was  com- 
pletely re-established.  Conde"  was  sentenced  to  death,  Beaufort 
and  a  number  of  other  nobles  to  exile.  Gaston  of  Orleans  was 
ordered  tort-side  at  Bloin,  where  he  died  in  1660;  his  daughter, 
the  spirited  Mademoist  lie,  who  had  at  one  time  looked  forward  to 
a  marriage  with  the  kinj:,  was  banished  to  her  domains.  De  Rctz 
was  imprisoned.  In  February,  1653,  Mazarin  returned,  to  be 
received  with  triumph  by  the  king  and  courtiers,  and  with  com- 
placency by  the  fickle  citizens.  The  Fronde  was  at  an  end.  The 
last  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  centralised  despotism  was  swept  away. 
The  nobles  had  made  their  final  effort  to  regain  political  importance 
and  had  failed.  The  citizens  and  magistrates  had  shown  themselves 
too  weak  to  control  the  monarchy.  One  prominent  result  the  war 
had;  it  made  a  profound  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  young  king, 
and  rendered  him  resolutely  hostile  throughout  his  life  to  all  ideas 
of  constitutional  government. 

§  12.  The  conclusion  of  domestic  disturbances  left  the  French 
monarchy  at  liberty  to  continue  the  war  with  Spain.  During  the  last 
four  years  the  Spaniards  had  regained  many  of  the  advantages  they 
had  lost  They  had  retaken  Barcelona  and  Casale,  and  several  strong 
places  in  Flanders,  including  Gravelines,  Ypres,  and  Dunkirk. 
They  were  now  reinforced  by  the  presence  of  the  great  Conde,  who 
received  the  chief  military  command  in  the  Netherlands.  But 
neither  power  was  in  a  condition  to  carry -on  the  war  with  vigour. 
France  was  exhausted  by  civil  war  and  financial  maladministration, 
while  the  internal  condition  of  Spain  was  still  worse.  The  only 
o* 


170  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xl 

military  operations  of  any  importance  were  carried  on  on  the 
frontier  between  France  and  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and  they 
derive  their  chief  interest  from  the  fame  of  the  rival  commanders, 
Conde  and  Turenne.  In  1653  Conde,  anxious  to  utilise  what 
relics  of  power  and  influence  still  remained  to  him,  invaded  France 
and  advanced  far  enough  to  threaten  the  capital.  The  royal  army 
was  very  small  and  incapable  of  meeting  the  enemy  in  the  field. 
But  Turenne's  tactics  of  harassing  the  invaders  without  risking  a 
battle,  were  admirably  suited  to  a  small  force  and  were  completely 
successful.  Conde  had  to  retreat.  In  1654,  Louis  XIV.  tasted  his 
first  experience  of  war  at  the  siege  of  Stenay,  the  fall  of  which  was 
ensured  by  Turenne's  masterly  tactics.  Slowly  but  surely  the 
French  were  gaining  ground.  The  two  generals  were  fairly 
matched,  but  the  old  Spanish  tactics  were  now  out  of  date,  and  the 
once  invincible  infantry  was  almost  useless  in  the  face  of  the 
quick  movements  of  light-armed  troops  which  had  been  introduced 
by  Gustavus  Adolphus.  It  was  only  the  genius  and  resolution  of 
Conde  that  preserved  the  Spaniards  from  complete  and  crushing 
defeat.  In  1656  they  even  gained  a  considerable  success,  and 
routed  a  detachment  of  the  French  army  under  the  walls  of 
Valenciennes.  But  this  was  completely  overbalanced  by  the  con- 
clusion of  an  alliance  between  France  and  England.  Both  the 
contending  powers  had  earnestly  sued  for  the  support  of  Cromwell. 
The  negotiations  with  Spain  came  to  nothing  owing  to  the  religious 
bigotry  that  still  prevailed  at  the  court  of  Philip  IV.  At  last 
Mazarin  gained  over  the  Protector  by  promising  to  banish  Charles 
I.'s  family  from  French  soil,  and  to  cede  Dunkirk  to  England. 
Reinforced  by  6000  Ironsides,  probably  the  best  soldiers  in  Europe 
at  the  time,  Turenne  was  irresistible.  After  the  fall  of  several 
smaller  places,  Dunkirk  was  besieged.  The  Spaniards  under  Conde 
and  Don  John  of  Austria,  a  natural  son  of  Philip  IV.,  hastened  to 
its  relief,  but  were  completely  routed.  Dunkirk  surrendered,  and 
was  handed  over  to  the  English  in  spite  of  the  indignant  complaints 
of  the  Catholic  world.  One  after  another  the  fortresses  of  Flanders 
were  taken,  and  even  Brussels  was  felt  to  be  in  imminent 
danger. 

Spain,  thus  hardly  pressed,  was  anxious  to  obtain  peace.  Events 
elsewhere  tended  in  favour  of  France.  In  1657  the  emperor 
Ferdinand  III.  died,  and  a  new  election  took  place.  Mazarin 
despatched  an  envoy  to  Germany  to  canvas  the  electors  in  favour 
of  Louis  XIV.  This  ambitious  project  came  to  nothing,  and  another 
Hapsburg,  Leopold  L,  ascended  the  imperial  throne.  But  the  French 
embassy  was  not  without  important  results.  The  electors  forced 
the  new  emperor  to  confirm  the  article  in  the  peace  of  Westphalia 


a.d.  1653-1659.      TREATY  OF  THE  PYRENEES.  171 

by  which  Austria  was  bound  to  send  no  assistance  to  Spain  and  to 
engage  in  no  war  against  France.  A  t  the  same  time  the  League  of 
the  Rhine  was  formed  by  the  chief  German  princes,  both  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  treaty  of  1648.  Thus 
France  re-asserted  its  position  in  Germany,  and  isolated  Spain 
completely  from  the  Austrian  Hapsburgs.  Another  great  advan- 
tage for  Mazarin  was  the  death  of  Cromwell.  He  had  reaped  the 
full  benefit  of  the  English  alliance,  and  the  Protector's  death  enabled 
him  to  negotiate  without  any  inconvenient  regard  for  the  interests 
of  England. 

The  negotiations  between  France  and  Spain  were  undertaken  by 
the  chief  ministers  of  the  two  countries.  Mazarin  and  Don  Luis 
de  Haro  met  on  a  small  island  in  the  Bidassoa,  the  frontier-line. 
There  in  1659  they  arranged  the  important  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees. 
It  was  evident  that  recent  military  successes  had  enabled  France 
almost  to  dictate  the  terms.  On  the  northern  frontier  Spain  ceded 
Artois  and  a  number  of  fortresses  in  Flanders,  Hainanlt  and 
Luxemburg.  Lorraine  was  to  be  restored  to  Charles  III.,  who  had 
been  expelled  from  his  duchy  on  account  of  his  alliance  with 
Spain.  But  the  fortifications  of  Nancy  were  to  be  rased,  the  duke 
was  to  make  no  war  against  France,  and  was  to  allow  a  free  passage 
to  French  troops  through  his  territories.  Spain  resigned  all  pre- 
tensions to  Alsace,  and  confirmed  the  cession  of  that  province 
which  had  been  made  in  the  peace  of  Westphalia.  In  the  south 
France  retained  possession  of  Roussillon  and  Cerdagne,  and  thus  the 
Pyrenees  were  fixed  by  law  as  well  as  by  nature,  as  the  boundary 
between  the  two  couutries.  In  return  for  all  these  gains  France 
made  comparatively  slight  concessions.  It  renounced  all  preten- 
sions to  sovereignty  in  Italy,  as  it  had  done  in  all  the  great  treaties 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  promised  to  give  no  further  support 
to  the  house  of  Braganza,  under  whose  leadership  Portugal  had 
reclaimed  its  indej>endence  iu  1640.  And  lastly,  Conde*  was  restored, 
not  only  to  his  private  property,  but  also  to  his  oflicial  dignities 
and  to  the  governorship  of  Burgundy. 

The  basis  of  all  these  provisions  was  the  conclusion  of  a  marriage 
between  Louis  XIV.  and  the  infanta  Maria  Theresa.  This  was  a 
favourite  design  of  Mazarin,  but  he  was  on  the  verge  of  being 
thwarted  by  the  personal  wishes  of  the  king.  Louis  had  conceived 
a  passionate  attachment  for  Maria  Mancini,  one  of  the  cardinal's 
nieces,  and  refused  to  hear  of  any  other  marriage.  It  required  all 
the  cardinal's  influence  to  overcome  an  inclination  which  was  at 
once  so  flattering  and  so  dangerous  to  his  own  family.  At  last  he 
succeeded,  and  the  treaty  was  finally  signed  (7  November,  1659) 
The  next  year  Louis  was  married  to  Maria  Theresa,  who  renounced 


172  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xi. 

all  claims  to  the  Spanish  succession  on  condition  of  receiving  a 
dowry  of  500,000  crowns.  This  reDunciation  was  insisted  upon  by 
the  Spanish  court,  though  no  one  seems  to  have  regarded  it  as 
important  or  even  valid.  On  the  extinction  of  the  male  line  ot 
Philip  IV.,  the  infanta's  claims  could  hardly  be  disregarded, 
especially  as  the  dowry,  on  which  the  renunciation  was  conditional, 
was  never  paid.  This  question  was  destined  to  give  rise  to 
important  complications  in  the  future. 

§  13.  Mazarin  returned  from  his  diplomatic  triumph  on  the 
Bidassoa  broken  in  health  but  more  powerful  than  ever.  Louis  XIV. 
regarded  him  rather  as  a  master  than  as  a  minister ;  he  refused  to 
listen  to  those  who  suggested  that  he  was  too  powerful ;  and  was 
content  to  learn  the  principles  of  government  from  him.  One  ot 
Mazarin's  most  notable  precepts  was  that  the  king  should  have  no 
chief  minister.  He  and  Richelieu  had  been  the  greatest  of  ministers, 
the  real  rulers  of  France.  But  henceforth  the  king  himself  begins 
to  govern,  his  officials  are  really  servants,  heads  of  departments, 
who  have  to  apply  to  the  king  for  instructions.  Mazarin's  last 
days  were  mainly  occupied  in  establishing  the  position  of  his  family. 
His  seven  nieces  all  made  distinguished  marriages,  and  thus  the 
nobles  were  bound  more  closely  to  the  cardinal's  cause.  On  9th 
March,  1661,  Mazarin  died.  He  left  behind  him  an  enormous 
fortune,  collected  by  means  that  do  little  honour  to  his  honesty  or 
his  patriotism.  Part  of  this  wealth  he  left  to  found  the  "  College 
des  quatre  nations,"  to  which  he  also  bequeathed  his  magnificent 
library.  This  college  was  intended  to  educate  natives  of  those 
provinces  which  had  been  added  to  France  by  himself  or  by  Riche- 
lieu— Roussillon,  Alsace,  Artois  and  Pinerolo.  Thus  the  work  ot 
union  would  be  completed.  The  younger  generation  would  be 
brought  up  in  Paris,  and  would  return  to  spread  French  culture 
and  French  interests  in  their  native  land.  It  was  a  bequest 
worthy  of  the  statesman  whose  diplomacy  had  been  so  successful 
in  extending  the  frontier  of  France. 


CHAPTER  Xn. 
THE  LESSER  STATES  OF  EUROPE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 

I.  Spain  and  Italy.— §  1.  Decline  of  Spain  in  the  17th  century.  §  2. 
Philip  III.  and  Lerma;  expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes.  §  3.  Dismissal  of 
Lerma ;  Spain  involred  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  §  4.  Philip  IV. 
and  Olivarez;  foreign  policy  :  revolt  of  Catalonia  and  Portugal;  fall 
of  Olivarez.  §  5.  Rising  in  Palermo;  Masaniello's  revolt  in  Naples; 
the  duke  of  Guise  in  Naples;  the  revolt  suppressed  ;  termination  of 
the  French  war;  recognition  of  Portuguese  independence.  §  6. 
Disastrous  reign  cf  Charles  II.  §7.  The  independent  states  of  Italy  ; 
Venice  and  the  Turks.     §  8.   The  Papacy  :  the  Molinist  controversy ; 


Paul   V.'s  quarrel    with  I'rhan  V1I1.;  decline  of  the  papal 

power.     §  9.  Savoy;  steady  growth  of  Savoy  in  the  direction  of  Italy. 
II.  Tin:  Kingdoms  ok  tiik  North. — §  10.  Importance  of  northern 


history  at  this  period;  Sweden  under  the  sons  of  Gustavus  Vasa. 
§  11.  Denmark  in  the  l<:th  century.  §  12.  Poland  under  Sigismund 
Augustus  ;  end  of  the  male  line  of  Jagellon;  new  Polish  constitution  ; 
of  Anjou;  Stephen  Bathori ;  Sigismund  III.  §  13.  Origin  of 
the  Russian  monarchy ;  secularisation  of  the  Order  of  the  Sword  in 
Livonia;  great  northern  war.  §  14.  General  relations  of  the  northern 
states;  their  importance  in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  reaction; 
Charles  IX.'s  reign  in  Sweden.  §  15.  Extinction  of  the  House  of 
Ruric  in  Russia ;  anarchy  during  the  interregnum ;  the  first  and 
second  False  Demetrius;  rivalry  of  Swedes  and  Poles  in  Russia; 
accession  of  the  House  of  Romanof.  §  16.  Gustavus  Adolphus;  his 
domestic  government;  war  with  Poland.  §  17.  Christina  of  Sweden; 
war  with  Denmark;  abdication  of  Christina.  §  18.  Charles  X.  of 
Sweden ;  consistent  policy  of  Brandenburg  during  northern  complica- 
tions; Charles  X.  makes  war  on  Poland;  the  Great  Elector  secures 
the  independence  of  Prussia.  §  19.  War  between  Sweden  and  Den- 
mark;  treaty  of  Roeskilde;  lenewal  of  war;  Charles  X.'s  death; 
treaties  of  Oliva,  Copenhagen,  and  Kardis.  §  20.  Royal  supremacy 
established  in  Denmark.  §  21.  Charles  XI.  of  Sweden;  alliance  with 
France;  war  with  Brandenburg  and  Denmark;  peace  of  1679; 
absolute  monarchy  in  Sweden.  §  22.  Poland  after  the  peace  of  Oliva  ; 
reign  of  John  Sobieski;  accession  of  Augustus  the  Strong;  beginning 
of  Peter  the  Great's  reign  in  Russia.  III.  The  Ottoman  Turks. — 
§  23.    Solyman   the    Magnificent;    extent   of  the   Turkish    Empire. 

L24.  Decline  of  the  Turkish  power ;  reign  of  Selim  II. ;  battle  of 
panto;  conquest  of  Cyprus.  §  25.  Weakness  of  Selim's  successors; 
war  with  Venice.  §  26.  Revival  of  the  Turkish  power  under  Kiuprili ; 
•vents  in  Transylvania;    war  with  Austria;   Montecuculi  wins  the 


174  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xn. 

battle  of  St.  Gothard ;  treaty  of  Vasvar.  §  27.  End  of  the  war  of 
Candia ;  attack  upon  Poland ;  achievements  of  Sobieski.  §  28. 
Hungary  in  the  17th  century ;  causes  of  discontent ;  conspiracy  against 
Austria  ;  its  suppression.  §  29.  Reign  of  terror  in  Hungary  ;  revolt 
of  Tokoli;  concessions  offered  by  Austria.  §  30.  Tokoli  allies  himself 
with  the  Turks ;  siege  of  Vienna ;  its  importance ;  condition  of 
Europe  at  the  time;  relief  of  the  city  by  John  Sobieski.  §  31.  Alli- 
ance of  Austria  with  Venice ;  Austrian  successes  against  the  Turks ; 
suppression  of  the  revolt  in  Hungary  ;  conquest  of  Transylvania. 
§  32.  Temporary  revival  of  the  Turkish  power ;  victories  of  Lewis  of 
Baden  and  of  Eugene;  treaty  of  Carlowitz  ;  death  of  Tokoli. 

I.  Spain  and  Italy. 

§  1.  Philip  II.  left  a  sadly  exhausted  but  still  enormous  empire  to 
his  son,  Philip  III.  (1598-1621).  In  the  first  place,  there  was  the 
whole  united  peninsula,  with  the  addition  of  Roussillon  and  Cerdagne 
north  of  the  Pyrenees'.  Naples,  Sicily,  Sardinia  and  Milan  were 
provinces  of  Spain,  and  Spanish  influence  was  almost  supreme  in 
Italy.  Further  north,  came  Franche- Comtek  and  then  the  Nether- 
lands. Seven  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  were  in  open  rebellion, 
but  their  practical  separation  had  not  been  recognised.  Beyond 
the  seas,  lay  the  immense  colonies  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  with  their 
fabled  treasures  of  gold  and  silver.  The  great  Hapsburg  monarchy 
had  as  yet  escaped  dismemberment.  But  during  the  next  three 
reigns,  which  occupy  the  whole  17th  century,  all  this  was  changed. 
Spain  suddenly  fell  from  its  greatness  to  be  scarcely  a  second- 
rate  power.  Internal  exhaustion  reacted  on  the  external  power ; 
from  every  war  in  which  it  engaged  Spain  emerged  the  loser,  and 
gradually  the  magnificent  empire  was  torn  to  pieces.  France  seized 
upon  Roussillon  and  Cerdagne,  Franche-Comte,  and  great  part  of  the 
Southern  Netherlands.  Richelieu  established  French  influence  in 
Italy  as  a  counterpoise  to  that  of  Spain.  Holland  enforced  a  tardy 
recognition  of  its  hard-won  independence.  Portugal  became  once 
more  a  separate  kingdom,  and  Catalonia  was  reduced  only  to  very 
doubtful  submission  The  Knglish  and  Dutch  aggrandised  themselves 
at  the  expense  of  Spanish  colonies  and  commerce.  This  decline  was 
due,  partly  to  causes  that  were  in  working  under  Charles  V.  and 
Philip  II.,  partly  to  the  feeble  character  and  government  of  the 
succeeding  kings. 

§  2.  Philip  III.,  educated  wholly  by  women  and  priests,  had  none  of 
his  father's  ability  or  taste  for  business.  From  the  first  he  entrusted 
the  cares  of  state  to  his  favourite,  the  duke  of  Lerma,  and  contented 
himself  with  the  performance  of  religious  duties  and  the  ceremonies 
of  a  stately  court.  Spanish  etiquette  was  a  model  for  the  rest  of 
Europe.  The  churchmen  reaped  a  rich  harvest  from  the  devotion 
of  king  and  minister.     Lavish  grants  of  money  and  land  increased 


a.d.   1598-1618.      SPAIN  UNDER  PHILIP  HI.  175 

the  already  enormous  wealth  of  the  clergy.  New  monasteries  and 
religious  foundations  were  established  and  endowed.  Almost  every 
other  country  had  found  itself  compelled  to  institute  some  kind  of 
mortmain  law :  in  Spain  alone  was  ecclesiastical  property  allowed  to 
increase  far  out  of  proportion  to  the  riches  of  the  country.  At  the 
same  time  this  property  was  more  free  than  elsewhere  from  the 
burden  of  public  contributions.  The  king's  religious  zeal  displayed 
itself  even  more  disastrously  in  his  persecution  of  the  Moriscoes. 
Ever  since  the  fall  of  Granada  the  conquered  Moors  had  lived  under 
cruel  oppression.  But  like  the  Jews  in  a  similar  case,  they  had 
thriven  in  spite  of  it.  They  were  the  most  industrious  and  the  most 
skilful  of  the  population.  The  Spaniards,  partly  from  idleness  and 
partly  from  pride,  disliked  trade  and  manufactures,  and  gladly  left 
them  in  the  hands  of  their  more  industrious  inferiors.  Thus  the 
Moriscoes  had  obtained  considerable  wealth,  and  contributed  largely 
to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  nation.  But  their  religion,  even  when 
carefully  concealed,  was  a  terrible  stumbling-block  to  kings  who 
preferred  to  have  no  subjects  at  all  rather  than  rule  over  heretics. 
Philip  II.  had  issued  a  series  of  heartless  edicts  against  them.  They 
were  forbidden  to  speak  or  write  in  Arabic,  to  sing  a  national  air  or 
to  play  on  a  Moorish  instrument  They  were  compelled  to  attend 
mass,  and  to  have  their  children  baptised.  Still  they  clung 
obstinately  to  the  rites  and  customs  which  they  could  only  practise 
in  secret.  Philip  III.  determined  by  a  signal  act  to  prove  his  zeal 
for  orthodoxy  and  the  cause  of  the  church.  In  1G09  an  edict 
appeared  which  ordered  the  forcible  expulsion  of  all  Moriscoes  from 
Spain,  and  their  transference  to  the  shores  of  Africa.  This  edict  was 
carried  out  with  the  utmost  barbarity,  and  within  two  years,  more 
than  half  a  million  people  were  driven  from  the  country  of  their 
birth  into  exile  and  poverty.  It  was  a  blow  to  the  industrial 
resources  of  Spain  from  which  that  country  never  recovered. 

§  3.  It  was  perhaps  fortunate  that  Lerma  pursued  that  policy  of 
peace  which  the  Prince  of  Kboli  had  vainly  urged  against  Alva  under 
Philip  II.  The  old  aggressive  attitude  was  given  up.  Peace  was 
concluded  with  James  I.  of  England,  and  in  1609  a  truce  with  the 
Dutch  ended  the  long  and  costly  war  of  independence.  The  death  of 
Henry  IV.  and  the  regency  of  Mary  de  Medici  gave  an  opportunity  for 
renewing  and  strengthening  the  alliance  with  France.  Louis  XIII. 
married  the  Spanish  infanta,  while  a  French  princess  was  given 
to  Philip  III.'s  son  and  heir.  But  this  |*>licy  of  peace  alienated  the 
Austrian  branch  of  the  Hapsburgs,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  rely 
on  Spanish  hostility  to  Franco  and  devotion  to  the  Catholic  cause. 
It  was  at  this  moment  that  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  about  to 
break  out.    The  Jesuits  at  the  court  of  Vienna  were  occupied  with 


176  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xn. 

magnificent  schemes  for  the  restoration  of  Catholicism.  For  their 
execution  the  support  of  Spain  was  absolutely  necessary,  aud  the 
minister  who  opposed  it  must  be  got  rid  of.  In  1618  the  clerical 
party  induced  Philip  to  sacrifice  Lerma,  who  carried  the  immense 
wealth  which  he  had  collected  into  retirement.  His  place  was  taken 
by  his  own  son,  the  duke  of  Uzeda,  who  had  turned  against  his 
father,  and  who  governed  Spain  during  the  remainder  of  the  reign. 
Spanish  forces  under  Spinola  co-operated  with  the  Austrians  on  the 
Rhine  and  wasted  the  Palatinate.  But  Philip  III.  died  in  1621,  before 
he  could  witness  the  temporary  success  of  the  cause  to  which  he  had 
attached  himself.  His  government  had  brought  no  happiness  either 
to  his  subjects  or  to  himself.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact,  and  not  easy 
of  explanation,  that  this  period  of  political  decline  was  the  golden 
age  of  Spanish  literature.  Three  writers  have  obtained  European 
fame :  Cervantes,  who  produced  the  immortal  Don  Quixote  between 
1605  and  1613,  and  two  of  the  most  fertile  and  distinguished  of 
romantic  dramatists,  Lope  de  Vega  and  Calderon.  In  the  domain 
of  art  Spain  produced  two  of  the  greatest  masters  of  the  17th  century, 
Velasquez  and  Murillo. 

§  4.  Under  Philip  III.  Spain  had  escaped  any  very  great  humilia- 
tion, except  the  recognition  of  the  United  Provinces,  which  was  in- 
evitable. Philip  IV.'s  reign  (1621-1665),  on  the  other  hand,  was  one 
long  series  of  misfortunes  and  losses.  This  difference  was  due,  not 
so  much  to  the  inferiority  of  the  younger  king's  character,  though 
this  existed,  as  to  the  fact  that  the  weak  and  vacillating  regency 
of  Mary  de  Medici  gave  way,  in  1624,  to  the  vigorous  government 
of  Richelieu.  Philip  IV.  was  only  seventeen  years  old  at  his 
accession,  and  like  his  predecessor,  he  refused  to  be  burdened  with 
the  control  of  the  government.  This  was  entrusted  to  another 
favourite,  Olivarez,  a  man  of  considerable  ability  and  energy,  but 
no  match  for  his  great  contemporary  in  France.  In  foreign  politics, 
Olivarez  set  himself  to  support  the  religious  and  dynastic  schemes 
of  the  Austrian  Hapsburgs,  while  at  home  he  aimed  at  the  further 
aggrandisement  of  the  monarchy.  He  began  by  an  attempt  to 
introduce  some  reform  into  the  finances,  but  his  object  was  rather 
to  increase  the  revenue  than  to  remove  or  redress  grievances,  and 
no  lasting  good  was  effected.  The  alliance  with  Austria  provoked 
the  hostility  of  Richelieu,  who  expelled  the  Spaniards  from  the 
Valtelline  and  thwarted  them  in  the  Mantuan  succession.  At  last, 
in  1635,  open  war  commenced  between  France  and  Spain,  which 
from  the  first  went  in  favour  of  the  former  power.  Meanwhile 
Olivarez'  despotic  government  provoked  domestic  rebellion,  of  which 
his  opponent  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage.  It  was  only  in 
Castile  that  absolute  despotism  had  been  established  by  preceding 


a.d.  1618-1648.      SPAIN  UNDER  PHILIP  IV.  177 

kings.  The  northern  and  eastern  provinces,  especially  Catalonia, 
still  retained  many  of  their  ancient  liberties.  Olivarez,  anxious  to 
emulate  the  successes  of  Richelieu,  determined  to  destroy  these  liber- 
ties, and  to  crush  every  element  of  opposition  to  the  crown.  But 
this  attempt  drove  the  Catalans,  in  1640,  into  open  revolt,  and  they 
found  ready  support  from  France.  For  the  next  sixteen  years 
Catalonia  was  a  French  rather  than  a  Spanish  province.  And  the 
rebellion  had  further  results,  in  encouraging  disaffection  in  Portugal. 
The  Portuguese  had  never  forgotten  their  former  independence,  and 
endured  the  Spanish  yoke  with  ill-concealed  repugnance.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1640,  a  revolution  was  successfully  accomplished,  and  John, 
duke  of  Braganza,  in  whose  veins  ran  the  blood  of  the  old  dynasty, 
was  raised  to  the  throne  as  John  IV.  Here,  again,  Richelieu  saw 
his  advantage  in  fostering  internal  disunion,  and  mainly  through 
French  assistance,  the  independence  of  Portugal  was  assured  after 
a  struggle  of  twenty-eight  years.  These  disasters  were  fatal  to  the 
influence  of  Olivare/.,  who  in  1*>43  was  overthrown  by  a  court 
int  ri^ue.  His  place  was  taken  by  Don  Luis  de  Haro,  who  succeeded 
to  all  the  difficulties  caused  by  his  predecessor,  and  was  possessed 
of  still  less  ability  to  confront  them. 

§  f>.  While  disaffection  was  thus  rife  within  the  limits  of  the 
]x  niiisuhi,  it  was  impossible  to  retain  the  obedience  of  the  Italian 
provinces,  which  the  king  nev.  .  and  which  were  regarded 

iiurclv  as  a  source  of  revenue.  The  6ret  duty  of  each  viceroy  was  to 
supply  the  necessities  of  the  court  at  Madrid,  and  these* necessities 
were  at  their  height  in  this  period  of  foreign  war  and  domestic 
revolt.  And  not  only  were  the  taxes  heavy,  but  their  incidence 
was  unjust  and  oppressive.  The  nobles,  clergy  and  official  classes 
claimed  exemption  from  the  public  burdens,  which  fell  with  all  the 
greater  weight  on  the  middle  and  lower  classes.  These  grievances 
led  to  a  rising  in  1647  in  Palermo,  the  seat  of  government  in 
Sicily.  The  viceroy  endeavoured  in  vain  to  put  down  the 
movement  by  concessions,  and  he  was  forced  to  fly  from  the  city. 
But  the  noble  and  wealthy  classes  felt  their  interests  threatened  by 
the  excited  populace;  with  their  assistance,  the  government  put 
down  the  rising,  and  restored  order  in  Sicily.  Meanwhile  these 
events  had  exercised  an  important  influence  in  Naples.  In  that 
province,  the  duke  of  Arcos,  the  Spanish  governor,  had  imposed 
heavy  duties  on  all  the  necessaries  of  life.  A  tax  on  fruit,  so 
important  in  that  southern  climate,  at  last  provoked  a  rising  among 
the  excitable  lower  classes.  They  found  a  leader  of  energy  and 
ability  in  a  fisherman  of  Amalfi,  Tommaso  Aniello,  or,  as  the 
people  loved  to  call  him,  Masaniello.  The  duke  of  Arcos,  who 
resolved  to  make  no  concessions,  had  not  sufficient  military  force 


178  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xn. 

to  support  his  resolution,  and  had  to  withdraw  the  obnoxious  taxes. 
He  then  shut  himself  up  in  the  Castello  Nuovo,  and  the  city  was 
left  to  anarchy.  Masaniello  now  became  supreme.  He  received 
the  title  of  "  Captain-General  of  the  people,"  and  exercised  his  power 
with  a  wisdom  and  moderation  that  could  hardly  have  been 
expected.  But  this  alienated  his  more  extreme  followers,  and 
when  he  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  viceroy,  he  lost  all  hold 
upon  the  people.  Arcos  thought  this  a  good  opportunity  to  get  rid 
of  the  demagogue,  and  Masaniello  was  shot  by  bravos  in  the  pay  of 
Spain.  But  the  rebellion  survived  his  death.  The  people  soon 
recognised  their  error,  and  buried  their  leader  with  great  pomp.  As 
his  successor  they  chose  a  Spanish  noble,  the  Prince  of  Massa,  and 
fresh  disturbances  commenced.  Arcos  was  besieged  in  the  castle 
and  forced  to  make  new  concessions.  At  this  conjuncture  a  Spanish 
fleet  arrived  under  the  command  of  Don  John  of  Austria,  a  natural 
son  of  Philip  IV.  An  attempt  was  made  to  suppress  the  revolt  by 
a  treacherous  stratagem.  A  general  amnesty  was  proclaimed,  with 
a  confirmation  of  all  concessions.  While  the  populace  was  thus 
satisfied  and  quiet,  the  soldiers  were  landed  to  occupy  the  city. 
But  the  treachery  was  soon  discovered,  and  the  enraged  people  drove 
the  troops  back  to  the  ships.  The  Prince  of  Massa,  who  had 
throughout  been  in  connexion  with  the  government,  was  beheaded, 
and  in  his  place  was  elected  an  armourer,  Gennaro  Annese.  From 
this  time  the  rebels  went  to  extremes,  and  determined  upon  separation 
from  Spain.  As  was  natural,  they  turned  for  assistance  to  France. 
Negotiations  were  opened  with  the  Spanish  envoy  at  Rome,  and 
these  came  to  the  ears  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  who  happened  to  be  at 
the  papal  court.  He  was  descended  from  the  Angevin  family  which 
had  so  long  and  so  unsuccessfully  claimed  the  crown  of  Naples. 
The  opportunity  of  reviving  this  claim  was  too  attractive  to  his 
adventurous  and  romantic  nature  to  be  neglected.  He  was  received 
with  the  greatest  enthusiasm  in  Naples,  where  his  presence  was 
regarded  as  an  earnest  of  French  support.  It  was  determined  to 
exchange  the  suzerainty  of  Spain  for  that  of  France.  But  Guise's 
real  object  was  to  gain  the  crown  for  himself,  and  this  was  not 
likely  to  be  approved  by  the  French  court.  Mazarin  was  very 
eager  to  sever  Naples  from  Spain,  but  not  in  the  interests  of  Guise, 
nor  in  alliance  with  the  lower  classes.  He  wished  to  gain  over  the 
nobles,  who  had  perforce  been  driven  on  to  the  Spanish  side  by  the 
popular  excesses.  Still  he  was  unwilling  to  lose  the  chance  of 
striking  a  blow  at  the  enemy,  and  a  fleet  was  sent  to  Naples. 
But  it  arrived  late,  and  as  the  commander  refused  to  recognise 
Guise,  it  returned  without  doing  anything.  And  meanwhile  Guise 
had  quarrelled  with  the   popular  leader,  Gennaro  Annese,  who 


a.d.  1648-1668.     INDEPENDENCE  OF  PORTUGAL.  179 

became  disgusted  with  the  prospect  of  French  rule,  and  opened 
negotiations  with  Spnin.  At  this  opportune  moment,  the  bated  duke 
of  Arcos  was  recalled,  and  his  authority  fell  to  Don  John  of  Austria, 
who  was  inclined  to  a  more  moderate  policy.  Annese  opened  the 
gates  during  the  absence  of  Guise,  and  the  Spanish  troops  speedily 
rendered  themselves  masters  of  the  city.  The  traitor  Annese  met 
a  well-merited  death  with  the  other  leaders  of  the  populace,  and 
the  rebellion  was  at  an  end  (April,  1048). 

The  peace  of  Westphalia  brought  no  cessation  of  hostilities 
between  Spain  and  France,  but  the  civil  disturbances  of  the  Fronde 
gave  a  temporary  advantage  to  the  former.  In  1652  Don  John  of 
Austria,  who  rivalled  the  achievements  though  not  the  fame  of  his 
great  namesake  in  the  previous  century,  succeeded  in  taking 
Barcelona,  and  in  driving  the  French  from  Catalonia.  Hut  tin*  policy 
of  Olivarez  was  givto  up,  and  the  province  was  confirmed  in  its 
rights  and  privileges.  From  this  time  the  energies  of  Spain  were 
absorbed  in  the  war  in  Flanders,  which  was  decided  by  the 
interference  of  Cromwell,  and  was  closed  by  the  treaty  of  the 
Pyrenees  (1659).  The  peace,  which  was  purchased  with  great 
territorial  conces-  i.led  Spain  to  devote  its  energies  to  the 

recovery  of  Portugal.  But  the  marriage  of  Catherine  of  Braganza 
with  Charles  II.  gave  that  country  the  support  of  England. 
Louis  XIV.,  after  tailing  to  obtain  a  recognition  of  his  eventu  il 
claims  to  the  Spanish  succession,  continued  to  send  assistance  to 
the  rebels.  In  1065  the  long  conflict  was  practically  decided  by 
the  battle  of  Villa  Viciosa,  where  the  victory  was  won  by  the 
French  contingent  under  Schomberg.  In  the  same  year  Philip  IV.'s 
disastrous  reign  closed,  and  he  left  a  sadly  diminished  empire  to  his 
only  son,  Charles  II. 

§  6.  The  new  king  was  only  in  his  fourth  year,  and  already  dis- 
played that  weakness  of  body  and  mind  which  incapacitated  him  for 
any  real  share  in  the  Government  even  after  he  grew  up.  The  regency 
was  entrusted  to  his  mother,  Maria  Anna  of  Austria,  who  was 
wholly  under  the  influence  of  her  confessor,  Father  Nithard,  whom 
she  had  brought  with  her  on  her  marriage.  The  new  government 
was  ill-fitted  to  recover  any  of  the  ground  lost  during  the  late 
reign.  In  1668  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  gave  great  part  of 
Flanders  to  France,  and  the  treaty  of  Lisbon  recognised  the 
independence  of  Portugal.  These  disasters  increased  the  natural 
hostility  of  the  grandees  to  the  rule  of  a  woman  and  a  Jesuit.  An 
opposition  party  was  formed  under  the  leadership  of  the  king's 
half-brother,  Don  John  of  Austria.  Father  Nithard  was  compelled 
to  retire  to  Rome,  whence  he  still  directed  the  actions  of  the  queen- 
mother.     At  length,  as  Charles  II.  grew  older,  Don  John  succeeded 


180  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

in  alienating  him  from  his  mother,  who  retired  to  a  convent.  But 
the  prince  who  now  obtained  the  government  showed  far  less 
ability  as  a  statesman  than  as  a  soldier.  One  disaster  followed 
another  in  the  French  wars,  and  Don  John  only  lived  to  conclude 
the  treaty  of  Nimwegen. 

Maria  Anna  returned  from  her  convent  to  resume  the  control  of 
the  state.  From  this  time  the  history  of  Spain  becomes  unim- 
portant. The  decline  of  internal  and  external  resources  continued 
with  frightful  rapidity.  Charles  II.,  contrary  to  general  expecta- 
tion, survived  the  century,  and  his  death  in  1700  ended  the  male 
line  of  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs.  In  the  great  contest  for  the  succes- 
sion which  now  ensued,  the  dismemberment  of  the  Spanish  Empire 
was  continued  and  completed. 

§  7.  That  Spain  during  this  century  of  decline  and  disaster  kept  a 
firm  hold  on  its  distant  territories  in  Italy  was  due,  not  to  any 
merits  of  the  government,  but  to  the  complete  lack  of  national 
feelings  and  political  capacity  shown  by  the  Italians,  and  to  the 
mutual  antipathy  existing  between  the  various  classes  of  society. 
As  has  been  seen,  the  revolts  in  Sicily  and  Naples  failed  mainly 
through  the  want  of  sympathy  between  the  nobles  and  the  people. 
The  only  independent  powers  whose  attitude  was  of  the  least 
importance,  were  the  grand  dukes  of  Tuscany,  the  Venetians,  the 
popes  and  the  dukes  of  Savoy.  The  Medicean  grand  dukes  at  this 
time  threw  themselves  unreservedly  into  the  hands  of  Spain,  and 
by  sacrificing  their  independence,  secured  uninterrupted  tenure  of 
power.  But  they  showed  none  of  the  ability,  nor  even  the  taste 
for  literature  and  art,  which  had  given  such  fame  to  the  founders  of 
the  family.  They  became  the  abject  servants  of  the  priesthood, 
and  under  their  rule  Florence  sank  entirely  from  its  former 
grandeur.  The  line  became  extinct  in  1737  with  Giovanni 
Gaston,  the  last  of  the  Medici.  Venice  was  during  this  century 
almost  entirely  absorbed  in  its  long  war  against  the  Turks.  The 
republic  leaned  to  the  side  of  France  against  Spain,  and  was  the 
first  power  to  recognise  Henry  IV.,  but  eastern  complications 
prevented  its  taking  a  prominent  part  in  western  politics.  Cyprus 
had  been  already  lost,  and  the  first  half  of  the  century  was  mainly 
occupied  with  the  struggle  for  the  possession  of  Crete.  In  1669  Candia 
fell,  and  the  island  was  annexed  by  the  Turks.  The  war  was  now 
transferred  to  Greece,  where  the  famous  Venetian  commander, 
Morosini,  conquered  the  Peloponnese  (1684-9).  This  was  formally 
ceded  to  them  by  the  peace  of  Carlowitz  in  1699,  but  was 
reconquered  by  the  Turks  in  1715,  and  the  long  and  wearisome 
warfare,  as  creditable  as  it  was  exhausting  to  the  maritime  republic, 
was  not  ended  till  the  treaty  of  Passarowitz  in  1718. 


a.d.  1668-1700.  THE  PAPACY.  181 

§  8.  The  papacy  continued  to  direct  the  progress  of  the  Catholic 
reaction,  until  that  movement  was  stayed  by  the  failure  of  Austria 
in  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  From  that  time  it  had  to  content  itself 
with  lesser  interests,  the  government  and  extension  of  the  papal 
,  and  the  settlement  of  internal  disputes  within  the  church. 
It  became  evident  that  not  only  had  the  popes  failed  to  restore 
their  rule  over  European  Christendom,  but  their  authority  over  the 
Catholic  states  was  weakened  by  these  disputes  and  by  the 
independence  of  the  secular  powMh  Sixtus  V.  was  succeeded  by  three 
short-lived  popes  (1590-1),  each  of  whom  ruled  only  long  enough 
to  reverse  the  policy  of  his  predecessor.  Clement  VIII.  ( 1592-1605) 
was  the  6rst  pope  to  break  oft'  the  subservience  to  Spain  which  had 
]  it  vailed  ever  since  Pius  IV.  He  gave  absolution  to  Henry  IV., 
and  was  enabled  by  French  support  to  annex  Ferrara  to  the  pajial 
states  on  the  death  of  Alfonso  II.  of  Estc  (1607  •.  T  '  hi*  medi- 
ation was  due  the  treaty  of  Vervins  in  1598.  During  this  pontificate 
a  great  contest  broke  out  1*  t  ween  the  Jesuits  and  Dominicans. 
The  doctrines  of  free-will,  whieh  were  expounded  by  the  Jouit 
Molina,  were  regarded  as  an  attack  on  the  teaching  of  the  great 
Dominican,  Thomas  Aquinas.  Spain  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
latter  order,  because  the  Jesuits,  founded  by  a  Spaniard,  and  at  first 
working  wholly  in  the  interests  of  Spain,  had  now  become  more 
independent.  The  first  generals  of  the  order  had  all  been  Spaniards, 
but  the  office  was  now  held  by  an  Italian,  Aquaviva.  France 
naturally  sided  with  the  Jesuits,  and  Cleraeut  VIII.,  unwilling  to 
offend  his  chief  ally,  died  in  1605  without  coining  to  a  decision. 
Paul  V.  (1006  L681)  was  tabued  with  inedia>val  ideas  as  to  t lie 
papal  authority  and  the  validity  of  the  canon-law.  These  speedily 
brought  him  into  collision  with  the  secular  ]>o\ver,  esj>ecially  in 
Venice,  which  had  always  maintained  an  attitude  of  independence 
towards  the  paj)acy.  Ecclesiastical  disputes  were  a-jgravated  by 
the  fact  that  the  acquisition  of  Ferrara  had  extended  the  papal 
states  to  the  frontiers  of  Venice,  and  that  frequent  differences 
as  to  the  boundary  line  between  them.  The  defence  of  the 
republic  and  of  the  secular  authority  in  church  affairs  was  under- 
taken with  great  zeal  and  ability  by  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  the  famous 
historian  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Paul  V.  did  not  hesitate  to 
excommunicate  the  Venetians,  but  the  government  compelled 
the  clergy  to  disregard  the  pope's  edict.  The  Jesuits,  Theat in.  •>, 
and  Capuchins  were  the  only  orders  that  adhered  to  the  papacy,  and 
they  had  to  leave  the  city.  If  Spain  had  not  been  under  the  rule 
of  the  pacific  Lerma,  it  would  probably  have  seized  the  opportunity 
to  punish  Venice  for  its  French  alliance.  But  France  and  Spain 
were  both  averse  to  war,  and  Paul  V.  had  to  learn  that  the  papacy 


182  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

was  powerless  without  secular  support.  By  the  mediation  of  the 
two  great  powers,  a  compromise  was  arranged  in  1607.  The 
Jesuits,  however,  remained  excluded  from  Venetian  territory  for 
another  half-century.  This  was  the  first  serious  reverse  encoun- 
tered by  the  Catholic  reaction.  The  Jesuits  had  earned  the  pope's 
gratitude,  and  in  return  they  obtained  a  decision  which  pacified  the 
Dominicans,  without  condemning  the  doctrines  of  either  party. 
The  attention  of  the  Catholic  world  was  now  absorbed  in  the 
Austrian  schemes  for  the  repression  of  Protestantism  in  Germany, 
which  received  the  unhesitating  support  both  of  Paul  and  of  his 
successor,  Gregory  XV.  The  latter  was  a  great  patron  of  the 
Jesuits.  Under  him  the  Propaganda  was  first  set  on  foot,  and  the 
two  greatest  members  of  the  order,  Ignatius  Loyola  and  Francis 
Xavier,  received  the  honour  of  canonisation. 

The  pontificate  of  Urban  VIIL  (1623-1644)  was  a  period  of  great 
importance.  He  regarded  himself  rather  as  a  temporal  prince  than 
as  head  of  the  Church.  He  fortified  Rome  and  filled  his  states 
with  troops.  The  example  of  Julius  IT.  seemed  to  find  an  imitator. 
Urban  was  imbued  with  the  old  Italian  jealousy  of  the  imperial 
power,  and  allied  himself  closely  with  France.  Papal  support 
encouraged  Richelieu  to  take  decisive  measures  in  the  Valtelline, 
Casale,  and  the  Mantuan  succession.  And  at  the  moment  when 
Ferdinand  II.  had  gained  his  greatest  success  in  Germany  he  was 
confronted  with  the  hostility  of  the  pope.  Gustavus  Adolphus 
landed  in  Germany,  and  by  a  strange  coincidence  Protestantism 
found  support  in  the  temporal  interests  of  the  papacy.  The  Catholics 
were  astounded  and  dismayed  by  Urban's  attitude.  The  Spanish 
envoy  presented  a  formal  protest,  which  was  disregarded.  The 
failure  of  the  Catholic  reaction  was  thus  due  in  no  small  measure  to 
the  action  of  the  pope  himself. 

Urban  VIII.  succeeded  in  making  an  important  addition  to  the 
papal  states  by  the  annexation  of  Urbino,  in  1631,  on  the  death  ot 
Francesco  Maria,  the  last  duke  of  the  Delia  Rovere  family.  But  in 
the  government  of  the  states  he  met  with  great  difficulties. 
Nepotism  had  been  revived  in  a  new  form  since  Sixtus  V.  The 
relatives  of  the  pope  no  longer  aimed  at  political  independence,  but 
were  entrusted  with  the  control  of  the  administration.  Thus  each 
papacy  witnessed  the  foundation  of  a  new  family  which  acquired 
sufficient  wealth  to  maintain  its  position  after  its  patron's  death. 
The  aristocracy  thus  formed  proved  a  great  obstacle  to  the  papal 
government.  Urban  VIII.'s  relatives,  the  Barberini,  quarrelled 
with  the  Farnesi,  who  had  held  Parma  and  Piacenza  since  the  ponti- 
ficate of  Paul  III.  The  pope  was  induced  to  claim  the  district  of 
Castro,  and  this  claim  aroused  a  civil  war  (1641-1644)  in  which  the 


a  d.  1555-1631.  SAVOY.  183 

papacy  was  completely  worsted.  Urban  was  forced  to  conclude  a 
humiliating  treaty  and  directly  afterwards  died.  His  successors  are 
of  very  slight  importance  to  the  history  of  Europe.  The  great 
schemes  of  a  counter-reformation  had  perished.  Even  within  their 
own  states  the  personal  authority  of  the  popes  was  curtailed  by  the 
rise  of  the  Congregation,  which  had  been  founded  by  Urban  VIII., 
and  after  his  death  obtained  the  chief  control  of  the  administration. 
The  only  important  questions  in  which  the  papacy  was  involved  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  century  were  the  schism  of  the  Jansenists  and 
the  relations  with  Louis  XIV.,  and  these  concern  the  history  oi 
France  rather  than  that  of  Italy. 

§  9.  Savoy  owes  its  iinjxjitance  at  this  period  not  to  its  internal 
strength  but  to  its  geographical  position  between  tin  t«  nit.ii,  s  .t 
France  and  Spain.  The  duchy,  after  several  years'  occupation  by 
the  French,  was  restored  by  the  peace  of  Cateau-Canibresis  (1551)) 
to  Emanuel  l*hilil»ert,  the  general  of  Philip  II.  He  was  anxious  to 
recover  the  territories  on  both  sides  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  which 
the  Swiss  had  acquired  at  the  expense  of  Savoy  during  the  dis- 
turbances of  the  reformation.  But  in  1564  he  had  to  accept  the 
treaty  of  Lausanne,  by  which  he  gave  up  all  territories  to  the  north 
of  the  lake.  From  this  time  Savoy  tends  to  lose  ground  in  the 
north  and  to  extend  itself  southwards;  to  become  an  Italian  rather 
than  a  transalpine  power.  Emanuel  Philibert  devoted  himself 
mainly  to  domes  tie  government,  and  to  repair  the  evils  that  the 
foreign  occupation  had  left  behind.  He  remained  true  to  Ml 
attachment  to  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  but  he  was  careful  at  the 
same  time  not  to  provoke  the  hostility  of  France.  By  this  well- 
timed  policy  of  peace,  he  was  enabled  to  leave  his  duchy  immensely 
strengthened  to  his  son  Charles  Emanuel  (1580-1630).  "  The  new 
(hike  was  much  more  active  in  his  policy.  His  marriage  with  a 
daughter  *>f  Philip  II.  bound  him  to  the  side  of  Sjwiu  and  he  sup- 
ported the  cause  of  the  League  in  France.  With  the  help  of  the 
Catholic  party  he  seized  the  vacant  marquisate  of  Saluzzo,  and 
thus  involved  himself  in  a  long  quarrel  with  Henry  IV.  In  1001  the 
peace  of  Lyons  continued  the  duke  in  the  possession  of  Saluzzo,  in 
exchange  for  whieh  lie  ceded  Tresse  on  the  Rhone  frontier  to  Henry. 
All  attempts  made  to  recover  Geneva  for  Savoy  proved  unsuccess- 
ful. Before  his  death  the  restless  Charles  Emanuel  brought  forward 
another  claim  to  the  marquisate  of  Montferrat.  This  had  been  held 
►ince  1533  by  the  dukes  of  Mantua,  whose  male  line  became  extinct  in 
1627.  The  duke  did  not  live  to  see  the  settlement  of  the  Mantuan 
succession,  but  his  son,  Victor  Amadeua  I.,  obtained  great  part  of 
Montferrat  by  the  treaty  of  Cherasco  (1631).  Richelieu  had  now 
acquired  Pinerolo  and  Casale  for  France  and  this  effected  a  complete 


184  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xn. 

change  in  the  policy  of  Savoy.  Victor  Amadeus  was  married  to 
Christine,  a  daughter  of  Henry  IV.,  and  he  and  his  successor 
remained  till  nearly  the  end  of  the  century  as  faithful  to  France 
as  his  predecessors  had  been  to  Spain.  Charles  Emanuel  IL,  who 
succeeded  as  a  minor  on  the  early  death  of  his  father,  was  at  iirst 
under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother,  and  when  he  came  of  age 
remained  in  the  closest  alliance  with  Louis  XIV.  His  great  object 
was  to  secure  the  Italian  position  which  Savoy  had  assumed,  by 
the  acquisition  of  Genoa.  But  the  maritime  republic  made  a 
successful  resistance  both  to  open  attack  and  to  treacherous  plots. 
Victor  Amadeus  II.,  who  became  duke  in  1675,  was  married  to  a 
daughter  of  Philip  of  Orleans.  But  Louis  XIV.  had  begun  to  treat 
Savoy  less  as  an  ally  than  as  a  dependency,  and  the  duke,  weary  of 
French  domination,  broke  off  the  old  connexion,  and  in  1690 
joined  the  League  of  Augsburg  against  Louis.  His  defection  was 
well-timed  and  successful,  for  the  treaty  of  Ryswick  (1697)  gave 
him  the  great  fortresses  of  Pinerolo  and  Casale,  which  had  so  long 
dominated  his  duchy.  In  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession  he  first 
supported  Louis  and  afterwards  turned  against  him.  His  faithless- 
ness was  rewarded  in  the  peace  of  Utrecht  with  the  island  of  Sicily 
and  the  title  of  king.  Within  a  few  years,  however,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  exchange  Sicily  for  Sardinia.  The  gradual  transformation 
of  Savoy  into  an  Italian  state  has  had  important  consequences 
for  the  history  of  Italy. 

II.    The  Kingdoms  of  the  North. 

§  10.  No  portion  of  European  history  is  more  intricate  and 
confusing  than  that  which  describes  the  relations  of  the  northern  and 
eastern  states  in  the  16th  and  17th  centuries.  It  would  require  a 
volume  to  follow  the  details  of  the  continual  and  complicated  wars 
between  Sweden,  Denmark,  Poland,  and  Russia.  But  the  period  is 
one  of  considerable  importance,  and  it  is  necessary  to  grasp  its  leading 
features.  Sweden  emerged  from  its  subjection  to  Denmark,  became 
Protestant,  and  in  the  17th  century  took  rank  among  the  great 
continental  powers.  Poland  w^as  weakened  by  its  oligarchical  con- 
stitution, its  elective  monarchy,  and  the  reactionary  religious  policy 
of  its  rulers,  and  speedily  sank  from  the  great  position  it  had 
assumed  under  the  House  of  Jagellon.  But  by  far  the  greatest 
Qvent  of  the  period  was  the  rise  to  European  importance  of  the  great- 
monarchy  of  the  Czars. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  we  have  noticed  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union  of  Calmar  between  the  Scandinavian  kingdoms.  Sweden 
gained  its    independence  under   Gustavus   Vasa,  who   founded   a 


a.d.  1544-1648.      THE  NORTHERN  KINGDOMS.  185 

strong  monarchy,  which  passed  on  his  death  to  his  son  Eric.  This 
prince  had  none  of  his  father's  qualities,  and  early  showed  symptoms 
of  an  insanity  which  rapidly  developed.  He  was  engaged  in 
constant  quarrels  with  his  brothers  John  of  Finland,  and  Charles  of 
Socdermanland,  and  in  1568  was  deposed  by  the  former.  John 
was  married  to  a  princess  of  the  house  of  Jagellon  and  was  able 
through  this  to  secure  the  vacant  crown  of  Poland  for  his  son 
Sigismund  in  1587.  But  Sigismund  became  a  bigoted  Roman 
Catholic,  and  his  religious  policy  speedily  alienated  his  Protestant 
subjects  when  he  became  king  of  Sweden  in  1592  by  his  father's 
death.  His  uncle  Charles,  the  ablest  of  Gustavus  Vasa's  sons, 
took  advantage  of  this  to  assume  first  the  government  and  after- 
wards the  crown  of  Sweden  as  Charles  IX.  II «  was  the  father  of 
the  great  Gustavus  Adolphus. 

§  11.  In  Denmark,  Christian  II.,  the  last  king  of  the  three 
Scandinavian  countries,  whose  brutality  provoked  the  revolt  of 
Sweden,  was  deposed  in  1523  in  favour  of  his  uncle  Frederick,  duke  of 
Holstein.  Frederick  I.'s  eldest  son,  Christian  III.,  had  to  fight  for 
three  years  against  Christopher  of  Oldenburg  and  the  Hanse  towns 
before  he  could  obtain  the  crown,  which  he  did  ultimately  through 
tho  assistance  of  Gustavus  Vasa.  He  made  Protestantism  the 
established  religion  of  Denmark  in  1536,  and  he  recognised  the 
independence  of  Sweden  by  the  treaty  of  Bromsebro  in  1541.  His 
son  Frederick  II.  (1559-1588)  continued  to  bear  the  arms  of  the 
three  kingdoms,  and  this  provoked  Eric  of  Sweden  into  war  against 
Denmark.  The  treaty  of  Stettin  in  1570  closed  the  war  just 
after  the  accession  of  John  to  the  Swedish  throne.  Denmark 
resigned  all  claims  to  Sweden,  but  retained  possession  of  all  its 
territories  in  the  northern  peninsula,  Norway,  Skaania,  Hnlland, 
Blekingen  and  Jamteland.  Frederick  II.  is  famous  as  the  patron 
of  the  great  astronomer  Tycho  Brahe.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Christian  IV.  (1588-1048)  who  earned  a  good  reputation  by 
his  domestic  government,  but  who  played  but  a  sorry  part  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War. 

§  12.  Poland  was  ruled  at  this  time  by  Sigismund  Augustus 
(1548-72),  the  last  male  of  the  great  family  of  Jagellon,  which  bad 
held  the  crown  since  1386.  1  »y  their  accession  Lithuania  and  Poland 
had  been  brought  under  a  common  ruler,  but  the  two  countries  had 
never  been  really  united.  This  was  at  last  accomplished  by  Sigis- 
mund Augustus  in  1569  under  the  pressure  of  Russian  invasion. 
During  his  reign  Protestantism  obtained  a  great  position  and  almost 
a  preponderance  in  Poland,  and  the  king,  though  himself  a  Catholic, 
did  nothing  to  stay  its  progress.  To  some  extent  his  hands  were 
tied  in  religious  matters  by  his  position  as  suzerain  of  the  secularised 
10 


186  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

states  of  Livonia  and  Prussia.  On  his  death  in  1572  without 
children,  the  Polish  estates  decreed  that  thenceforth  the  crown 
should  be  purely  elective,  without  restriction  to  any  family,  and 
that  Protestants  and  Catholics  should  have  equal  political  rights. 
They  also  drew  up  a  constitution  which  limited  political  power  to 
the  nobles,  and  made  Poland  an  oligarchical  republic  with  a 
nominal  head.  The  first  elected  king  was  Henry  of  Anjou,  brother 
of  Charles  IX.  of  France,  and  the  guilty  author  of  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew.  He  was  compelled  to  accept  the  decrees  of  the 
diet,  a  promise  which  he  would  hardly  have  kept,  but  on  the 
news  of  his  brother's  death  he  escaped  secretly  from  Poland,  four 
months  after  his  coronation,  to  ascend  the  French  throne.  The 
Poles  now  chose  StepTien  Bathori  of  Transylvania,  who  was  married 
to  Anne,  a  sister  of  the  last  Jagellon.  In  his  reign,  though  he  was 
personally  inclined  to  moderation  in  religious  matters,  the  Catholic 
reaction  was  commenced  in  Poland.  This  was  due  mainly  to  the 
exertions  of  the  Jesuits,  who  obtained  admission  into  the  kingdom 
in  1570  and  gained  over  the  most  powerful  nobles.  On  Bathori's 
death  in  1586  the  Catholic  party  secured  the  election  of  Sigis- 
mund  III.,  son  of  John  of  Sweden,  who  took  vigorous  measures 
for  the  restoration  of  Catholicism,  and  by  his  religious  policy 
sacrificed  the  Swedish  crown. 

§  13.  The  Russian  monarchy  had  been  founded  in  the  9th  century 
by  Rune,  a  prince  of  Scandinavian  origin.  The  capital  was  first  fixed 
at  Novgorod  and  afterwards  at  Kief.  But  Ruric  and  his  descendants 
possessed  none  of  that  absolute  authority  which  we  are  accustomed 
to  associate  with  Russian  rule.  Their  power  was  limited  by  the 
existence  of  strong  municipalities,  and  by  the  practices  of  granting 
large  apanages  to  younger  members  of  the  royal  house.  The 
disunion  thus  caused  facilitated  the  conquest  of  Russia  by  the 
Tartars  or  Moguls  in  the  middle  of  the  13th  century.  For  two 
hundred  years  the  country  groaned  under  their  barbarous  despotism, 
which  ground  the  people  in  slavery  and  abject  poverty.  Gradually, 
however,  the  princes  of  Moscow,  descendants  of  Ruric,  rose  to 
eminence,  not  by  military  prowess,  but  by  a  policy  of  wiles  and 
treachery.  They  ingratiated  themselves  with  the  Tartar  rulers,  and 
artfully  employed  them  to  crush  the  princes  who  might  be  their 
rivals.  At  length  they  were  strong  enough  to  shake  off  the  galling 
yoke.  Iwan  II I.  (1462-1505)  allied  himself  with  the  Tartars  of 
the  Crimea,  and  with  their  help  defeated  the  rulers  of  Russia,  the 
Tartars  of  the  Golden  Horde.  Iwan  and  his  son  Vassily  Iwanovitch 
put  an  end  to  the  independence  of  the  great  municipalities,  and 
also  crushed  the  great  princes  who  had  arisen  under  the  system  of 
apanages.     These  princes,  on  losing  their   independence,  became 


a.d.  1462-1595.  RISE  OF  RUSSIA.  187 

the  boyars  of  the  court  at  Moscow.  From  this  time  Russia,  in- 
dependent and  centralised,  was  enabled  to  play  a  more  and  more 
prominent  part  in  European  politics.  Iwan  IV.  (1533-1584), 
known  by  the  well-merited  name  of  the  Terrible,  was  the  first 
who  assumed  the  famous  title  of  Czar.  He  reduced  to  submission 
the  Tartars  of  Kazan,  the  third  of  the  great  Tartar  tribes,  and 
by  the  conquest  of  Astrakhan  extended  the  Russian  boundaries  to 
the  Caspian.  But  his  great  ambition  was  to  obtain  a  hold 
on  the  Baltic,  and  it  was  this  which  brought  him  into  collision 
with  the  Western  powers. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Teutonic  Order  was  forced  into  subjection 
to  Poland,  and  how  its  territories  were  finally  secularised  by  Albert 
of  Brandenburg,  and  became  a  duchy  under  Polish  suzerainty.  A 
similar  order,  the  Knights  of  the  Sword,  ruled  in  Livonia.  They 
had  been  for  a  long  time  amalgamated  with  the  Teutonic  Order,  but 
obtained  independence  under  Walter  of  Plattenberg.  The  progress 
of  Protestantism  among  the  knights  gave  rise  to  great  disorder,  and 
Iwan  IV.  sought  to  take  advantage  of  these  to  conquer  their 
territories,  which  would  give  him  the  coveted  access  to  the  Baltic. 
Pressed  by  this  danger,  the  grand  master,  Gothard  Kflfttlor, 
mined  to  imitate  Albert  of  Brandenburg.  1  fa  adopted  the  Lutheran 
doctrines,  offered  the  greater  part  of  his  territories  to  Poland,  on 
condition  that  the  remainder  should  be  formed  into  the  hereditary 
duchy  of  Courland  for  himself  and  his  descendants.  The  offer  was 
accepted  by  Sigismund  Augustus,  but  the  treaty  could  not  be 
executed  without  a  long  war.  Sweden  claimed  Esthonia  and  the 
northern  territories  of  the  order,  and  the  Czar  refused  to  give  up 
his  schemes  of  conquest.  A  long  war  ensued,  in  which  Russia, 
Poland  and  Sweden  contended  for  the  possession  of  Livonia.  The 
vigorous  measures  of  Stephen  Bathori  forced  Iwan  IV.  to  conclude 
a  truce  in  1582,  by  which  Poland  gave  up  its  conquests  but  kept 
Livonia.  The  claims  of  Sweden  remained  unsatisfied  till  1593, 
when  a  truce  with  Iwan's  successor,  Feodor,  gave  the  Swedes 
Esthonia,  Narva  and  Revel.  These  arrangements  were  confirmed 
in  1595  by  the  peace  of  Teusin  between  the  three  powers.  Russia, 
so  successful  in  the  south,  was  compelled  to  give  way  in  the  north- 
west, and  to  postpone  the  scheme  of  obtaining  a  frontier  on  the 
Baltic  coast. 

§  14.  The  key  to  the  political  relations  of  the  four  northern  states 
is  to  be  found  in  the  eager  desire  of  each  to  obtain  supremacy  over  the 
Baltic.  It  had  not  yet  been  realised  how  completely  the  great 
geographical  discoveries  had  deprived  that  sea  of  its  mediaeval 
importance.  It  was  this  which  had  caused  the  decline  of  the 
Hanse  Towns,  but  the  position  which  they  had  occupied  seemed  as 


188  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xti. 

desirable  as  ever  to  the  powers  which  wished  to  take  their  place. 
There  were  also  special  grounds  of  quarrel  between  Sweden  and 
Denmark  and  between  Sweden  and  Poland.  The  Danish  kings  had 
by  no  means  accepted  as  final  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  of 
Calmar,  and  their  command  of  the  Sound  and  Belts  enabled  them  to 
cripple  the  rising  Swedish  commerce.  Between  Sweden  and  Poland 
there  was  the  disputed  claim  to  Esthonia,  and  still  more  serious 
dynastic  and  religious  differences.  The  northern  states  were  at  this 
time  brought  into  close  and  novel  connexion  with  the  main  current 
of  European  politics.  The  Catholic  reaction,  supported  by  the 
arms  of  Phillip  II.  had  suffered  great  reverses  in  the  successful 
revolt  of  Holland,  in  the  destruction  of  the  Great  Armada,  and  in 
the  establishment  of  Henry  IV.  on  the  throne  of  France.  The  last 
chance  of  recovering  these  losses  was  bound  up  with  the  election  of 
the  Catholic  Sigismund  III.  in  Poland,  and  his  succession  to  Sweden 
on  the  death  of  his  father  John.  He  had  the  enthusiastic  support 
of  the  pope  and  of  the  Hapsburgs  o/ Spain  and  Austria.  Philip  II. 
hoped,  with  the  aid  of  Sweden,  to  revive  Spanish  commerce  in  the 
Baltic,  and  to  strike  a  fresh  blow  from  the  north  against  England 
and  the  revolted  Netherlands.  Against  these  Spanish-Catholic 
schemes  all  the  hostile  interests  centred  round  the  champion  of 
Swedish  Protestantism,  Charles  of  Scedermanland.  The  decision  of 
the  great  European  question  depended  upon  the  struggle  between 
Charles  and  Sigismund,  which  was  decided  by  the  battle  of 
.  Stangebro  in  1598.  Charles  obtained  the  supreme  government  of 
Sweden,  and  in  1604  received  the  crown,  which  was  declared 
hereditary  in  his  descendants  both  male  and  female.  Charles  IX. 
is  the  second  founder  of  the  Swedish  monarchy  on  a  Protestant 
basis.  The  work  of  Gustavus  Vasa  had  been  undone  during  the 
troubled  reigns  of  Eric,  John  and  Sigismund.  The  nobles  had 
regained  the  independence  which  they  had  enjoyed  in  the  time 
of  the  Union.  The  military,  naval  and  commercial  organisation  of 
the  first  Vasa  had  fallen  to  pieces.  All  this  was  now  altered. 
The  nobles  were  reduced  into  subjection  to  the  crown,  and  those 
who  had  supported  Sigismund  were  punished  with  relentless 
severity.  Measures  were  taken  to  revive  the  internal  welfare  of 
Sweden.  But  Charles  IX.  was  interrupted  in  his  beneficent  work 
by  a  renewed  Danish  War.  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark  considered 
the  opportunity  favourable  for  the  renewal  of  claims  which  had 
been  temporarily  renounced  in  the  treaty  of  Stettin.  In  1611  he 
besieged  and  took  Calmar.  Charles  IX.  died  at  the  commencement 
of  hostilities  and  left  the  crown  to  his  famous  son,  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  The  young  king  was  eager  for  military  glory,  but  his  first 
war  was  not  successful.     The  Danes  took  one  town  after  another, 


ad.  1584-1610.      INTERREGNUM  IN  RUSSIA.  189 

and  when  peace  was  made  in  1613,  Sweden  had  to  purchase  the 
restoration  of  these  conquests  with  a  lame  bribe.  Elfsborg,  the  only 
point  of  importance  which  the  Swedes  held  on  the  north  sea,  was 
left  in  Danish  hands  as  a  security. 

§  15.  The  Danish  war  was  of  comparatively  slight  importance  by 
the  side  of  contemporary  events  in  Russia,  whither  the  main  interest 
of  northern  politics  had  transferred  itself.  Iwan  the  Terrible  had 
been  succeeded  in  1584  by  his  eldest  son  Feodor,  who  was  devoid 
both  of  his  father's  energy  and  his  vices.  The  government  fell 
entirely  into  the  hands  of  his  brother-in-law,  Boris  Godunof,  who 
aimed  at  securing  the  succession  to  himself.  Demetrius,  the  (/us 
brother,  and  his  sister,  were  got  rid  of  by  poison.  With  Feodor's 
death  in  1598,  the  male  line  of  the  house  of  Ruric  came  to  an  end. 
Boris  Qodwaof  now  rea|>ed  the  fruit  of  his  ambition  and  his  crimes, 
and  became  Czar.  But  he  was  not  allowed  to  enjoy  his  ill-gotten 
power  in  peace.  A  pretender  appeared,  who  claimed  to  be  the 
brother  of  the  late  Czar,  and  who  is  known  to  fame  as  the  False 
Demetrius.  He  applied  for  aid  to  Poland,  married  a  Polish  wife, 
and  offered  to  become  a  Roman  Catholic.  Sigismund  III.  eagerly 
grasped  at  this  opportunity  of  obtaining  in  Russia  some  compensa- 
tion for  his  loss  of  Sweden.  Demetrius  marched  into  lUissia, 
where  he  was  welcomed  by  the  people  and  placed  upon  the  throne. 
Boris  Godunof,  overwhelmed  with  remorse  for  his  fruitless  crime, 
died  in  the  moment  oJ  defeat  (1603).  But  the  establishment  of 
Polish  influence  in  Russia  was  a  serious  danger  to  Sweden.  Charles 
IX.  allied  himself  with  the  leader  of  the  party  opposed  to 
Demetrius,  Vassily  Shouisky,  a  distant  relative  of  the  main  line  of 
Ruric.  A  revolution  was  successfully  conducted  in  Moscow,  in 
which  the  pretender  perished  and  Shouisky  became  Czar  (1606).  He 
at  once  made  important  cessions  of  territory  to  Charles  IX.,  in  return 
f<»r  which  he  obtained  the  support  of  a  Swedish  army.  But  the 
Poles  were  not  inclined  to  submit  to  this  reverse.  A  new  pretender, 
the  second  False  Demetrius,  was  brought  forward  and  supported  by  a 
large  Polish  force.  The  quarrel  between  Sweden  and  Poland  was 
thus  transferred  altogether  to  Russian  soil.  In  1610  the  Poles  took 
Moscow,  drove  Vassily  Shouisky  from  the  throne  to  a  cloister,  and 
compelled  the  election  of  Ladislaus,  Sigismund's  son.  The  danger 
of  the  union  of  Poland  and  Russia  roused  the  Swedish  king  to  make 
great  efforts.  His  troops  took  Novgorod,  and  it  was  proposed  to 
confer  the  crown  of  the  Czars  upon  Charles  Philip,  the  younger 
brother  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  Thus  the  contest  between  Charles 
and  Sigismund  took  a  new  phase :  it  was  no  longer  a  question  as 
to  which  should  rule  in  Sweden,  but  whether  Russia  should  be 
annexed  to  Sweden  or  to  Poland.    The  Poles  had  the  capital  and 


190  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

the  best  of  the  position,  and  might  have  proved  successful  but  for 
Sigismund's  ambition  to  become  Czar  himself  instead  of  his  son. 
As  it  was,  the  pretensions  of  the  rival  dynasties  were  foiled  by  the 
rise  of  a  patriotic  party  in  Russia,  which  determined  to  submit  to 
no  foreign  rule,  and  in  1613  elected  Michael  Romanof,  the  ancestor 
of  the  later  Russian  Czars.  But  the  war  was  by  no  means  ended 
by  this  election.  Russia  had  to  purchase  its  independence  by  large 
cessions  of  territory  to  the  two  powers  whom  internal  dissensions 
had  introduced.  In  1617  peace  was  made  with  Sweden,  and  a 
truce  for  fourteen  years  with  Poland.  Before  the  expiration  of  the 
truce,  Sigismund  III.,  whose  religious  policy  had  caused  such 
disturbances  in  northern  Europe,  died  in  1632,  leaving  the  Polish 
crown  to  his  son  Ladislaus.  The  Russians  seized  the  opportunity 
to  renew  the  war  against  Poland,  but  they  were  defeated,  and  in 
1634  peace  was  made  on  the  same  terms  as  the  truce  of  1617. 

§  16.  Gustavus  Adolphus  triumphantly  announced  to  his  estates 
the  terms  of  his  treaty  with  Russia,  and  declared  that  that  enemy 
could  not  launch  a  single  boat  on  the  Baltic  without  the  leave  of 
Sweden.  He  now  devoted  himself  for  a  time  to  domestic  govern- 
ment. The  nobles  were  compelled  to  fulfil  their  military  duties, 
the  neglect  of  which  had  caused  the  disasters  of  the  Danish  war. 
Constitutional  institutions  were  established  and  regulated,  but  at  the 
same  time  the  power  of  the  crown  was  secured.  The  financial 
system  was  reorganised.  All  the  time  Gustavus  was  watching 
closely  the  course  of  affairs  in  Germany,  where  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  broke  out  in  1618.  He  was  enthusiastic  for  the  success  of  the 
Protestant  cause,  and  he  married  the  sister  of  the  elector  of 
Brandenburg,  one  of  the  chief  Lutheran  princes  of  Germany. 
In  1620  the  war  against  Poland  began  afresh.  Sigismund  III. 
was  anxious  to  obtain  Esthonia,  even  if  he  could  not  get  the 
Swedish  crown.  But  Gustavus  speedily  took  the  aggressive  and 
carried  the  war  into  the  Polish  territory  of  Livonia.  It  was  in 
these  campaigns  that  he  developed  the  military  ability  which  was 
afterwards  to  be  displayed  on  a  wider  stage.  In  1624  he  was 
anxious  to  interfere  in  Germany,  but  had  to  give  way  to  the  more 
sanguine  schemes  of  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark.  He  continued  the 
Polish  war,  which  served  as  a  diversion  in  favour  of  the  Protestants, 
because  Sigismund  III.  received  support  from  his  ally  the  emperor. 
At  last  the  failure  of  the  Danish  king  and  the  peace  of  Liibeck 
opened  the  way  for  Swedish  intervention  in  the  European  war. 
Wallenstein's  schemes  for  establishing  the  imperial  power  on  the 
Baltic  threatened  the  most  vital  interests  of  Sweden.  French 
mediation  enabled  Gustavus  to  conclude  the  truce  of  Altmark  with 
Poland,  by  which  he  obtained  almost  the  whole  of  Livonia  and  great 


a.d.  1613-1648.       CHRISTINA  OF  SWEDEN.  191 

part  of  Polish  Prussia.  In  1629  he  landed  in  Pomerania  and 
commenced  those  brilliant  campaigns  which  completely  changed 
the  aspect  of  European  politics  and  secured  him  everlasting  fame, 
and  which  were  closed  by  his  premature  but  glorious  death  on  the 
field  of  Liitzen  (1632). 

§  17.  The  Swedish  crown  now  passed  to  Gustavus'  infant  daughter, 
Christina.  During  her  minority  an  oligarchical  government  was 
established,  with  the  chancellor  Oxenstiern  as  its  head.  The 
domestic  policy  of  Gustavus  was  continued,  but  the  government 
was  mainly  occupied  with  the  European  war.  The  alliances  with 
France  and  the  German  princes  were  renewed,  and  in  1635  the 
prolongation  of  the  truce  with  Poland  was  purchased  by  the  cession 
of  that  part  of  Polish  Prussia  which  Gustavus  hod  obtained  in  1629. 
Livonia  was  left  in  the  hands  of  Sweden.  While  the  Swedes  were 
busied  with  military  operations  in  Germany  and  Bohemia,  they 
were  interrupted  by  the  manifest  hostility  of  Christian  IV.  of 
Denmark.  It  was  determined  to  anticipate  an  invasion  of  Sweden 
by  attacking  Denmark,  and  Torstenson  was  recalled  to  conduct  the 
campaign.  So  unprepared  were  the  Danes  for  defence,  and  so 
weakened  was  their  kingdom  by  the  independence  of  the  nobles, 
that  no  resistance  could  be  made.  Christian  was  compelled  t<> 
accept  the  humiliating  treaty  of  Brumsebro  in  1645.  By  this, 
Swedish  vessels  were  freed  from  the  tolls  which  the  Danes 
levied  in  the  Sound,  and  Denmark  ceded  Oesel,  Halland,  Jam- 
teland  and  the  island  of  Gothland.  Three  years  later  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  was  concluded  by  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  and  the 
scheme  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  to  establish  Swedish  supremacy 
over  the  Baltic  was  realised  by  the  acquisition  of  the  greater  part 
of  Pomerania. 

Christina  had  personally  undertaken  the  government  in  1644  at 
the  age  of  eighteen.  She  had  received  an  education  which  fitted 
her  for  the  performance  of  a  man's  duties,  and  she  displayed  great 
talent  and  inclination  for  business.  She  possessed  a  considerable 
knowledge  of  languages  and  literature,  and  took  great  interest  in 
philosophical  and  theological  questions.  Grotius,  Vossius,  and 
Descartes  were  among  the  distinguished  men  who  were  attracted  to 
her  court  at  Stockholm.  It  was  of  great  importance  that  she 
should  have  an  heir,  and  the  Swedes  urged  her  to  marry  her  cousin, 
Charles  Gustavus  of  Zweibrucken,  son  of  a  sister  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  But  Christina  refused  to  take  a  husband,  and  compelled 
the  states,  against  their  will,  to  recognise  her  cousin  as  her  heir. 
Soon  afterwards  her  religious  belief  was  shaken  by  her  philosophical 
researches,  and  at  last  she  determined  to  escape  from  doubts  by 
adopting  Roman  Catholicism.    But  the  constitution  of  Sweden  under 


192  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

the  Yasas  was  based  upon  Protestantism,  and  the  country  could 
never  submit  to  a  Catholic  queen.  Christina  made  up  her  mind  to 
abdicate,  and  carried  out  her  resolution  with  characteristic  obstinacy. 
The  extravagance  of  her  government  had  proved  almost  as 
expensive  as  the  recent  war,  and  this  may  have  made  her  subjects 
less  unwilling  to  part  with  her.  After  making  arrangements  for 
receiving  a  liberal  pension  and  freeing  herself  from  the  crown  debts, 
she  left  Sweden  in  1651,  and  soon  afterwards  publicly  declared 
herself  a  convert  to  Roman  Catholicism.  After  spending  several 
years  in  travelling  about  Europe,  she  ultimately  settled  in  Rome, 
where  she  surrounded  herself  with  literary  society,  and  where  she 
died  in  1689.  Her  eccentric  character,  her  abdication  while  in  the 
prime  of  life,  her  subsequent  adventures  and  literary  tastes  have 
combined  to  give  her  a  reputation  which  her  actions  hardly 
deserved. 

§  18.  The  crown  which  Christina  had  so  lightly  parted  with  passed 
to  her  cousin  Charles  X.,  "  the  Pyrrhus  of  the  North."  His  reign 
lasted  barely  six  years,  but  during  that  period  his  ambition  gave  rise 
to  a  turmoil  in  which  all  the  northern  states  were  involved,  and  which 
was  watched  with  interest  by  the  whole  of  Europe.  In  the  general 
confusion,  it  is  a  relief  to  find  one  power  which  was  consistent  in 
aim  though  not  in  conduct.  This  was  Brandenburg,  where  Frederick 
William,  the  Great  Elector,  had  begun  to  rule  in  1640.  He  found 
his  territories  in  the  most  deplorable,  condition,  caused  mainly  by 
the  vacillating  policy  of  his  father  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  The 
various  provinces  were  under  no  common  government,  and  the 
duchy  of  Prussia,  which  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  electoral 
line  in  1611  was  still  subject  to  the  suzerainty  of  Poland.  To  rid 
himself  of  this  suzerainty  was  one  of  the  elector's  chief  objects.  He 
was  naturally  opposed  to  Sweden,  because  he  had  a  valid  claim  to 
Pomerania,  of  which  only  part  had  been  given  him  by  the  peace  of 
Westphalia.  Though  he  had  received  ample  compensation  for  the 
part  which  had  been  ceded  to  Sweden,  he  never  relinquished  the 
hope  of  obtaining  the  whole  province.  He,  too,  was  ambitious  to 
secure  that  dominant  position  on  the  Baltic  which  was  the  common 
aim  of  all  the  northern  states.  But  the  independence  of  Prussia 
was  a  more  immediate  and  feasible  object,  and  it  was  this  that 
regulated  his  policy  in  these  years.  At  first  he  remained  neutral, 
then  he  joined  Poland  against  Sweden,  then  he  made  a  close  alliance 
with  the  latter  power,  and  finally  deserted  it.  These  abrupt  but  well- 
timed  variations  of  policy  were  attended  with  complete  success. 

Charles  X.  had  served  under  Torstenson  in  the  later  years  of  the 
great  war,  and  was  anxious  to  find  a  field  on  which  to  display  the 
military  ability  which  he  had  thus  acquired.      He  determined  to 


a.d.  1654-1656.       CHARLES  X.   OF  SWEDEN  193 

complete  the  Swedish  ascendancy  on  the  Baltic,  towards  which 
great  strides  had  been  already  made.  There  were  three  states  which 
he  might  attack ;  Poland,  the  old  rival  of  Sweden,  which  was  now 
ruled  by  John  Casimir,  the  second  son  of  Sigismund  III. ;  Denmark, 
which  held  the  entrances  into  the  Baltic  ;  and  Brandenburg,  whose 
territories  separated  the  Swedish  possessions  in  Pomerania  and 
Livonia.  The  question  as  to  which  should  be  invaded  depended  on  the 
first  pretext  for  war,  and  this  was  afforded  by  Poland.  John  Casimir, 
who  maintained  the  right  to  the  Swedish  crown  of  the  elder  branch 
of  the  house  Vasa,  refused  to  recognise  Charles.  Poland  was  already 
hampered  by  a  war  with  Russia  and  offered  an  easy  prey.  In  1661 
Alexis,  the  second  Czar  of  the  Romanof  line,  had  taken  advantage 
of  a  quarrel  between  Poland  and  the  Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine  to 
recover  the  territories  extorted  from  Russia  in  1617  and  t<»  invade 
Lithuania.  In  1656  three  Swedish  armies  invaded  Poland  and  carried 
all  before  them.  John  Casimir  fled  to  Silesia.  After  a  campaign  that 
resembled  a  triumphal  progress,  Charles  X.  found  himself  complete 
master  of  Poland.  This  sudden  success  roused  the  misgivings  of  the 
elector  of  Brandenburg,  who  had  refused  to  ally  himself  with  Sweden, 
and  hoped  to  see  the  two  powers  destroy  each  other.  He  now 
prepared  for  war  in  the  interests  of  Poland,  but  Charles,  with 
marvellous  rapidity,  was  upon  him  Wfore  he  could  move.  The 
Swedish  invasion  forced  Frederick  William  to  conclude  the  treaty 
of  Konigsberg  (Jan.  1656),  by  which  he  agreed  to  hold  Prussia  of 
Sweden,  as  formerly  of  Poland,  and  to  send  auxiliaries  to  Charles's 
army. 

Charles  X.  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  power.  But  his  success 
was  too  rapid  to  be  lasting.  He  had  no  real  hold  on  the  kingdom 
which  he  had  conquered.  Brandenburg  was  only  his  ally  by 
compulsion,  and  could  not  be  trusted.  The  Russians  regarded  the 
Swedish  victories  as  an  obstacle  to  their  own  advance,  and  were 
as  ready  to  fight  the  Swedes  as  the  Poles.  The  Dutch  were  afraid 
of  the  Swedish  power  on  the  Baltic,  as  danjerons  to  their  commerce. 
The  emperor  had  good  cause  to  hate  and  fear  the  Swedish  king,  and 
prepared  to  resist  this  new  Gustavus  Adolphus.  Charles  X.'s  only 
ally  was  England,  and  Cromwell,  though  he  favoured  Sweden  out  of 
hostility  to  Holland,  was  unwilling  to  render  any  active  assistance 
While  the  aspect  of  affairs  in  Europe  was  so  unfavourable,  the  Poles 
rose  against  their  conquerors  and  recalled  John  Casimir.  Charles  X. 
hurried  to  confront  the  danger,  but  found  himself  opposed  by  over- 
whelming numbers,  and  was  forced  to  retreat.  To  recover  the  lost 
ground  the  assistance  of  Brandenburg  was  essential,  and  Charles  now 
offered  to  cede  a  great  part  of  Poland  to  the  elector.  This  was  settled 
by  the  treaty  of  Marienburg  (June,  1656).  The  combined  armies  of 
10* 


194  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xil 

Sweden  and  Brandenburg  marched  to  Warsaw,  where  they  com- 
pletely defeated  John  Casimir,  who  again  fled  from  the  kingdom.  But 
this  great  victory  produced  no  commensurate  results.  The  elector 
was  still  cool  in  his  alliance  with  Sweden,  and  was  evidently  anxious 
to  prevent  rather  than  to  further  the  success  of  Charles'  schemes. 
The  king  determined  by  new  sacrifices  to  bind  his  ally  closer  to 
his  interests,  and  in  November,  1656,  a  new  treaty  with  Branden- 
burg was  concluded  at  Labiau,  the  third  that  had  been  made 
within  the  year.  By  this  the  duchy  of  Prussia  was  ceded  to 
Frederick  William  in  entire  independence,  and  the  succession  secured 
to  his  descendants.  But  this  was  too  late  to  decide  the  fortunes  of 
the  war.  Sweden  had  embarked  in  an  enterprise  which  proved 
beyond  its  strength,  and  had  aroused  enemies  on  every  side.  The 
Russians  had  declared  open  war,  and  concluded  a  treaty  at  Wilna 
(Nov.  1656)  with  the  Poles.  The  emperor  Ferdinand  III.  had 
espoused  the  cause  of  John  Casimir.  The  Danish  king,  Frederick  III., 
was  preparing  for  war  against  Sweden.  To  meet  these  powerful 
enemies  Charles  X.  enlisted  the  support  of  George  Ragocsky,  Prince 
of  Transylvania,  in  conjunction  with  whom  he  proceeded  to  attack 
the  Russians  in  Lithuania.  At  this  juncture  the  news  reached  him 
that  the  Danes,  in  alliance  with  the  emperor  and  the  Dutch,  had 
commenced  the  long-threatened  war  against  Sweden  by  a  naval 
attack  on  Gothenburg.  He  at  once  determined  to  give  up  the 
prospect  of  distant  conquests  to  meet  this  danger  so  near  home. 
His  departure  disgusted  Ragocsky,  who  returned  at  once  to 
Transylvania.  At  the  same  time  Sweden  lost  a  far  more  important 
ally.  The  elector  of  Brandenburg,  whose  guiding  motive  was  an 
enlightened  self-interest,  saw  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  from 
.  Charles  X.  when  he  ceased  to  be  victorious.  He  now  turned  to  John 
Casimir,  who  was  only  too  glad  to  purchase  so  powerful  a  friend. 
In  February,  1657,  the  treaty  of  Wehlau  was  arranged,  by  which 
Poland  and  Brandenburg  concluded  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance  against  Sweden.  Frederick  William  engaged  to  restore  all 
conquests,  and  in  return  he  was  to  receive  Prussia  free  from  all 
claims  of  Polish  suzerainty.  In  default  of  male  heirs  the  province 
was  to  return  to  Poland.  Thus  a  great  step  was  taken  towards  the 
formation  of  the  Prussian  monarchy. 

§  19.  Undismayed  by  these  disasters,  Charles  X.  displayed  an 
activity  that  roused  the  astonished  admiration  of  Europe,  and  fh  June 
appeared  on  the  frontiers  of  Holstein.  The  Danish  monarchy  was 
no  stronger  than  in  1644,  and  no  preparations  had  been  made  for 
defence.  The  mainland  provinces,  Holstein,  Schleswig  and  Jut- 
land, were  speedily  overrun.  But  the  main  strength  of  the  Danes 
lay  in  their  islands,  and  the  winter  was  now  far  advanced.     Charles 


a.d.  1656-1661.  NORTHERN  WAR.  195 

decided  on  a  daring  movement  which  still  extorts  wonder.  He 
crossed  the  little  Belt  on  the  ice  into  Fiinen,  defeated  the  Danish 
troops,  and  took  the  capital,  Odensee.  Without  delay  he  effected 
the  more  dangerous  passage  of  the  Great  Belt  into  Zealand,  and 
threatened  Copenhagen.  Frederick  III.  could  make  no  resistance. 
The  ice  which  gave  admission  to  his  enemies  prevented  the  arrival 
of  the  Dutch  fleet  to  his  aid.  By  the  mediation  of  France  and 
England  a  treaty  was  concluded  at  Roeskilde  (Feb.  1658). 
Denmark  ceded  all  her  possessions  on  the  northern  peninsula, 
Skaania,  Ha  Hand,  etc.,  and  agreed  to  close  the  Baltic  against  all 
enemies  of  Sweden.  Thus  Sweden  obtained  a  geographical  unity 
which  it  had  never  yet  possessed.  But  the  treaty  was  not  destined 
to  be  observed  by  either  party.  The  Danes  accepted  the 
humiliating  terms  only  to  escape  from  the  immediate  danger,  and 
Charles  X.  was  resolved  on  the  complete  subjection  of  a  neighbour 
that  must  always  be  dangerous.  His  successes  in  the  recent 
campaign  had  enabled  him  to  conclude  a  three  years'  truce  with 
Russia,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year  he  renewed  the  war  against 
Denmark.  But  Frederick  III.  had  now  the  assistance  of  his 
continental  allies.  The  Dutch  fleet  brought  provisions  to 
Copenhagen,  which  was  besieged  by  the  Swedes.  At  the  same  time 
Frederick  William  of  Brandenburg  led  an  army  which  contained 
imperial  troops  into  Jutland.  It  was  only  the  inability  of  the 
Germans  to  cross  the  Belt  that  saved  Charles  X.  from  being  crushed 
between  two  hostile  forces  before  Copenhagen.  From  Jutland  the 
elector  marched  to  Pomerania  and  Prussia,  and  in  1659  the  Swedes 
were  driven  from  all  their  conquests  on  the  continent.  In  spite  of 
Charles'  obstinate  determination  to  hold  out  to  the  last,  it  was 
obvious  that  peace  could  not  be  long  deferred.  In  February,  1660, 
the  last  obstacle  was  removed  by  the  death  of  the  warlike  king  at 
Gothenburg.  The  mediation  of  England,  France  and  Holland  was 
successfully  employed.  In  May  a  treaty  was  concluded  at  Oliva 
between  Sweden  and  Poland  and  Brandenburg.  John  Casimir 
renounced  all  claims  to  the  crown  of  Sweden,  and  renewed  the 
cession  of  Livonia.  All  conquests  were  restored,  and  the  indepen- 
dent possession  of  Prussia  was  confirmed  to  the  Great  Elector.  In 
June  the  Danish  war  was  closed  by  the  treaty  of  Copenhagen. 
Its  terms  were  essentially  the  same  as  those  of  Roeskilde,  with  the 
exception  that  the  clause  about  the  exclusion  of  hostile  vessels 
from  the  Baltic  was  omitted,  and  that  one  or  two  small  pieces 
of  territory  were  restored  to  Denmark.  The  general  pacification  of 
the  north  was  completed  in  1661  by  the  peace  of  Kardis  between 
Sweden  and  Russia,  which  made  no  territorial  changes,  but  merely 
secured  the  mutual  restitution  of  conquests. 


196  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xn. 

§  20.  Denmark  was  left  in  a  most  deplorable  condition  by  the  treaty 
of  Copenhagen.  The  territorial  losses  were  not  so  serious  as  the 
internal  disunion  that  had  made  them  inevitable.  The  crown  was 
strictly  elective,  and  the  nobles  had  been  able  to  extort  such 
privileges  from  each  successive  king  on  his  accession  that  their 
power  completely  overshadowed  the  monarchy.  Though  they 
possessed  two  thirds  of  the  wealth  of  the  country,  they  were 
exempt  from  all  taxes,  and  selfishly  refused  to  contribute  even  in 
the  time  of  invasion.  But  by  this  they  aroused  the  hostility  of 
the  other  classes,  which  combined  with  the  crown  against  them. 
In  1660  a  diet  met  at  Copenhagen,  where  a  great  revolution  was 
effected  by  the  action  of  the  clergy  and  the  burghers.  The  nobles 
were  forced  to  pay  their  share  of  the  expenses  of  the  Government. 
The  crown  was  made  hereditary  for  females  as  well  as  males, 
and  the  capitulation  which  the  king  bad  signed  was  abrogated. 
The  opposition  of  the  nobles  to  these  measures  was  overcome  by 
intimidation.  Thus  the  extremity  of  the  evil  produced  a  cure- 
Frederick  III.,  from  being  one  of  the  most  powerless  sovereigns  in 
Europe,  became  suddenly  the  most  despotic.  The  whole  adminis- 
trative system  was  reorganised,  and  brought  wholly  under  royal 
control. 

§  21.  Very  different  was  the  state  of  things  in  Sweden.  Charles 
X.'s  death  left  the  crown  to  his  son  Charles  XI.  an  infant  of  four 
years.  During  the  minority  a  council  of  regency  was  formed  with 
the  queen-mother  as  its  head.  The  nobles  took  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  to  rule  in  their  own  interests.  The  domain-lands  were 
squandered  in  reckless  grants.  All  the  financial  reforms  of  the 
late  king  were  given  up.  Sweden  seemed  likely  to  fall  into  the 
very  condition  from  which  Denmark  had  just  emerged.  To  fill  the 
empty  treasury,  the  regency  fell  into  the  fatal  practice  of  receiving 
subsidies  from  foreign  powers.  It  was  the  hope  of  English  gold 
that  induced  Sweden  to  become  a  party  to  the  Triple  Alliance 
against  France  in  1669.  But  the  great  master  of  the  art  of 
purchasing  allies  was  Louis  XIV.,  and  he  was  as  ready  to  take 
advantage  of  the  mercenary  character  of  the  Swedish  government 
as  he  was  of  England.  Just  as  he  was  commencing  his  unjust  war 
against  the  Dutch  in  1672,  he  concluded  an  alliance  with  Sweden. 
In  this  year  Charles  XI.  assumed  the  government  in  person,  but 
found  himself  hampered  by  the  actions  of  the  regency.  The 
elector  of  Brandenburg  had  undertaken  to  support  the  Dutch,  and 
was  leading  armies  against  the  French  in  Alsace.  Louis  now 
called  on  the  king  of  Sweden  to  fulfil  his  engagements  and  to  effect 
a  diversion  in  Germany.  A  Swedish  army  under  Wrangel 
marched  from  Pomerania  into  Brandenburg  and  occupied   several 


a.d.  1660-1679.      SWEDEN  AND  BRANDENBURG.  197 

strong  places.  The  Great  Elector  heard  of  the  invasion  not  without 
pleasure,  as  he  hoped  with  this  pretext  to  drive  the  Swedes  from 
Pomerania.  Leaving  the  Rhine,  he  reached  his  own  territories 
by  a  series  of  forced  marches,  fell  upon  the  surprised  enemy  at 
Fehrbellin  and  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  upon  them.  Following 
up  his  success,  he  drove  the  Swedes  from  the  electorate,  and 
proceeded  to  effect  his  great  object  in  the  war,  the  conquest 
of  Pomerania.  His  success  gained  him  allies.  Holland  and  the 
emperor  were  on  his  side  as  common  enemies  of  France.  And  now 
Denmark,  where  Christian  V.  had  succeeded  Frederic  III.  in  1670, 
determined  to  make  war  on  Sweden  in  order  to  recover  the 
territories  lost  by  the  treaty  of  Copenhagen.  Charles  XI.  whose 
qualities  were  as  yet  little  known,  displayed  all  the  firmness 
and  energy  that  characterised  his  family.  The  Danes  landed  in 
Skaania,  hoping  to  revive  the  ancient  loyalty  of  that  province  to  its 
former  rulers.  But  they  were  defeated  by  Charles  in  the  battles  of 
Lund  (1676)  and  Landskrona  (1677),  while  an  invasion  from  the 
side  of  Norway  was  repulsed.  But  by  sea  the  Danish  fleet,  assisted 
by  the  Dutch  under  Tromp,  was  completely  successful,  and  drove  tin- 
Swedes  from  the  Baltie.  At  tin-  same  time  the  Great  Elector 
completed  the  subjection  of  Pomerania.  In  1677  he  took  Stettin, 
and  in  the  next  year  Stralsund  and  Greifswald.  But  these 
successes  proved  ultimately  useless.  The  European  war,  out  of 
which  this  northern  conflict  had  arisen,  was  concluded  by  the 
peace  of  Nimwegen,  and  in  1679  the  treaty  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye 
was  forced  upon  Sweden  and  Brandenburg  by  French  intervention. 
Louis  XIV.  insisted  that  his  allies  the  Swedes  should  lose  nothing 
by  supporting  htm,  and  treated  with  lofty  scorn  the  remonstrances 
of  the  elector.  The  whole  of  Pomerania,  with  the  exception  of  a 
small  district,  had  to  be  restored.  A  few  months  later  peace 
between  Swed«  n  and  Denmark  was  concluded  at  Lund  on  the  basis 
of  the  treaty  of  Copenhagen.  Thus  Sweden  emerged  out  of  an 
unsuccessful  war  without  any  loss  of  territory.  But  the  military 
prestige  which  it  had  enjoyed  under  Gustavus  Adolphus  and 
Charles  X.  was  weakened  if  not  destroyed.  These  reverses,  how- 
ever, led  in  Sweden,  as  in  Denmark,  to  a  reform  of  the  constitution. 
Clergy  and  commons  combined  with  the  king  a  ainst  the  nobles. 
The  domain  lands  which  had  been  so  recklessly  distributed  under 
the  regency,  had  to  be  restored.  The  royal  power  was  made 
absolute,  and  the  council,  which  had  so  long  been  a  check,  now 
became  the  mere  creature  of  the  kind's  will.  Charles  XI.  carried 
out  these  changes  with  resolution  and  severity,  but  he  could  plead 
the  interests  of  the  people.  Under  the  new  government  manufactures 
tod  commerce  revived,  and  the  army  and  navy  were  reorganised. 


198  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

The  aggressive  policy  of  his  predecessors  was  given  up  by  Charles  XI. 
No  more  subsidies  were  received,  and  France  was  unable  to 
entangle  Sweden  in  its  European  wars.  This  beneficent,  though 
scarcely  popular  government,  continued  till  Charles'  death  in  1697, 
when  a  new  era  commenced  for  Sweden  with  the  accession  of 
Charles  XII.  Denmark  during  this  time  had  also  an  uneventful 
history.  Christian  V.  ruled  till  1099,  and  endeavoured  to  model 
his  court  on  that  of  Versailles.  This  ambition  involved  great 
expense,  and  the  king  sought  to  obtain  supplies  by  hiring  out 
Danish  troops  to  foreign  powers.  His  kingdom  had  to  suffer  for 
his  extravagance,  but  less  than  they  would  have  done  from  a 
renewal  of  war.  Even  the  hereditary  hostility  towards  Sweden 
wa3  allowed  to  cool  during  this  period  of  tranquillity. 

§  22.  The  war  between  Poland  and  Russia,  which  had  been  com- 
menced by  troubles  in  the  Ukraine,  wras  continued  after  the  Swedes 
had  withdrawn  from  it  by  the  treaty  of  Kardis  (1661).  In  1667  a 
truce  was  concluded  at  Andrussov,  by  which  the  Ukraine  was  divided. 
Russia  received  the  whole  territory  to  the  left  of  the  Dnieper, 
and  Smolensk  and  Kiev  on  the  right  bank.  John  Casimir  had 
alienated  his  subjects  by  his  ill-success  in  war,  and  by  his  partiality 
for  France.  In  1669  he  abdicated,  and  thus  closed  the  long  and 
famous  rule  of  the  Jagellon  line.  The  Polish  nobles  were  divided 
into  a  French  and  German  party,  but  ultimately  their  choice  fell 
on  one  of  themselves,  Michael  Wisnowiecky.  Under  him  Poland 
became  involved  in  a  war  with  the  Turks,  and  in  1673  the  king's 
death  produced  new  disputes  as  to  his  successor.  Ultimately  the 
foreign  candidates  were  rejected,  and  the  famous  general,  John 
Sobieski,  was  raised  to  the  throne.  He  closed  the  Turkish  war 
in  1677  by  the  cession  of  part  of  the  Ukraine,  which  three  years 
later  the  Porte  had  to  resign  to  Russia.  Soon  afterwards  a 
second  war  broke  out  with  Turkey,  in  which  Sobieski  gained 
eternal  fame  by  the  relief  of  Vienna  in  1683.  But  this  was 
his  greatest  success.  He  enlisted  the  Russians  against  the  Turks 
by  a  treaty  in  1686,  which  confirmed  the  terms  of  the  truce  of 
Andrussov.  But  the  allies  reaped  more  advantage  than  the  Poles 
from  the  war,  of  which  Sobieski  did  not  live  to  see  the  conclusion. 
His  death  in  1697  renewed  the  old  quarrels  among  the  Polish 
nobles.  The  two  candidates  were  the  Prince  of  Conti  and  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  Augustus  the  Strong.  Louis  XIV.  had  always 
been  jealous  of  the  House  of  Conde,  and  though  anxious  for  the 
success  of  the  French  claimant,  failed  to  use  all  his  influence  on  his 
behalf.  The  result  was  that  the  German  factiqn  carried  the  day, 
and  Augustus  was  elected  king  of  Poland.  To  obtain  the  crown  he 
deserted  the  faith  of  his  ancestors  and  became  a  Roman  Catholic. 


a.d.  1667-1689.       THE  OTTOMAN  TURKS.  199 

Meanwhile  Peter  the  Great  Had  ascended  the  throne  of  the 
Czars  in  1G82.  For  seven  years  the  government  was  exercised  by 
his  sister  Sophia,  but  in  1689  Peter  began  to  rule  independently. 
His  reign  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history,  not  only  of  Russia,  but  of 
Europe.  But  before  considering  it,  it  is  necessary  to  turn  to  the 
history  of  the  Turks,  who  now  became  involved  in  the  disputes 
of  the  northern  states. 


III.  The  Ottoman  Turks. 

§  23.  The  Ottoman  empire  attained  the  zenith  of  its  greatness 
under  Solyman  the  Magnificent  (1513-1566),  the  contemporary 
and  rival  of  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.  One  of  his  first  acts  was 
the  capture  of  Rhodes,  the  outpost  of  Roman  Catholicism  in  tho 
Levant,  from  which  the  Knights  of  St.  John  retired  to  Malta.  In 
1  52 1  he  took  Belgrad,  before  the  walls  of  which  John  Huniades 
had  checked  the  victorious  career  of  Mohammed  the  Conqueror. 
Five  years  later  he  defeated  and  slew  the  last  Jagellon  king  of 
Hungary  in  the  battle  of  Mohacz.  The  Hungarian  crown  passed  to 
Ferdinand  of  Austria,  to  be  contested  with  John  Zapolya,  but  tho 
Sultan  obtained  more  territory  in  the  kingdom  than  either  of  the  rival 
claimants.  In  1529  Turkish  troops  advanced  to  the  walls  of  Vienna, 
but  failed,  as  they  did  a  century  and  a  half  later,  to  reduce  the 
Austrian  capital.  The  naval  empire  of  the  Turks  was  extended 
over  the  Mediterranean  and  the  northern  coasts  of  Africa  by  the 
enterprise  of  admirals  like  Barbarossa  and  Dragut.  In  1540 
Solyman  forced  the  Venetians  to  cede  to  him  their  last  fortresses 
in  the  Morea,  and  Greece  was  completely  subjected  to  Ottoman 
rule.  In  alliance  with  Francis  I.,  the  Turkish  fleet  laid  siege  to 
Nice,  and  spread  consternation  throughout  Christendom.  The 
greatness  of  the  Ottoman  power  under  Solyman  was  not  merely 
territorial.  Several  provinces,  such  as  Cyprus  and  Crete,  were 
at  mi  ixed  in  later  times.  But  the  moral  energies  of  the  en  ij  tiro 
were  never  so  conspicuous  afterwards.  Solyman  himself,  spite 
of  the  cruelties  characteristic  of  his  race  and  age,  was  a  ruler 
who  may  compare  favourably  with  any  of  his  contemiwraries. 
And  the  Turkish  rule,  with  its  disregard  of  doctrinal  differences, 
had  positive  merits  in  a  period  of  religious  strife  and  persecution. 
We  know  that  conquest  by  the  heathens  was  absolutely  preferred 
by  many  of  the  subjects  of  Christian  powers  like  Austria  and 
Venice.  "The  Turkish  dominion,  at  the  period  of  its  greatest 
extension,  stretched  from  Buda  on  the  Danube  to  Bussora  on  the 
Euphrates.  On  the  north  their  frontiers  were  guarded  against  the 
Poles  by  the  fortress  of  Kamenietz,  and  against  the  Russians  by  tho 


200  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xn. 

walls  of  Azof ;  while  to  the  south  the  rock  of  Aden  secured  their 
authority  over  the  southern  coast  of  Arabia,  invested  them  with  power 
in  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  gave  them  the  complete  command  of  the 
Red  Sea.  To  the  east,  the  Sultan  ruled  the  shores  of  the  Caspian, 
from  the  Kour  to  the  Tenek ;  and  his  dominions  stretched  west- 
ward along  the  southern  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  where  the 
farthest  limits  of  the  regency  of  Algiers,  beyond  Oran,  meets  the 
frontiers  of  the  empire  of  Morocco.  By  rapid  steps  the  Ottomans 
completed  the  conquest  of  the  Seljouk  sultans  in  Asia  Minor,  of 
the  Mamlouk  sultans  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  of  the  fierce  corsairs  of 
Northern  Africa,  expelled  the  Venetians  from  Cyprus,  Crete,  and 
the  Archipelago,  and  drove  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem 
from  the  Levant,  to  find  a  shelter  at  Malta.  It  was  no  vain  boast 
of  the  Ottoman  sultan,  that  he  was  the  master  of  many  kingdoms, 
the  ruler  of  three  continents,  and  the  lord  of  two  seas." ! 

§  24.  The  decline  of  the  Turkish  power  commenced  even  during 
Solyman's  lifetime.  In  1565  a  determined  attack  on  Malta  was 
repulsed  by  the  heroic  resistance  of  the  knights,  and  it  was  a  poor 
compensation  that  Chios  was  taken  in  the  next  year  from  the 
powerless  hands  of  its  Genoese  rulers.  The  Sultan  determined  to 
retrieve  the  credit  of  his  arms  by  a  great  effort  in  Hungary.  But 
the  small  fortress  of  Szigeth  checked  his  advance,  and  under  its 
walls  the  last  of  the  great  Ottoman  rulers  died  (1566.).  From  this 
time  the  Turkish  decline  becomes  more  and  more  rapid,  and  its 
causes  are  not  far  to  seek.  Hitherto  the  Sultans,  with  the  single 
exception  of  Bajazet  II.,  had  all  been  men  of  marked  energy  and 
ability.  Their  successors  degenerate  with  marvellous  rapidity. 
The  Sultans  no  longer  appear  at  the  head  of  their  armies.  Absorbed 
in  brutal  sensuality,  they  resign  the  cares  and  duties  of  government 
to  viziers  and  other  officials,  who  rule  for  the  most  part  for  their  own 
interest  and  avarice.  Venality,  the  cuise  of  Ottoman  public  life, 
spreads  into  every  department  of  government,  and  especially  into 
the  administration  of  justice.  The  rule  which  had  once  been 
welcomed  by  the  subject  races  as  preferable  to  that  of  their  fellow 
Christians  becomes  a  barbarous  and  hideous  despotism.  And  this 
internal  decay  was  accompanied  by  the  decline  of  those  military 
institutions  on  which  the  Ottoman  empire  had  been  built  up.  The 
rigid  discipline,  once  so  conspicuous  in  the  Turkish  army,  was  a 
thing  of  the  past.  The  Janissaries  became  the  oppressors  instead 
of  the  defenders  of  the  empire.  They  obtained  the  privilege  to 
marry  previously  withheld  from  them,  and  under  Selim  II. 
admission  to   their  ranks  became   hereditary   for   their  children. 

1  Finlay,  '  History  of  Greece,'  vol.  t.  p.  6. 


a.d.  1565-1617.      DECLINE  OF  THE  TURKS.  201 

Thus  their  numbers  increased  from  twelve  thousand  at  the  fall  of 
Constantinople  to  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  by  the  end  of  the 
16th  century.  The  tribute  of  children,  the  horrible  expedient 
which  had  been  so  efficacious  in  enforcing  submission  and  in  train- 
ing servants  for  the  monarchy,  now  ceased  to  be  exacted.  This  was 
a  great  advantage  for  the  conquered  populations,  but  a  very  serious 
blow  to  the  power  of  their  rulers. 

Under  Selim  II.  (1566-1574)  the  Ottoman  power  was  still 
maintained,  not  by  the  Sultan  himself  but  by  the  Grand  Vizier, 
Sokolli,  the  last  of  the  great  officials  who  survived  the  period  of 
Turkish  success.  Selim,  who  is  known  to  history  as  "theJSot," 
illustrates  the  decline  of  personal  character  and  ability  which  makes 
the  sultans  of  this  period  little  more  than  names.  His  first  act 
was  to  conclude  a  truce  with  Maximilian  II.,  leaving  matters  in 
Hungary  and  Transylvania  as  they  stood.  For  a  long  time  after 
this  north-eastern  BoTOfM  remained  undisturbed  by  Turkish  wars. 
The  great  event  of  Selim's  reign  was  the  attack  on  the  Venetian 
island  of  Cyprus,  an  enterprise  which  was  carried  out  against  the 
advice  of  Sokolli  by  the  influence  of  the  favourite  Lala  Mustafa. 
The  small  force  that  was  left  to  guard  the  island  retired  into  the 
two  fortresses  of  Nicosia  and  Famagosta.  In  1570  the  former  was 
taken,  ami  in  the  next  year  Famagosta  had  to  yield  after  a  heroic 
resistance.  This  new  advance,  and  the  cruelties  with  which  the 
Turkish  success  was  accompanied,  roused  for  a  moment  something 
like  the  old  crusading  spirit  in  \\  <vt<  rn  Hurope.  Pius  V.  concluded 
a  Holy  League  with  Spain  and  Venice.  At  the  head  of  the 
allied,  forces,  Don  John  of  Austria  won  a  great  naval  victory  at 
Lepanto  (October,  1571),  the  most  famous  and  the  most  useless  of 
all  battles  between  the  Cross  and  the  Crescent.  Selim  II.  displayed 
unexpected  energy  in  repairing  the  losses  of  the  Turkish  fleet.  In 
1573  Venice  concluded  a  humiliating  treaty,  by  which  Cyprus  was 
surrendered  and  30,000  ducats  were  paid  as  compensation  by  the 
defeated  power.  In  1574  Tunis,  which  had  been  taken  by  Don 
John,  was  recovered,  and  the  Turkish  power  re-established  in  Africa. 
Soon  afterwards  Selim  died. 

§  25.  Under  his  son  and  successor,  Amurath  III.  (1574-1595),  the 
energies  of  the  Turks  were  absorbed  in  a  fourteen  years'  war  with 
Persia  (1576-1590),  in  which  territories  were  gained  only  to  be  lost 
again  even  more  speedily  to  the  famous  Shah  Abbas.  Sokolli  had 
been  assassinated  in  1579,  and  the  office  of  vizier  fell  into  incom- 
petent hands.  The  reigns  of  Mohammed  III.  (1596-1603),  and  of 
Achmet  I.  (1603-1617),  are  noteworthy  only  for  the  commencement 
of  that  female  influence  at  the  Porte  which  brought  great  disasters 
upon   the  empire,  and  for  the  growing   insubordination  of   the 


202  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xil 

Janissaries,  who  aspire  to  imitate  the  Praetorian  bands  at  Rome  and 
to  direct  the  succession  by  their  own  will.  A  period  of  anarchy  and 
confusion  followed,  until  Amurath  IV.  (1623-1640),  the  Nero  of  the 
Turkish  Sultans,  restored  some  external  order  by  a  reign  of  terror. 

Ibrahim  (1640-1648),  who  survived  in  spite  of  the  politic  rule 
which  doomed  the  brothers  of  a  Sultan  to  the  bowstring,  spent  his 
life  in  brutal  sensuality,  and  allowed  a]l  the  worst  abuses  to  revive 
after  their  momentary  check.  His  reign,  otherwise  unimportant,  is 
noteworthy  for  the  commencement  of  the  famous  war  of  Candia 
between  Venice  and  the  Turks.  A  Turkish  squadron  on  its  way 
from  Constantinople  to  Egypt  was  attacked  and  captured  by  a  fleet 
from  Malta.  Ibrahim  determined  to  revenge  the  insult,  but  was 
afraid  to  renew  the  war  with  the  Knights  of  St.  John  which  had 
ended  so  disastrously  in  1565.  He  contented  himself  therefore  with 
an  attack  on  the  Venetian  island  of  Crete,  on  the  ground  that  the 
plunderers  had  found  refuge  in  one  of  its  harbours.  In  1645  the  war 
began  which  lasted  twenty-five  years,  and  in  which  the  Venetians, 
though  ultimately  unsuccessful,  displayed  some  of  their  old 
capacity  for  maritime  warfare.  But  the  republic  was  no  real  match 
for  the  Turkish  power,  and  the  war  would  have  been  terminated 
much  sooner  but  for  the  internal  dissensions  at  Constantinople.  In 
1648  Ibrahim  was  deposed,  and  succeeded  by  his  son  Mohammed  IV., 
who  was  only  seven  years  old  at  the  time,  and  during  whose 
minority  the  government  was  contested  for  by  his  mother  and  his 
grandmother.  During  these  years  the  Ottoman  power  sank  to  the 
lowest  depths  of  anarchy  and  misrule.  In  1656  the  Venetians 
under  Mocenigo  won  a  naval  victory  in  the  Dardanelles  and 
followed  it  up  by  the  capture  of  Lemnos  and  Tenedos. 

§  26.  But  in  this  very  year  a  new  era  of  Turkish  history  begins. 
The  younger  Sultana  had  been  successful  in  the  contest  for  supreme 
influence,  and  at  her  instance  the  office  of  Grand  Vizier  was 
conferred  upon  an  Albanian,  Mohammed  Kiuprili.  Though  already 
seventy  years  old,  he  set  himself  with  determined  energy  to  the 
task  of  reform.  Everywhere  disorder  was  put  down  with  unsparing 
severity.  Discipline  was  restored  among  the  Janissaries,  and  their 
military  spirit  was  revived.  The  old  Ottoman  institutions  were 
once  more  set  in  working,  and  under  the  Kiuprili  family  the  Turkish 
empire  obtained  a  new  lease  of  life.  Not  content  with  internal 
reform,  the  Grand  Vizier  determined  to  embark  once  more  on  a 
career  of  foreign  conquest.  The  war  of  Candia  was  prosecuted  with 
renewed  vigour,  and  in  1657  the  Venetians  were  driven  from  their 
recent  conquests.  At  the  same  time  the  Turks  prepared  to  make 
their  power  again  felt  in  the  Danubian  territories,  which  had 
enjoyed  unaccustomed  security  for  the  last  seventy  years.     The 


a.d.  1623-1664.      BATTLE  OF  ST.  GOTHARD.  203 

occasion  for  this  enterprise  was  given  by  events  in  Transylvania, 
the  principality  which  had  been  formed  by  the  Zapolyas  under 
Turkish  patronage,  but  which  had  now  passed  into  other  hands. 
The  reigning  prince,  George  Ragocsky  II.,  in  his  greed  for  territorial 
aggrandisement,  had  in  1656  joined  Charles  X.  of  Sweden  against 
Poland.  His  campaign  was  utterly  unsuccessful,  but  Kiuprili  chose 
to  treat  it  as  an  act  of  insubordination  in  a  vassal  of  the  Porte.  He 
declared  Ragocsky  deposed,  and  ordered  the  estates  to  elect  a 
successor.  Resistance  being  deemed  impossible,  the  estates  lmd  to 
choose  Barczai,  a  nominee  of  the  vizier.  Ragocsky,  however, 
refused  to  submit,  and  applied  for  assistance  to  the  emperor. 
Although  the  princes  of  Transylvania  had  always  been  thorns  in  the 
side  of  the  Hapsburgs,  Leopold  I.  (1657-1705)  was  unwilling  to 
see  the  province  definitely  annexed  by  the  Turks,  as  his  own 
subjects  in  Hungary  were  extremely  discontented,  and  might  easily 
be  induced  t<»  prefer  Turkish  to  Austrian  rule.  On  the  other  hand, 
Ragocsky  was  distrusted  as  a  recent  enemy,  and  after  some 
hesitation,  Leopold  contented  himself  with  diplomatic  intervention, 
which  the  Porte  disregarded.  Ragocsky  now  made  a  stand  with  the 
help  of  his  own  followers,  but  the  vizier  sent  an  army  to  ent<r<  <• 
submission,  and  in  1660  the  last  Itagocsky  who  ruled  Transylvania 
was  slain  in  battle.  His  party  still  held  out,  and  elected  as  prince 
John  Kemenyi,  who  succeeded  in  capturing  Barczai  and  putting 
him  to  death.  With  Kemenyi  Leopold  concluded  a  close  alliance, 
and  sent  Montecuculi  to  defend  Transylvania.  Thus,  after  a 
century  of  peace,  the  empire  was  once  more  at  war  with  the  Turks. 
Montecuculi,  hampered  by  orders  from  home,  was  unable  to  conduct 
a  successful  campaign.  The  Porte  put  forward  another  nominee  for 
the  principality,  Apasi,  and  in  1662  Kemenyi  was  killed.  But 
Apasi  himself  was  dissatisfied  with  his  position.  He  saw  that  the 
real  object  of  the  Turks  was  to  annex  Transylvania,  and  opened 
secret  negotiations  with  the  emperor.  Thus  secure  of  internal 
support,  Leopold  made  great  efforts  to  continue  the  war.  Louis  X 1 V., 
with  that  magnanimity  which  sat  so  easily  upon  him,  sent  4000 
infantry  and  2000  cavalry  to  aid  against  the  infidel.  In  1664 
Montecuculi  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  commanding  force. 
He  was  opposed  by  Achmet  Kiuprili,  who  had  succeeded  his  father 
as  Grand  Vizier  in  1661,  and  who  was  eager  to  lead  the  Turks  to 
the  conquest  of  Vienna.  At  St.  Gothard,  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Raab,  the  two  armies  met  on  the  1st  of  August,  1664.  Montecuculi 
won  his  greatest  victory,  and  the  Christian  arms  recovered  the  glory 
that  had  been  lost  in  previous  wars  against  the  Ottomans.  But  the 
victory  had  no  commensurate  results.  Leopold  was  anxious  to 
terminate  the  war,  and  ten  days  after  the  battle  a  truce  for  twenty 


204  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

years  was  arranged  at  Vasvar.  The  imperial  and  Turkish  armies 
were  to  evacuate  Transylvania,  where  Apasi  was  recognised  as 
Prince  and  pledged  himself  to  pay  the  accustomed  tribute  to  the 
Sultan.  The  treaty  excited  the  greatest  discontent  in  Hungary,  and 
certainly  the  victory  of  St.  Gothard  entitled  Leopold  to  demand 
better  terms.  All  that  he  secured  was  the  continued  independence 
of  Transylvania,  while  the  Turks,  in  spite  of  their  defeat,  obtained 
accessions  of  territory. 

§  27.  This  fortunate  conclusion  of  the  war  enabled  Achmet  Kiuprili 
to  devote  undivided  attention  to  the  contest  with  Venice,  which  had 
dragged  on  for  twenty  years.  At  the  end  of  1666  he  assumed  the 
command  of  the  army  which  was  besieging  Candia.  The  garrison 
was  commanded  by  Morosini,  one  of  the  few  heroes  whom  Venice 
produced  after  the  15th  century.  For  two  years  the  obstinate 
defence  was  conducted  with  success.  But  the  superior  numbers  of 
the  Turks  and  the  stern  determination  of  the  vizier  were  not  to  be 
denied,  and  in  1669  the  fortress  became  untenable.  Morosini  took 
the  opportunity  to  negotiate  a  peace  which  the  republic  unwillingly 
accepted.  Candia  was  surrendered  on  the  17th  of  September,  and 
Venice  ceded  the  whole  island  to  the  Turks,  with  the  exception  of 
three  fortresses,  Karabusa,  Suda,  and  Spina longa. 

These  successive  pacifications  only  impelled  Kiuprili  to  seek  a 
new  outlet  for  the  military  energies  of  the  Turks,  and  this  he  found 
in  a  war  with  Poland.  The  territory  of  the  Ukraine,  inhabited  by 
the  warlike  tribes  of  the  Cossacks,  had  long  been  contested  for  by 
Russia  and  Poland.  By  the  truce  of  Andrussov  in  1667,  it  had  been 
divided  between  the  two  powers.  This  arrangement  was  very 
distasteful  to  the  Cossacks,  who  were  eager  to  regain  their  unity  and 
independence.  In  1670,  a  movement  of  the  Zaporogues,  a  tribe 
which  dwelt  by  the  mouths  of  the  Boug  and  Dnieper,  led  to  the 
despatch  of  a  Polish  army  under  Sobieski  as  general.  The  H  etman 
Doroschenko,  made  a  vigorous  resistance,  and  appealed  for  aid  to  the 
Porte.  He  hoped  to  become  ruler  of  the  united  Cossacks  under 
Turkish  suzerainty.  Kiuprili  readily  responded  to  the  appeal,  and  in 
1672  collected  an  army,  which  was  accompained  by  Mohammed  IV. 
in  person.  Siege  was  laid  to  Kaminietz  on  the  Dniester,  which 
had  to  surrender,  and  the  Polish  province  of  Podoliawas  speedily 
overrun.  The  feeble  king,  Michael  Wisniowiecky  (1669-1673), 
hastened  to  conclude  a  treaty  at  Budziak,  by  which  Podolia  was 
ceded  to  the  Porte  and  the  Ukraine  to  the  rebellious  Hetman  under 
Turkish  suzerainty,  and  Poland  promised  an  annual  tribute  of 
200,000  ducats.  But  the  influence  of  Sobieski  induced  the  Polish 
nobles  to  reject  the  treaty,  and  in  1673  he  won  a  great  victory  over 
Kiuprili  at  Khoczim.     In  1674  his  heroism  was  rewarded  by  his 


a.d.  1664-1676.      DISCONTENT  IN  HUNGARY  205 

election  to  the  Polish  crown.  But  the  Turks  had  the  advantage  of 
superior  numbers,  and  in  spite  of  another  defeat  at  the  h;ui<ls  of 
Sobieski  at  Lemberg  (1675),  they  succeeded  in  regaining  the  mastery 
in  Podolia.  It  was  only  the  fear  of  a  Russian  war  that  induced  the 
Turks  to  grant  rather  more  lenient  terras  than  those  of  1672  in  the 
treaty  of  Zurawna  (Oct.  1676).  By  this  the  greater  i>art  of  Podolia 
with  Kamenietz  was  handed  over  to  the  Sultan,  but  on  the  other 
an<l,  lie  gave  up  the  tribute  and  also  restored  two-thirds  of  the  Ukraine 
to  Poland. 

§  28.  Meanwhile  events  had  been  taking  place  in  Hungary  which 
were  destined  to  involve  the  Porte  in  its  most  important  and  ulti- 
mately its  most  disastrous  war  of  the  century.  The  modern  kingdom 
<>f  Hungary  was  at  that  time  divided  into  three  parts.  In  the  west 
was  the  narrow  strip  of  territory  whieh  was  held  by  the  Uapsburgs, 
and  whkfa  was  ruled  by  a  Palatine,  usually  a  native  noble,  with  his 
seat  of  government  at  Pressburg  on  the  Danube.  In  the  south-east 
was  the  district  which  had  been  annexed  by  the  Turks,  and  was 
directly  subject  to  a  pasha  at  Ofen,  ami  in  the  north-east  was 
Transylvania  with  its  own  elective  princes,  who  owed  allegiance  to 
the  Porte.  It  will  be  convenient  to  call  the  Austrian  province 
Hungary,  and  the  others  respectively  Turkish  Hungary  and  Tran- 
sylvania. 

Hungary  in  the  latter  half  of  the  17th  century  was  in  a  state  of 
perpetual  revolt.  There  were  two  main  causes  of  discontent; 
rrliu'ious  persecution,  and  the  arbitrary  interferenee  with  the 
national  rights  and  lilwrties  as  guaranteed  by  the  coronation  oath  of 
each  king.  In  most  of  the  German  principalities  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia  was  followed  by  increased  centralisation  and  despotism. 
The  same  thing  is  to  be  observed  in  the  Austrian  dominions.  The 
Uapsburgs,  as  heads  of  the  Empire,  had  suffered  a  serious  diminution 
of  dignity  and  influence.  For  this  they  thought  to  compensate 
themselves  by  increasing  their  domestic  power.  Thus  one  of  the 
results  of  the  decline  of  the  old  Empire,  was  the  rise  of  the  modern 
state  of  Austria.  But  the  measures  adopted  to  bring  this  about 
were  bitterly  resented  in  Hungary.  The  office  of  Palatine  was  often 
ht't  unfilled,  and  the  government  brought  more  and  more  directly 
under  officials  at  Vienna.  The  Magyar  language  was  discouraged, 
an  1  the  people  felt  that  they  were  being  deprived  of  their  separate 
nationality.  Still  more  serious  were  the  religious  motives  for 
discontent.  Protestantism  had  made  great  strides  in  Hungary,  as 
in  the  other  Hapsburg  territories,  in  the  later  part  of  the  16th 
century.  To  repress  this  heresy  Ferdinand  II.  had  introduced 
the  Jesuits,  founded  a  University  for  them,  and  strove  to  give  them 
complete  control  of  the  national  education.     Ferdinand  III.,  when 


206  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xil 

the  peace  set  his  hands  free,  commenced  a  systematic  persecution, 
which  threatened  Hungary  with  the  same  fate  as  had  befallen 
Bohemia  after  its  reduction  in  1622.  Leopold,  in  his  coronation- 
oath,  promised  liberty  of  conscience,  but  the  promise  was  never  ful- 
filled. Like  his  predecessors  he  had  been  brought  up  by  the  Jesuits, 
and  moreover  had  been  destined  for  the  church.  The  death  of  his 
elder  brother  gave  him  the  throne,  but  he  brought  to  it  all  the  prepos- 
sessions of  the  priesthood.  The  suppression  of  heresy  he  regarded  as 
his  first  duty,  and  his  reign  is  the  golden  age  of  the  Jesuits  in 
Austria. 

The  prevailing  discontent  was  increased  by  the  treaty  of  Vasvar, 
which  was  concluded  without  the  consent  of  the  diet,  and  which 
bought  off  the  Turks  f'om  Transylvania  at  the  expense  of  Hungary. 
The  troops  which  had  been  employed  in  the  war  were  still  quartered 
in  the  province,  and  it  was  evident  that  they  were  left,  not  as  a 
garrison,  but  as  armed  missionaries  to  assist  the  Jesuits  in  the  work 
of  conversion.  A  conspiracy  was  formed  in  1666  by  a  number  of 
the  chief  nobles,  who  employed  as  their  tool  Francis  Ragocsky,  a  son 
of  the  late  prince  of  Transylvania,  George  II.  But  the  conspiracy 
came  to  nothing  through  the  failure  to  obtain  foreign  assistance. 
Achmet  Kiuprili  was  absorbed  in  the  siege  of  Candia.  Louis  XIV. 
was  at  this  time  on  good  terms  with  the  government  at  Vienna. 
The  emperor  had  early  information  of  the  plans  of  the  rebels,  but 
waited  till  they  were  fully  involved,  and  in  1670  put  all  the  leaders 
to  death  with  the  exception  of  Ragocsky,  who  was  allowed  to  retire 
into  insignificance. 

§  29.  The  suppression  of  the  conspiracy  was  followed  by  a  reign  of 
terror  in  Hungary,  of  which  Lobkowitz,  Leopold's  minister,  was 
the  presiding  genius.  A  special  tribunal  at  Pressburg  proceeded 
against  the  nobles  with  the  illegal  severity  of  martial  law.  To 
support  the  military  expenses,  new  taxes  were  imposed  without  any 
pretence  of  consulting  the  estates.  The  office  of  Palatine  was 
abolished,  and  the  executive  power  entrusted  to  a  German  official 
as  governor-general.  All  the  chief  places  were  transferred  from 
natives  to  foreigners.  At  the  same  time  the  opportunity  was 
seized  to  complete  the  religious  persecution.  Protestant  preachers 
were  driven  into  exile  or  sent  to  the  galleys.  The  only  result  of  this 
severity  must  be  a  new  and  more  formidable  revolt.  Many  nobles 
and  others  escaped  death  by  flying  to  Transylvania,  where  they 
concerted  schemes  for  revenge.  In  1674  the  persecutor  Lobkowitz 
was  deprived  of  office  on  account  of  his  subservience  to  France. 
But  his  fall  brought  with  it  no  change  in  the  system  of  government 
in  Hungary  and  the  projects  of  rebellion  rapidly  acquired 
consistency.     An  able  and  devoted  leader  was  found  in   Emerich 


a.d.  1666-1681.  RISING  OF  TOkOLI.  207 

Tokoli,  whose  father  had  been  a  friend  of  the  nobles  executed  in 
1670.  European  affairs  were  more  favourable  to  the  second 
rebellion  than  to  the  first.  Louis  XIV.  was  now  at  open  war  with 
Leopold  and  had  no  scruples  about  supporting  rebellion  in  the  east. 
In  1674  John  Sobieski  had  been  elected  king  of  Poland  by  the 
French  and  anti-Austrian  party.  Besides  France  and  Poland,  the 
Porte  also  favoured  the  movement.  Achmet  Kiuprili  had  died  and 
had  been  succeeded  by  his  son-in-law,  Kara  Mustafa,  who  was 
eager  to  win  new  laurels  for  the  Ottoman  arms.  Apasi,  prince 
of  Transylvania,  followed  the  lead  of  his  suzerain,  and  had  also 
personal  interests  on  the  same  side.  It  was  certain  that  if  the 
Hapsburgs  made  themselves  absolute  in  Hungary,  their  next  object 
would  be  the  annexation  of  Transylvania. 

Encouraged  by  the  prospect  of  such  powerful  support,  Tokoli  and 
his  followers  took  up  arms.  Four  years  of  civil  war  ensued,  in 
which  the  insurgents  had  on  the  whole  the  advantage.  At  one 
time  Tokoli  even  threatened  Pressburg.  But  the  treaty  of  Nim- 
wegen  restored  the  balance  by  releasing  the  imperial  troops  from 
the  western  war.  In  1679  a  truce  was  concluded,  leaving  matt,  rs 
as  they  stood,  and  the  interval  was  occupied  in  negotiations. 
All  the  Hungarian  advisers  of  Leopold  urged  a  policy  of  concilia- 
tion, but  his  German  ministers  branded  them  as  traitors.  At 
last,  however,  the  attitude  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  was  commencing 
his  faux. us  rrnnionsKt  the  expense  of  Germany,  forced  concessions 
from  the  Austrian  government.  At  the  dirt  <>f  (Edensburg  in  1681 
the  system  of  Lobkowitz  was  definitely  abandoned.  The  office  of 
Palatine  was  revived  and  given  to  Paul  Esterhazy.  The 
general-governorship  was  to  be  abolished  for  ever;  the  arbitrary 
taxes  were  withdrawn ;  and  offices  were  henceforth  to  be  held  by 
natives.  Still  more  important  were  the  religious  articles,  which 
remained  in  force  till  the  death  of  Charles  VI.  Both  Calvinists  and 
Lutherans  were  restored  to  their  rights  as  citizens,  and  received 
liberty  of  conscience.  In  the  free  towns  Protestants  might  build 
a  church  on  some  spot  to  be  selected  by  the  emperor. 

§  30.  These  were  ample  concessions,  but  Tokoli  and  his  associates 
refused  to  accept  them.  They  maintained  that  as  soon  as  the  fear 
of  French  and  Turkish  intervention  was  past  the  old  oppressions 
would  be  resumed.  Tokoli  now  married  the  widow  of  Francis 
Ragocsky,  who  had  died  in  1676.  By  this  marriage  not  only  did 
he  obtain  great  wealth,  but  he  became  the  guardian  of  a  second 
Francis  Ragocsky,  his  stepson,  and  succeeded  to  the  popularity  and 
influence  which  this  family  still  enjoyed  in  Transylvania.  At  the 
same  time  he  drew  closer  his  alliance  with  the  Turks,  and  the 
Sultan  nominated  him  Prince  of  Hungary.     The  emperor  made 


208  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

a  last  effort  to  maintain  the  treaty  of  Vasvar.  But  the  Porte 
purposely  made  demands  too  insulting  to  be  accepted,  and  a  new 
war  broke  out  between  Austria  and  the  Turks. 

In  March,  1683,  Mohammed  IV.  assembled  an  enormDus  army 
at  Adrianople.  He  himself  advanced  with  it  as  far  as  Belgrad, 
where  he  handed  over  the  command  to  Kara  Mustafa.  At  Essek, 
Tokoli  joined  the  Turks  and  was  received  with  royal  honours. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  destination  of  the  army  was 
Vienna.  Charles  IV.  of  Lorraine,  with  the  imperial  forces,  was 
covering  Hungary,  but  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  Turkish 
intentions,  he  hastened  to  throw  reinforcements  into  the  capital. 
The  command  of  the  garrison  was  undertaken  by  Count  Gundaker 
Stahremberg,  a  member  of  a  family  that  has  rendered  conspicuous 
military  services  to  Austria.  Under  his  directions  the  suburbs  were 
burnt  to  the  ground,  and  the  efforts  of  the  defenders  were 
concentrated  on  the  city  walls.  Leopold  himself  had  fled  with  his 
family  and  treasure  up  the  Danube  to  Linz. 

The  second  siege  of  Vienna  is  a  memorable  event  in  the  history 
of  Europe.  The  Ottoman  power,  after  a  long  decline,  had  been 
revived  by  the  family  of  Kiuprili.  The  year  1683  was  decisive  as 
to  the  permanence  of  the  revival.  Tf  Vienna  had  fallen  it  is  not  easy 
to  imagine  what  would  have  been  the  future  of  Europe.  One  of  two 
events  appears  the  more  probable.  Either  the  Turkish  empire 
would  have  been  permanently  extended  to  the  Rhine  with  fatal 
results  to  European  civilisation.  Or  Louis  XIV.  would  have 
waited  for  the  collapse  of  Austria  to  pose  as  the  champion  of 
Christendom.  If  he  had  succeeded  in  driving  back  the  Turks,  his 
dream  of  a  Bourbon  monarchy  over  Europe  would  have  been 
realised. 

It  is  worth  while  to  review  quickly  the  state  of  Europe  at  this 
crisis.  Spain  was  the  emperor's  natural  ally.  But  the  Spanish 
monarchy  had  suffered  so  terribly,  both  from  internal  decay,  and 
from  external  attack,  that  it  was  unable  to  give  any  effective 
assistance.  In  Italy,  Venice  was  the  only  independent  state  of 
any  importance,  and  the  republic  had  sunk  into  impotent  inactivity 
after  the  close  of  the  Candian  war.  The  Pope,  Innocent  XL,  the 
enemy  of  Louis  XIV.,  was  devoted  to  the  imperial  cause,  but  the 
temporal  power  ©f  the  papacy  did  not  count  for  much,  and  its 
ecclesiastical  authority  was  narrowly  restricted.  Portugal  was 
only  too  glad  to  enjoy  its  independence  to  risk  it  by  intervention  in 
a  European  war.  England  under  Charles  II.  had  sunk  altogether 
from  the  position  to  which  Cromwell  had  raised  it.  Holland  was 
absorbed  in  watchful  hostility  to  France.  Sweden  was  too 
Protestant  to  assist  such  an  emperor   as  Leopold,  and   moreover 


a.d.  1683.  THE  SIEGE  OF  VIENNA.  *  209 

a  false  step  would  enable  Brandenburg  to  seize  Pomerania. 
Germany  was  as  usual  divided,  and  the  western  princes  were 
occupied  in  watching  Louis  XIV.,  who  had  just  seized  Strasburg 
(1681),  and  was  planning  further  acquisitions  eastwards.  There 
was  only  one  power  kit,  Poland,  ruled  by  John  Sobieski,  who  had 
already  earned  a  great  reputation  by  the"  victories  of  Khoczim  and 
Lemberg.  But  then  Sobieski  was  avowedly  a  partisan  of  France, 
and  France  was  moro  or  less  openly  encouraging  the  Turks.  More- 
over, the  Polish  constitution,  with  its  unlimited  opportunities  for 
obstruction,  made  it  difficult  for  the  king  to  take  part  in  a  war 
whirli  did  not  immediately  concern  the  national  interests.  Sobieski 
had  also  a  personal  grievance  against  Leopold,  who  had  refused 
him  thu  title  of  Majesty  on  the  ground  that  he  was  an  elected 
and  not  an  hereditary  king.  In  spite  of  these  considerations, 
Leopold  applied  to  Poland  for  aid  and  obtained  it.  Sobieski's 
wife,  a  Frenchwoman,  had  recently  been  alienated  by  Louis,  and 
the  discovery  of  some  letters  of  the  French  envoy,  which  spoke 
contemptuously  of  Polish  venality,  and  disclosed  a  plot  for  the 
king's  deposition,  removed  all  difficulty  with  the  diet.  Poland 
promised  to  furnish  40,000  troops  against  the  Turks  which 
Sobieski  was  to  command  in  person. 

Meanwhile  Vienna  was  besieged.  It  might  have  been  taken 
with  ease  but  for  tin  delay  of  the  Vizier,  who  wasted  fourteen 
days  over  a  march  that  might  have  been  completed  in  two.  This 
enabled  Stahremberg  to  complete  his  plans  for  the  defence.  It  was 
not  till  the  24th  of  July  that  Kara  Mustafa  appeared  before  the 
city  with  his  whole  army,  over  200,000  men.  The  great  siege 
lasted  till  the  12th  of  September.  Several  times  the  Turkish 
mines  made  great  breaches  in  the  walls,  and  the  city  was  on  the 
"f  being  taken  by  assault.  But  each  time  the  invaders  were 
repulsed  and  the  damage  repaired.  At  last  on  the  10th  of 
S --pi ember  the  relieving  army  appeared  on  the  neighbouring  hill, 
the  Kahlenberg.  Sobieski  and  his  Poles  had  effected  a  junction 
with  Charles  of  Lorraine,  and  had  also  been  reinforced  by  troops 
from  Bavaria  and  Saxony.  Kara  Mustafa,  confident  in  his  over- 
whelming numbers,  decided  to  risk  a  battle  and  to  continue  the 
siege  at  the  same  time.  On  the  12th  the  decisive  conflict  took 
place.  The  Turks  were  completely  defeated,  and  fled  in  confusion, 
leaving  enormous  booty  behind  them.  On  the  14th  the  emperor 
arrived  and  held  his  famous  interview  with  Sobieski. 

A  few  days  after  the  great  victory  of  Vienna,  Sobieski  and  the 

duke  of  Lorraine  advanced  to  attack  the  Turks  in  Hungary.     At 

Parkani,  on  the  7  th  October,  the  Poles,  who  were  in  the  van,  suffered 

defeat.     But  the  arrival  of  the  imperialists  stopped  their  retreat, 

11 


210  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xn. 

and  two  days  later  they  won  a  complete  victory.  This  was 
followed  by  the  capture  of  Gran,  which  the  Turks  had  held  for 
seventy-four  years.  After  these  great  successes,  which  have  given 
him  imperishable  fame,  Sobieski  returned  to  Poland.  The  Grand 
Vizier,  Kara  Mustafa,  who  was  responsible  for  the  campaign  of 
1683,  paid  the  penalty  of  nis  unsuccessful  ambition.  At  Belgrad 
the  envoy  of  the  Sultan  met  him  with  the  fatal  bowstring,  and  he 
was  put  to  death.  With  his  fall  ended  the  great  impulse  which 
the  Kiuprili  family  had  given  to  the  Turkish  power. 

§  31.  The  war  between  Austria  and  the  Turks  lasted  for  fourteen 
years.  The  imperialists  found  able  and  successful  leaders  in  Charles  of 
Lorraine,  Lewis  of  Baden,  and  Eugene  of  Savoy.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  all  of  them,  like  Montecuculi,  were  foreigners.  The  great 
success  of  1683  had  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  Europe,  and  the 
war  has  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  mediseval  crusades.  The 
empire  sent  assistance  to  its  head,  and  Venice  once  more  came 
forward  in  the  cause  of  Christendom.  Early  in  1684  the  "  holy 
league"  was  concluded  by  papal  mediation  between  the  emperor 
and  the  republic.  It  was  the  first  time  in  its  history  that  Venice 
had  taken  the  initiative  against  the  Turks.  Under  Morosini  their 
armies  invaded  the  Morea,  and  reduced  the  greater  part  of  it. 
Besides  the  formal  allies  of  the  empire,  volunteers  nocked  to  join 
the  Christian  army  from  all  parts  of  Europe.  The  only  exception 
to  the  general  crusading  impulse  was  France.  The  Most  Christian 
King  was  eager  to  have  his  hands  free  on  the  Hhine,  and  was 
rejoiced  to  see  the  imperial  armies  occupied  in  the  east.  Without 
going  so  far  as  to  conclude  a  formal  alliance  with  the  Turks,  the 
French  envoy  at  Constantinople  was  active  in  urging  on  the  war, 
and  French  gold  was  employed  to  support  the  armies  of  the 
infidel. 

In  1684  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  deprived  of  the  assistance  of  the 
Poles,  undertook  the  sole  command  of  the  imperial  and  German 
troops.  He  laid  siege  to  Ofen,  the  former  capital  of  Hungary,  which 
for  145  years  had  been  held  by  the  Turks,  and  was  reckoned  among 
the  ten  great  cities  of  their  empire.  He  succeeded  in  defeating  an 
army  which  was  sent  to  its  relief,  but  the  heroic  obstinacy  of  the 
garrison  foiled  all  attempts  to  take  the  city,  and  compelled  the 
raising  of  the  siege  after  it  had  lasted  109  days.  In  1685  this 
failure  was  redeemed,  Charles  of  Lorraine  won  another  great  victory, 
stormed  the  fortress  of  Neuhausel,  and  drove  the  Hungarian  rebels 
under  Tokoli  back  to  Transylvania.  In  the  next  year  the  siege  of 
Ofen  was  resumed  by  the  duke  of  Lorraine  and  the  elector  of 
Bavaria.  This  time  the  imperialists  were  determined  to  succeed, 
and  in  September  the  town  was  taken  by  storm. 


a.i>.  1683-1688.      BEDUCTION  OF  HUNGARY.  211 

These  imperalist  successes  were  fatal  to  the  rebellion  in  Hungary 
which  had  given  rise  to  the  war.  Tokoli  had  experienced  the  in- 
gratitude of  his  allies.  The  Turks,  treating  him  as  the  cause  of 
their  misfortunes,  had  sent  him  in  chains  to  Adrianople.  Before 
long,  however,  the  want  of  his  services  was  felt,  he  was  released 
and  sent  back  to  Transylvania.  But  his  influence  had  suffered 
fatally.  Hungary  lay  at  the  feet  of  the  victorious  emperor,  and 
Leopold  was  not  long  in  making  his  ]x>wer  felt.  A  special  court  of 
justice  was  erected  to  act  against  the  rebels,  and  the  severity  of 
its  proceedings  recalls  the  acts  of  Alva's  council  of  blood.  The 
Hungarian  estates  were  summoned  to  Pressburg,  and  intimidated 
into  sanctioning  important  changes  in  the  constitution.  The 
crown  ceased  to  be  elective,  and  was  made  hereditary  in  the 
House  of  Hapsburg.  The  nobles  had  to  renounce  their  right 
of  armed  resistance.  The  coronation-oath,  on  which  the  liberties 
of  Hungary  were  based,  was  abolished.  At  the  same  time, 
though  no  formal  change  was  made  in  the  relations  of  religious 
parties,  the  Jesuits  were  able  to  continue  their  persecutions  in  spite 
of  the  law.  It  was  computed  that  more  than  half  of  the  Hungarian 
Protestants  suffered  death  or  exile  in  these  years. 

Meanwhile  the  Austrian  successes  continued.  In  1687  the  new 
Grand  Vizier,  Suleiman  Pacha,  advanced  with  a  large  force  to 
attempt  the  recovery  of  Ofen.  But  he  was  confronted  by  the 
German  troops  at  Mohacz,  the  scene  of  a  great  Turkish  victory  in 
1526,  when  the  last  non-Hapsburg  king  of  Hungary  fell  in  battle. 
After  the  lapse  of  a  century  and  a  halt  the  Christian  defeat  was 
avenu'eil.  The  .hike  .  t  1  .orraine  and  Lewis  of  Baden  won  a  complete 
victory,  which  was  followed  by  the  reduction  of  Slavonia  and 
Croatia.  These  unwonted  defeats,  coupled  with  losses  in  Greece, 
aroused  a  mutiny  among  the  Turkish  troops.  The  Janissaries  took 
the  lead  in  demanding  the  punishment  of  their  generals.  The  Sultan 
attempted  to  pacify  them  by  sending  them  the  head  of  the  grand 
vizier.  But  concessions  only  eneouraged  further  demands,  and 
the  spirit  of  revolt  spread  from  the  army  to  the  capital.  In  Nov. 
1687,  Mohammed  IV.  was  deposed  and  replaced  by  his  brother 
Solyman  II.  The  new  Sultan,  who  had  lived  for  fifty-two  years 
in  compulsory  retirement,  showed  unexpected  capacity  and  energy. 
But  he  ascended  the  throne  under  unfavourable  circumstances, 
which  made  it  difficult  to  arrest  the  progress  of  decline.  He  was 
occupied  for  some  months  in  suppressing  the  disorder  and  anarchy 
which  accompanied  the  change  of  rulers. 

These  events  in  Constantinople  gave  new  advantages  to  the 
imperialists.  Early  in  1688  they  advanced  against  Transylvania, 
where  the  vassal  princes  of  the  Porte  had  so  long  been  a  thorn  in 


212  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xii. 

the  side  of  the  Austrian  monarchy.  The  ruling  prince,  Apasi,  was 
occupied  in  gluttony  and  self-indulgence,  and  was  easily  induced  to 
desert  the  sinking  cause  of  the  Turks  and  to  ally  himself  with 
Austria.  A  treaty  was  arranged  at  Hermanstadt  in  May,  1688, 
in  which  the  Turkish  suzerainty  was  formally  renounced,  and 
Transylvania  became  a  vassal  province  of  the  king  of  Hungary. 
Imperial  garrisons  were  to  be  admitted  into  the  chief  fortresses. 
The  emperor,  on  his  side,  promised  protection  and  the  security  of 
political  and  religious  freedom. 

Later  in  the  year  the  war  against  the  Turks  was  resumed, 
and  in  September,  Belgrad,  the  great  Danube  fortress,  and  the 
bulwark  of  the  Turkish  power  in  Hungary,  was  taken  by  storm. 
The  imperialists  now  became  the  aggressors.  In  168S)  Lewis  of  Baden 
crossed  the  Danube  and  invaded  Servia.  Twice  he  defeated  the 
Turkish  armies,  and  closed  the  campaign  by  the  capture  of  Nizza 
and  Widdin.  It  was  in  vain  that  Solyman  made  overtures  of  peace. 
The  emperor's  demands  were  too  excessive  to  be  accepted  without 
disgrace.  To  make  matters  worse,  a  new  enemy,  the  Czar  of 
Russia,  took  the  field  against  the  Turks.  They  had  been  driven 
from  Hungary,  and  the  old  idea  of  expelling  them  altogether  from 
the  soil  of  Europe  was  revived  with  great  prospects  of  success. 

§  32.  At  this  critical  moment  two  events  combined  to  save  the 
Ottoman  empire  from  dissolution,  and  to  reverse  for  a  moment  the 
fortunes  of  war.  In  the  first  place,  war  broke  out  with  Louis  XIV., 
which  compelled  the  emperor  to  divert  his  attention  from  eastern 
affairs  and  to  send  his  best  troops  and  generals  to  the  Rhine. 
Secondly,  the  Sultan  conferred  the  office  of  Grand  Vizier  upon 
Mustafa  Kiuprili,  the  brother  of  Achmet,  whose  death  in  1676 
had  been  so  fatal  to  the  Porte.  This  third  member  of  the  Kiuprili 
family  emulated  and  even  surpassed  the  reforming  energy  of  his 
predecessors.  Though  he  held  office  only  for  two  years,  yet  in  that 
period  he  made  his  influence  felt  in  every  part  of  the  administration. 
The  finances  were  reformed,  the  Christian  subjects  were  conciliated 
by  a  policy  of  religious  toleration,  and  a  new  army  was  created 
with  improved  discipline  and  a  revived  thirst  for  military  glory. 
The  change  which  could  be  produced  by  the  ability  and  energy  of 
a  single  man  is  conspicuous  in  the  events  of  1690. 

In  April,  Apasi,  prince  of  Transylvania,  died,  and  the  imperial 
party  strained  every  nerve  to  secure  the  election  of  the  emperor 
himself  as  his  successor.  But  the  grand  vizier  took  the  bold  step  of 
nominating  the  Hungarian  rebel  Tokoli  as  prince  of  Transylvania, 
and  sent  forces  which  enabled  him  for  a  time  to  maintain  his 
position  in  the  province.  While  Lewis  of  Baden  was  engaged  in 
war  with  Tokoli,  the  grand  vizier  himself  led  a  Turkish  army  into 


a.d.  1688-1695.       AUSTRO-TURKISH  WAB.  213 

Servia.  Nizza  and  Widdin  were  recovered,  and  the  Turks  advanced 
to  the  siege  of  Belgrad.  The  garrison  made  a  gallant  defence  in 
spite  of  the  smallness  of  their  numbers.  But  an  accidental  explosion, 
which  blew  up  great  part  of  the  wall,  enabled  the  besiegers  to 
recover  the  greatest  of  the  imperial  conquests.  The  government 
at  Vienna  was  thrown  into  consternation  by  the  sudden  change 
of  circumstances.  Early  in  1691,  Mustafa  Kiuprili  strengthened 
his  army  with  reinforcements  and  prepared  for  a  new  invasion  of 
Hungary.  The  death  of  the  Sultan  in  June  brought  no  advantage 
to  the  enemies  of  the  Porte.  His  successor,  Achmet  II.,  confirmed 
the  appointment  of  Mustafa,  who  was  now  advancing  against  Peter- 
wardein.  The  margrave  of  Baden  hastened  from  Transylvania  to 
block  his  way.  The  two  armies  met  at  Szalankeimn,  whore  the 
imperial  general  won  the  greatest  of  his  victories.  The  grand 
vizier  was  killed  by  a  bullet,  and  with  him  {wished  the  last  hope 
of  the  restoration  «»f  the  Turkish  empire  to  its  old  greatness.  The 
victors  followed  up  their  success  by  capturing  Grosswardein  and 
by  the  complete  conquest  of  Transylvania.  T«">k«'ili  had  been  driven 
into  Moravia,  the  young  Apasi  was  a  nonentity,  and  in  December 
1691,  the  estates  accepted  a  treaty,  by  which  the  Hapsburgs  were 
to  hold  the  princely  title,  on  condition  of  recognising  all  ancient 
rights  and  privileges.  The  emperor  was  to  receive  a  yearly  tribute 
of  50,000  ducats.  This  treaty  destroyed  all  the  ambitious  dreams 
of  Tokuli.  Still  he  remain,  d  true  to  his  allies  and  fought  during 
the  rest  of  the  war  on  the  Turkish  side. 

The  Turkish  power  was  not  destroyed  by  the  battle  of  Szalankemen. 
Lewis  of  Baden  was  despatched  to  the  lihine  to  take  the  place  of 
Charles  of  Ixjrraine  who  had  died  in  1600.  Eugene  of  Savoy  was 
employed  in  Italy.  In  their  absence  the  command  of  the  imperial 
troops  in  Hungary  fell  into  comparatively  inferior  hands  and  the 
Turks  were  enabled  to  retain  Belgrad,  though  they  failed  to  regain 
any  more  of  their  lost  ground.  In  1695  Achmet  II.  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  nephew  Mustafa  II.,  the  son  of  Mohammed  IV. 
He  declared  his  intention  of  following  the  example  of  his  ancestors, 
and  commanding  the  Turkish  armies  in  person.  For  the  moment 
he  succeeded  in  inspiring  new  life  into  the  effete  monarchy.  At 
sea  the  Ottoman  fleet  gained  several  advantages  over  the  Venetians. 
In  September,  1695,  the  Sultan  crossed  the  Danube  with  an 
army,  captured  a  number  of  fortresses,  and  completely  destroyed  a 
detachment  of  the  imperial  army.  In  the  next  year  he  again  entered 
Hungary,  and  at  Olasch  near  Temesvar  came  into  collision  with  the 
imperialists  under  Caprara  and  the  elector  of  Saxony.  A  long  and 
obstinate  battle  ensued,  in  which  both  sides  suffered  heavily  and 
neither  could  claim  a  decided  advantage.    Directly  afterwards  the 


214  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xit. 

elector  departed  to  canvass  for  the  throne  of  Poland,  which  was 
vacant  by  the  death  of  Sobieski.  The  command  of  the  imperialists 
was  now  undertaken  by  Eugene  of  Savoy,  who  was  set  at  liberty  by 
the  recently  arranged  neutrality  of  Italy.  Under  his  able  leadership 
the  supremacy  of  the  Christian  arms  was  completely  restored.  In 
1697  the  Sultan  once  more  advanced  from  Belgrad  to  the  Theiss 
At  Zenta  on  that  river  was  fought  one  of  the  great  battles  of  the 
century,  in  which  Eugene  won  a  decisive  victory.  The  Turkish 
army,  numbering  over  100,000  men,  was  almost  annihilated.  Want 
of  provisions  and  floods  prevented  the  prince  from  reaping  the  full 
fruits  of  his  victory,  and  allowed  the  Turks  still  to  retain  Temesvar 
and  Belgrad. 

The  western  war  had  been  terminated  by  the  peace  of  Ryswick, 
and  the  emperor  was  now  able  to  concentrate  his  forces  in  the  east. 
The  Turkish  power  was  once  more  in  imminent  danger.  The 
Russians,  under  Peter  the  Great,  conducted  a  victorious  campaign 
which  ended  in  the  capture  of  Azof.  Venice  had  reduced  the 
Morea,  and  was  beginning  to  advance  beyond  the  isthmus  of  Corinth. 
But  several  circumstances  combined  to  make  the  emperor  desirous 
to  end  the  war.  Charles  II.  of  Spain  was  childless  and  evidently 
dying.  The  great  question  of  the  Spanish  succession  required 
settlement,  and  it  was  necessary  for  the  emperor  to  have  his 
hands  free.  England  and  Holland  used  their  influence  to  bring 
about  an  agreement.  In  October,  1698,  a  truce  was  concluded* 
which  ripened  into  the  important  treaty  of  Carlowitz  (January, 
1699).  By  this  treaty  Austria  obtained  the  whole  of  Transylvania* 
Hungary  with  the  exception  of  the  Banat  of  Temesvar,  and  the 
greater  part  of  Slavonia  and  Croatia.  Venice  retained  the  Morea, 
but  restored  all  conquests  north  of  the  isthmus  of  Corinth.  To 
Poland  the  sultan  restored  the  territories  in  Podolia  which  had 
been  conquered  under  Mohammed  IV.  Russia  kept  Azof,  an<)  thus 
secured  a  position  on  the  Black  Sea.  The  Ottoman  power  was 
seriously  diminished  by  the  treaty.  The  decline  which  began 
with  the  victory  of  Sobieski  at  Vienna  was  completed.  From  this 
time  it  ceased  to  be  a  danger  to  the  Christian  powers  of  Europe. 

It  only  remains  now  to  notice  the  end  of  the  Hungarian  leader 
Tokoli.  The  emperor  had  demanded  his  surrender  at  Carlowitz, 
but  the  Sultan  honourably  refused  compliance.  The  luckless  rebel 
received  from  the  gratitude  of  the  Porte  some  property  in  Asia 
Minor  near  Nicomedia.  There  he  was  joined  by  his  wife,  who  had 
been  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  imperialists,  but  was  released 
after  the  peace.  In  1703  Tokoli  died,  his  wife  having  died  the 
year  before. 


CHAPTER  XIH. 

THE  AGE  OF  LOUIS  XIV. 

Louis'  early  tears. — §  1.  Louis  becomes  his  own  first  minister  ;  fall 
of  Fouquet;  Colbert  receives  office.  $  2.  Colberts  administrative 
reforms.  §  3.  Louis' ambition.  §4.  War  of  Devolution;  conquests 
in  Flanders  and  Franche-Comte ;  the  Triple  Alliance  ;  treaty  of  A ix- 
la-Chapelle.  II.  France  at  the  HUH  OP  ITS  power. — §  5.  In- 
creased influence  of  religious  motives  over  Louis  XIV.;  treaty  of 
Dover ;  ascendancy  of  Louvois ;  war  with  Holland ;  fall  of  the  De 
Witts  and  accession  of  William  of  Orange.  §  6.  Holland  finds  allies ; 
French  successes  in  1673 ;  league  formed  at  the  Hague.  §  7.  Ki  1 
against  the  rest  of  Europe ;  conquest  of  Franche-Comte* ;  victories  of 
Turenne  in  1674.  §  8.  Campaign  of  1675  ;  death  of  Turenne;  retire- 
ment of  Condc  and  Montecuculi.  §9.  Campaign  of  1676;  financial 
difficulties  of  France ;  campaign  of  1677  ;  marriage  of  William  of  Orange 
with  Mary  of  England.  §  10.  Treaty  of  Nimwegen  §  11.  Greatness  of 
France  at  this  time ;  beginning  of  decliue;  the  king's  mistresses;  Madame 
de  Maintenon.  HI.  The  Reunions  and  the  League  op  Augsburg. 
— §  12.  The  chambres  de  reunion;  Louis'  aggressions  are  unopposed. 

L13.  Rise  of  the  Jansenists;  religious  persecution.  §  14.  Quarrel  of 
sjil  XIV.  and  Innocent  XI.  §15.  Persecution  of  the  Huguenots; 
the  dragonnades  of  Louvois  ;  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  §  16. 
Alienation  of  the  European  powers  from  France ;  formation  of  the 
League  of  Augsburg;  William  of  Orange  is  offered  the  English  crown. 
§  17.  Louis'  intervention  in  the  election  to  the  archbishopric  of 
Cologne;  French  attack  upon  Germany;  accession  of  William  III. 
§  18.  Outbreak  of  a  general  war;  enormous  exertions  of  France ; 
campaign  of  1690;  the  battle  of  the  Boyne.  §  19.  Campaign  of 
1691 ;  death  of  Louvois;  naval  battle  of  La  Hogue ;  general  survey  of 
the  war.  §  20.  Exhaustion  of  France ;  Louis  detaches  Savoy  from  the 
League ;  treaty  of  Ryswick ;  Louis  XIV.'s  position.  IV.  War  of 
the  Spanish  succession. — §21.  The  succession  question  in  Spain; 
European  interest  in  it ;  the  two  partition  treaties.  §  22.  Charles 
II. 's  will ;  Louis  accepts  the  crown  for  his  grandson.  §  23.  Circum- 
stances favourable  to  Louis;  his  own  conduct  excites  opposition; 
formation  of  the  Grand  Alliance;  weakness  of  France.  §  24.  The 
war  begins  in  Italy ;  Italian  campaigns  of  1701-2  ;  Savoy  changes 
sides.  §  25.  Campaigns  of  1702-3  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  Germany. 
§  26.  Campaign  of  1704;  battle  of  Blenheim.  §  27.  Campaigns  of 
1705-6  in  the  Netherlands,  Italy,  and  Spain.  §  28.  The  allies  checked 
in  1707 ;  Charles  XII.  at  Altranstadt.  §  29.  Growing  exhaustion  of 
France;  campaign  of  1708  in  the  Netherlands;    Louis  XIV.  opens 


216  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiit. 

negotiations  ;  battle  of  Malplaquet,  1709.  §  30.  Congress  of  Gei  truy- 
denburg;  reaction  in  favour  of  France;  defeat  of  the  allies  in  Spain; 
fall  of  the  Whig  ministry  in  England  ;  death  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  I. 
§  31.  Negotiations  for  peace;  campaign  of  1612;  treaty  of  Utrecht. 
§  32.  Charles  VI.  has  to  give  way ;  treaties  of  Rastadt  and  Baden. 
V.  Last  years  op  Louis  XIV.— §  33.  Bigotry  of  the  king  in  his  old 
age ;  destruction  of  Port  Royal ;  the  bull  Unigenitus.  §  34.  Deaths 
in  the  royal  family  ;  Monsieur ;  the  Dauphin  ;  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Burgundy ;  the  Duke  of  Berry.  §  35.  Louis  XIV.'s  will ;  his 
death  ;  general  character  of  his  reign. 

I.  Louis'  Early  Years. — Colbert's  Administration. 

§  1.  On  the  death  of  Mazarin,  Louis  XIV.  at  once  undertook  in  person 
the  government  of  the  state.  The  place  hitherto  occupied  by 
Richelieu  and  Mazarin  was  henceforth  filled  by  the  king  himself. 
The  courtiers  were  astonished  at  this  sudden  resolution  of  the 
young  and  pleasure-loving  prince,  they  were  still  more  astonished 
that  he  really  carried  it  out.  He  had  to  work  several  hours  a 
day,  but  he  had  a  real  love  of  details,  and  soon  grew  accustomed 
to  and  interested  in  his  new  occupations.  He  continued  to  employ 
the  same  ministers  who  had  acted  under  Mazarin.  The  chancellor 
was  Seguier,  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  monarchy.  Lyonne,  a 
diplomatist  scarcely  inferior  to  Mazarin  himself,  had  charge  of 
foreign  affairs.  The  military  administration  was  in  the  hands  of 
Le  Tellier,  famous  chiefly  as  the  father  of  Louvois,  who  was  already 
assisting  his  father  and  was  destined  to  succeed  him.  All  these 
ministers  were  contented  to  stand  in  the  same  relations  to  Louis  as 
they  had  previously  to  Mazarin.  But  the  most  ambitious  if  not 
the  most  able  of  the  ministers,  was  Fouquet,  the  superintendent  of 
finance.  He  had  amassed  a  large  fortune,  which  he  spent  partly  on 
a  magnificent  establishment,  partly  on  the  patronage  of  literature 
and  art.  He  aspired  to  the  vacant  position  of  chief  minister. 
Louis,  who  had  been  warned  against  Fouquet  by  Mazarin,  was 
determined  to  get  rid  of  him.  He  had  a  successor  already  prepared 
in  the  person  of  Colbert,  a  humble  and  industrious  servant  of 
Mazarin,  whom  the  latter  on  his  death-bed  had  recommended  to 
the  king.  The  secrecy  and  almost  treachery  of  the  measures  which 
Louis  took  for  the  arrest  of  Fouquet,  show  that  he  was  as  yet 
hardly  conscious  of  the  extent  of  the  royal  power.  After  every- 
thing had  been  done  to  inspire  confidence,  the  minister  was  suddenly 
imprisoned,  and  a  commission  appointed  to  try  him.  The  trial 
lasted  three  years,  and  in  spite  of  the  bitter  hostility  of  the  court 
he  was  condemned  only  to  exile.  The  king,  assuming  the  converse 
of  his  right  of  pardon,  altered  the  sentence  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment in  Pinerolo.  There  Fouquet  died  in  1680,  though  many 
suspected  that   his  reported  death  was   a   fiction,  and  that  he 


a.d.  1659.        ADMINISTRATION  OF  COLBERT.  217 

was  in  reality  that  most  famous  of  state  prisoners,  the  Man  in  the 
Iron  Mask.  Louis  now  abolished  the  office  of  superintendent. and 
entrusted  the  finances  to  a  commission  of  five  with  Colbert  at 
their  head.  The  inner  council  of  the  king  was  now  composed  of 
Lyonnet  Le  Tellier  and  Colbert.  With  their  assistance  Louis  set 
himse'f  to  the  task  of  internal  reform,  so  necessary  after  the  recent 
disturbances  and  maladministration. 

§  2.  The  chief  burden  of  these  reforms  fell  upon  Colbert,  who  worked 
with  inflinching  assiduity.  The  first  and  most  essential  reform  was 
that  of  the  finances,  which  had  fallen  into  the  same  condition  as 
they  were  before  the  administration  of  Sully.  The  "partisans" 
were  again  in  full  activity  :  of  the  taxes  levied  less  than  half  found 
tluir  way  to  the  treasury;  the  annual  expenditure  exceeded  the 
revenue  by  22  millions.  The  measures  taken  to  remedy  these 
abuses  were  in  the  highest  degree  arbitrary  but  effective.  Interest 
on  loans  was  reduced  to  five  per  cent,  by  a  reckless  breach  of  public 
faith.  Individuals  were  suddenly  reduced  to  poverty,  but  their 
interests  were  disregarded  in  comparison  with  the  common  welfare. 
A  large  number  of  useless  offices  were  swept  away,  and  the 
system  of  farming  the  taxes  was  abolished.  Richelieu's  Intendants 
were  revived  to  superintend  the  financial  administration  in  the 
provinces.  The  taille,  the  moat  obnoxious  of  taxes  because  it  fell 
only  on  the  middle  ami  lower  classes,  was  reduced,  and  the  treasury 
compensated  by  duties  on  articles  of  consumption  which  fell  upon 
all  classes.  The  result  of  these  and  other  changes  was  that  the 
revenue  was  immensely  increased,  while  the  pressure  of  taxation 
was  do  heavier  than  before.  This  happy  result  was  attained  by  the 
measures  which  Colbert  took  to  increase  the  national  wealth. 
Native  manufactures  were  encouraged  in  every  possible  way. 
Foreign  manufacturers  were  bribed  to  take  up  their  abode  in  France. 
Heavy  duties  were  levied  on  imported  goods,  while  bounties  were 
lavishly  granted  to  domestic  producers.  Colbert's  whole  system 
was  one  of  protection,  and  was  attended  with  evil  as  well  as 
advantage.  The  interests  of  the  consumer  were  sacrificed  to  those 
of  the  producer,  and  the  latter  was  taught  to  rely  rather  on  state 
aid  than  on  his  own  exertions.  Commerce  was  patronised  as  well 
as  manufactures.  A  great  canal  was  projected  which  was  to  join 
the  Mediterranean  with  the  German  Ocean,  and  thus  to  carry  the 
commerce  between  north  and  south  through  the  heart  of  France. 
Marseilles  and  Dunkirk  were  made  free  ports.  Four  great  com- 
panies were  formed  to  trade  with  the  East  and  West  Indies,  with 
Africa  and  the  north.  Great  part  of  the  capital  was  furnished  by 
the  government,  and  the  royal  influence  was  exerted  to  obtain 
subscriptions  from  individual  capitalists.  The  French  navy,  which 
11* 


218  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xm. 

had  disappeared  under  Mazarin,  was  revived  under  Colbert.  The 
great  ports  of  Toulon  and  Brest  were  strengthened,  and  the  naval 
power  of  France  was  before  long  inferior  only  to  that  of  England 
and  Holland.  The  only  element  of  national  industry  which  the 
government  entirely  neglected  was  agriculture,  but  even  that  felt 
the  impulse  of  the  new  activity  in  other  departments.  Although 
Colbert's  measures  were  not  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of 
modern  political  economy,  they  were  not  ill-suited  to  existing 
circumstances,  and  they  mark  an  era  in  the  history  of  France. 

All  departments  felt  the  same  reforming  influence.  The  judicial 
administration  was  centralised,  and  obsolete  differences  of  custom 
and  procedure  modified  or  abolished.  Codes  of  civil,  criminal,  and 
commercial  law  were  drawn  up  and  issued  in  rapid  succession.  A 
regular  police  system  was  instituted,  and  became  a  new  and  powerful 
weapon  for  the  extension  of  the  royal  power.  The  army  was 
reorganised  by  Le  Tellier  and  Louvois.  Discipline  was  rigorously 
enforced,  uniforms  were  introduced  to  distinguish  the  soldier  from 
the  civilian,  magazines  and  hospitals  were  organised.  One  of  the 
chief  promoters  of  the  new  system  was  an  officer  called  Martinet, 
whose  name  has  become  a  proverbial  expression  for  rigorous 
severity.  The  bayonet  was  brought  into  general  use,  artillery  and 
fortifications  were  improved.  The  king  found  a  new  means  of 
occupying  the  still  restless  nobility  by  the  gift  of  military 
commissions  which  they  could  hardly  refuse.  The  patronage  of 
literature  and  art  was  undertaken  by  the  government  as  part  of  its 
duties,  and  in  the  same  spirit  as  the  others.  A  regular  list  of 
pensioners  was  kept,  aud  among  the  recipients  of  the  royal  bounty 
were  included  distinguished  men  from  most  European  countries. 
The  Academy  of  Sciences  was  founded  in  1664  on  the  model  of 
the  English  Royal  Society.  In  1669  the  Academy  of  Music  was 
formed  for  the  encouragement  of  the  opera,  which  had  been 
introduced  by  Mazarin.  In  every  department  of  life  the  influence 
of  the  central  government  was  felt.  The  result  was  a  forced  and 
hasty  development,  which  could  not  be  lasting  because  it  had  no 
firm  root  in  individual  energy  and  independence. 

§  3.  Whatever  were  the  defects  of  the  royal  policy,  these  early 
years  of  Louis  XIV.  are  among  the  most  prosperous  in  the  history 
of  France.  The  country  was  at  peace  both  within  and  without. 
But  with  his  other  magnificent  tastes  Louis  XIV.  unfortunately 
combined  a  love  of  military  glory  and  of  national  aggrandisement. 
Determined  to  maintain  his  own  supremacy  in  France,  he  was 
equally  determined  to  assert  and  maintain  French  supremacy  in 
Europe.  This  is  visible  in  all  his  acts  even  during  the  period  of 
peace.     The  French  and  Spanish  ambassadors  in  London  disputed 


a.d.  1660-1667.   FOREIGN  RELATIONS  OF  LOUIS  XIV.  219 

for  precedence.  With  the  help  of  armed  retainers  and  English 
sympathy  the  Spaniard  gained  a  victory  over  his  rival.  Louis  was 
willing  to  treat  this  as  a  casus  belli,  but  the  feeble  government  of 
Spain  hastened  to  apologise  and  to  withdraw  its  pretensions.  In  a 
similar  spirit,  Louis  refused  to  acknowledge  the  naval  supremacy 
of  England  by  lowering  his  flag.  Charles  II.,  anxious  to  be 
independent  of  his  subjects  and  to  have  plenty  of  money,  not  only 
compromised  the  obnoxious  demand,  but  consented  to  sell  Dunkirk, 
Cromwell's  great  conquest,  for  four  million  francs.  And  it  was  not 
only  temporal  powers  that  Louis  treated  with  such  haughtiness, 
even  the  pope  had  to  bow  before  the  superior  power  of  France. 
The  French  ambassador  at  Rome,  Crequi,  had  been  insulted,  and 
his  followers  maltreated  by  the  papal  guards.  Crequi  accused  the 
pope's  own  family.  Louis  at  once  demanded  satisfaction,  and 
enforced  his  demand  by  seizing  Avignon,  and  supporting  the  dukes 
of  Modena  and  Parma  in  their  war  against  the  pope.  Alexander 
VII.  was  forced  to  make  a  most  humble  submission,  to  banish  his 
brother  from  Rome,  and  to  send  his  nephew,  Cardinal  Chigi,  on  a 
special  mission  to  France.  He  was,  says  Voltaire,  the  first  papal 
legate  ever  sent  to  demand  pardon. 

On  all  sides  Louis  was  successful.  In  Holland,  the  burgher  party 
was  in  power  under  John  de  Witt,  and  always  leaned  to  the  French 
alliance,  which  was  renewed  in  1662.  In  Germany,  the  league  of  the 
Rhine  gave  the  French  king  more  real  |  ower  than  the  emperor. 
The  unfortunate  duke  of  Lorraine  signed  a  treaty  promising  the 
succession  to  Louis  on  his  death,  but  though  he  afterwards  retracted 
this,  he  was  compelled  to  cede  his  last  fortress,  Marsal.  It  was 
quite  in  accordance,  with  Louis's  magnificent  ideas  that  he  broke  off 
the  old  alliance  of  France  with  the  Turks,  and  posed  for  a  moment 
as  the  champion  of  Christendom.  Neither  emperor  nor  pope  desired 
the  help  of  so  powerful  an  ally,  nevertheless,  6000  French  troops  were 
despatched  to  Hungary  and  contributed  to  the  victory  of  St  Gothard 
on  the  Raab  (1664 ).  WfttfB  war  broke  out  in  1664  between  England 
and  Holland,  Louis  at  first  remained  neutral,  in  the  hope  that  the 
two  great  naval  rivals  would  weaken  or  destroy  each  other.  But 
as  England  had  at  first  the  upper  hand,  he  espoused  the  Dutch 
cause,  contributed  to  their  successes  in  1666  and  1667,  and  forced 
Charles  II.  to  accede  to  the  peace  of  Breda. 

Special  importance  attaches  to  Louis  XIV.'s  relations  with  Spain, 
because  with  them  are  connected  the  great  political  objects  of  his 
reign.  Mazarin  had  concluded  the  Spanish  marriage  with  the  definite 
intention  of  securing  to  the  French  king  the  succession  to  the 
crown  of  Spain.  Louis  XIV.  inherited  this  intention  from  his 
minister ;  but  he  was  willing,  if  he  could  not  get  the  whole  succession, 


220  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiii. 

to  content  himself  with  the  Spanish  Netherlands  and  Franche-Comte. 
The  extension  of  the  frontier  towards  the  north-east  was  desirable 
for  military  reasons,  as  giving  increased  security  to  Paris.  It  was 
possible  to  bring  great  pressure  to  bear  upon  Spain  by  means  of 
Portugal,  which  had  gained  and  kept  its  independence  mainly  through 
French  assistance.  Louis  offered  to  withdraw  this  assistance,  which 
was  continued  secretly  after  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  to 
combine  with  Spain  to  crush  Portugal,  on  condition  either  that  the 
Infanta's  renunciation  of  her  claims  to  the  throne  should  be  declared 
invalid,  or  that  Franche-Comte  and  great  part  of  the  Netherlands 
should  be  handed  over  to  France.  The  offer  was  refused  by  Philip  IV., 
and  therefore  Louis  continued  to  support  the  Portuguese.  In  1665, 
4000  French  troops  under  Marshal  Schomberg  gained  the  battle  of 
Villa- Viciosa,  which  secured  the  House  of  Braganza  on  their  throne. 
§  4.  On  the  17th  of  September,  1665,  Philip  IV.  of  Spain  died.  By 
his  first  wife,  the  daughter  of  Henry  IV.,  he  had  one  child,  Maria 
Theresa,  married  to  Louis  XIV.  By  his  second  marriage  with  Maria 
Anna  of  Austria,  Philip  left  two  children,  Charles  II.  who  succeeded 
him,  and  Margaret  Theresa  who  married  the  emperor  Leopold  I.  The 
young  king,  Charles  II.,  was  from  the  first  weakly  and  ailing :  his 
death  was  always  expected,  but  he  managed  to  survive  the  century. 
Louis  XIV.  brought  forward  an  immediate  claim  to  several  provinces 
of  the  Netherlands,  based  on  the  "  law  of  devolution."  This  was  an 
old  feudal  custom  by  which  the  children  of  a  first  marriage  succeeded 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  later  descendants.  At  first  Louis  hoped  to 
get  his  claim  recognised  without  resort  to  arms.  But  sixteen 
months  of  diplomatic  activity  failed  to  induce  the  Spanish  regent  to 
dismember  the  empire.  In  1667  the  war  commenced  with  an 
invasion  of  Flanders.  Louis  in  person  accompanied  Turenne,  and 
his  presence  gave  to  the  campaign  an  appearance  of  luxury  and 
pomp  to  which  Europe  was  unaccustomed.  No  battles  were 
fought,  nothing  was  undertaken  but  sieges,  in  which  the  king 
delighted.  The  Spaniards  were  unprepared  for  resistance,  and  one 
fortress  after  another  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French.  The 
campaign  of  1668  was  still  more  speedy  and  successful.  An 
army  under  Conde  was  collected  in  Burgundy  and  suddenly  entered 
Franche-Comte'.  Within  a  fortnight  the  whole  province  was 
reduced,  and  Louis  hurried  thither  to  receive  its  formal  submission. 
But  these  great  successes  had  aroused  the  jealousy  and  alarm  of  the 
other  European  powers.  Spain  made  peace  with  Portugal,  and 
England,  Holland  and  Sweden  concluded  the  famous  Triple  Alliance. 
The  powers  which  had  hitherto  combined  together  to  resist  Spain, 
now  found  it  necessary  to  support  their  old  enemy  against  France. 
Louis  XIV.  yielded  with  surprising  readiness,  and  accepted  the 


a.d.  1665-1668.      PEACE  OF  AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.  221 

treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  (May,  1668),  by  which  he  restored 
Franche-Comte,  but  retained  his  conquests  in  the  Netherlands. 
Thus  France  secured  an  important  accession  of  strength  ou  the 
weakest  point  of  her  frontier.  It  is  usual  for  English  historians  to 
attribute  Louis'  moderation  to  the  dread  of  the  Triple  Alliance. 
His  motive  is  perhaps  rather  to  be  found  in  a  secret  treaty  which 
he  had  made  with  the  emperor  Leopold.  By  this,  Spain  itself  was 
to  go  lo  the  Austrian  Hapsburgs,  but  France  was  to  have  the  out- 
'  lying  Spanish  provinces.  Charles  II.'s  death  appeared  so  likely 
that  Louis  preferred  to  wait  for  peaceful  acquisitions  rather  than  to 
draw  on  himself  the  hostility  of  Europe  by  further  conquests. 

II.  France  at  the  Zknith  of  its  Power. — Ascendancy 
of  Lou  vow. 

§  5.  From  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  must  be  dated  an  important 
change  in  the  attitude  of  Louis  XIV.  Hitherto  he  had  followed 
the  lines  laid  down  by  Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  who  had  paid  little 
attention  to  religious  differences,  andJ  had  aimed  solely  at  the 
Political  advancement  of  France.  Henceforth  he  became  more 
and  more  reactionary  and  bigoted,  and  resumed  that  jK>licy  of 
enforcing  religious  unity  which  had  given  rise  to  such  evils  in  the 
last  century.  He  was  anxious  to  crush  the  Huguenots  at  home  at 
first  rather  by  peaceful  pressure  than  by  force.  Hut  a  natural  and 
obvious  preliminary  was  to  weaken  the  Calvinists  abroad,  in  whom 
the  Huguenots  found  their  chief  allies.  The  most  imjM.rtant  of 
these  were  the  Dutch.  Holland  offered  an  asylum  to  refugees  of  all 
countries.  It  was  there  that  the  French  exiles  printed  books  and 
pamphlets  which  attacked  the  established  government  and  religion 
of  France.  Louis  had  also  political  reasons  for  his  hostility.  He 
was  indignant  that  the  Dutch,  a  nation  of  merchants,  should 
presume  to  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  princes,  and  especially  with 
his  designs  on  the  Spanish  succession.  The  Triple  Alliance,  though 
less  important  than  has  been  thought,  was  yet  a  menace  to  France, 
ami  Louis  regarded  John  de  Witt  as  its  chief  author.  Tho  existing 
government  of  Holland  was  based  on  the  exclusion  of  the  House  of 
Orange,  which  had  been  accomplished  on  the  death  of  William  II. 
in  1650.  Louis  thought  to  render  a  service  to  the  cause  of  monarchy 
by  overthrowing  the  republic  and  restoring  authority  to  William  III. 
of  Orange,  who  was  just  arriving  at  manly  age. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  detach  England  from  the  Triple  Alliance. 
The  bombardment  of  Chatham  still  rankled  in  people's  minds,  and 
commercial  jealousy  was  a  fertile  source  of  quarrel.  Charles  II. 
hated  his  pecuniary  dependence  upon  Parliament,  and  his  enforced 


222  MODERN  EUROPE,  Chap,  xiii, 

adhesion  to  the  English  church.  Negotiations  were  undertaken  by- 
Charles'  sister,  Henrietta  of  Orleans,  the  favourite  of  the  French 
king  and  court.  She  concluded  the  treaty  of  Dover  (1670),  by 
which  Charles  II.  undertook  to  restore  Catholicism  in  England,  to 
combine  with  France  against  Holland,  and  to  offer  no  obstacle  to 
Louis'  designs  on  Spain.  In  return  for  these  concessions,  he  was 
to  receive  a  large  sum  of  money  and  the  assistance  of  French 
troops  to  crush  a  possible  revolt  of  his  subjects.  This  disgraceful 
treaty  was  kept  a  secret  even  from  the  majority  of  the  ministers. 
They  were  duped  by  a  false  treaty  which  was  only  concerned  with 
the  alliance  against  Holland,  and  this  was  not  made  public  for  more 
than  a  year.  Directly  after  her  return  from  Dover,  the  duchess  of 
Orleans  died  suddenly,  not  without  suspicion  of  having  been 
poisoned  by  her  husband. 

With  Sweden,  the  other  member  of  the  alliance,  French 
diplomacy  was  equally  successful.  The  old  alliance  with  France 
was  renewed,  and  the  Swedes  engaged  to  invade  Germany  in  case 
that  power  undertook  the  defence  of  Holland.  The  emperor 
Leopold  was  bound  by  the  League  of  the  Rhine  and  by  his  secret 
treaty  with  Louis.  Most  of  the  German  princes  agreed  to  remain 
neutral,  and  the  archbishop  of  Cologne  and  the  bishop  of  Miinster 
openly  took  up  arms  against  Holland.  Frederick  William  of 
Brandenburg,  the  Great  Elector,  alone  remained  obstinate  in  his 
adherence  to  the  Protestant  cause.  He  hoped  to  obtain  from  the 
Dutch  the  territory  in  Cleve  which  they  still  held.  Thus  the 
success  of  France  seemed  assured.  Spain  was  the  only  power  that 
was  likely  to  assist  the  Dutch,  and  the  helplessness  of  Spain  had 
been  manifested  in  the  recent  wars.  Charles  III.  of  Lorraine,  who 
hoped  to  take  advantage  of  a  new  war  to  regain  his  lost  in- 
dependence, had  been  expelled  from  his  duchy  in  1670  and  driven 
into  exile  from  which  he  never  returned.  In  1671,  Lyonne,  the 
foreign  minister,  died,  and  his  death  was  fatal  to  the  continuance  of 
peace.  Colbert  had  no  longer  a  supporter  in  the  royal  council, 
where  the  ascendancy  fell  to  Louvois,  brutal  and  harsh  in  domestic 
affairs,  and  the  ardent  supporter  of  an  aggressive  foreign  policy. 
He  becomes  the  evil  genius  of  Louis  XIV. 

In  1672  the  unjust  and  unprovoked  war  commenced.  On  sea 
the  Dutch  contended  on  equal  terms  with  the  combined  fleets  of 
England  and  France,  and  fought  a  desperate  but  indecisive  battle  in 
Southwold  bay.  But  on  land  matters  were  altogether  different. 
The  army  had  been  persistently  sacrificed  to  the  navy  by  De  Witt, 
on  account  of  its  military  loyalty  to  the  House  of  Orange.  There 
was  no  force  capable  of  resisting  the  French  attack.  Louis  had 
collected  two  great  armies  under  Turenne  and  Conde,  while  a  third 


a.d.  1670-1672.      INVASION  OF  HOLLAND.  223 

force  under  the  duke  of  Luxemburg  was  to  co-operate  with  the 
bishops  of  Miinster  and  Cologne.  To  avoid  arousing  the  open 
hostility  of  Spain,  it  was  determined  not  to  march  through  the 
Netherlands,  but  to  take  a  circuitous  route.  A  detachment  was 
sent  to  make  a  feigned  attack  on  Maestricht,  where  the  Dutch 
were  best  prepared,  while  the  main  force  advanced  to  Neuss  and 
Kaiserwerth,  which  the  elector  of  Cologne  had  ceded  as  military 
depdts.  The  passage  of  the  Rhine,  which  gave  such  undeserved 
fame  to  Louis'  armies,  was  easily  effected.  The  Dutch  could  make 
no  resistance  to  attack  from  an  unexpected  quarter.  One  fortress 
after  another  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  king,  who  delighted  in 
successful  sieges.  De  Witt,  conscious  of  defeat,  attempted  to 
lKjnti.itr,  but  the  French  terms  were  too  humiliating  to  be 
;u •<  cj.ted.  Meanwhile  party  feeling  in  Holland  had  been  stimulated 
rather  than  allayed  by  the  national  disasters.  The  partisans  of  the 
House  of  Orange  rose  against  the  unfortunate  rather  than  guilty 
government,  and  compelled  the  appointment  of  William  of  Orange 
as  stadtholder.  Not  content  with  this,  the  mob  at  the  Hague  rose 
in  armed  revolt  and  brutally  murdered  John  de  Witt  and  his 
brother  Cornelius.  William  was  accused  of  complicity  with  the 
crime,  probably  on  no  other  ground  than  that  it  was  to  his  advan- 
tage. Although  the  nephew  of  Charles  II.,  he  was  determined  to 
defend  to  the  last  the  national  independence,  and  he  infused  his 
own  dauntless  spirit  into  the  people  whom  he  ruled.  The  dykes 
were  cut,  and  floods  offered  a  more  effectual  barrier  than  troops  to 
the  invaders*  progress.  Already  the  first  tide  of  French  success  had 
spent  itself.  Louis,  under  the  influence  of  the  self-confident 
Louvois,  had  rejected  the  advice  of  his  abler  generals.  Instead  of 
making  a  rapid  and  decisive  advance,  he  set  himself  to  capture 
unimportaut  towns,  and  weakened  his  army  by  detaching  garrisons 
from  it.  When  he  found  his  career  of  conquest  checked,  he  quitted 
the  army,  and  returned  with  the  court  to  St.  Germain. 

§  6.  The  rapidity  of  the  early  successes  had  aroused  all  the  enemies 
of  France ;  the  first  check  encouraged  them  to  declare  themselves. 
The  emperor  Leopold,  disregarding  all  conventions  with  Ixniis, 
concluded  an  alliance  with  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  for  the 
defence  of  Holland.  A  combined  army,  under  Frederick  William 
;in<l  the  imperial  general  Montecuculi,  advanced  to  the  support  of 
William  of  Orange.  Spain,  conscious  of  its  own  weakness,  was 
unwilling  to  declare  openly  against  France,  but  Monterey,  the 
governor  of  the  Netherlands,  sent  secret  assistance  to  the  Dutch. 
These  events  necessitated  a  complete  change  in  the  military  plans 
of  the  French.  Instead  of  continuing  their  conquests,  they  had  to 
stand  on  the  defensive.     While  Luxemburg  remained  in  Holland  to 


224  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xm. 

make  head  against  William,  Conde  undertook  the  defence  of 
Alsace,  and  Turenne  advanced  to  the  Rhine  to  check  the  German 
troops.  ,  Never  were  Turenue's  abilities  more  conspicuously  mani- 
fested than  in  this  campaign.  Though  he  had  only  15,000  men,  he 
handled  them  with  marvellous  dexterity.  The  elector  and  Monte- 
cuculi  marched  up  the  Rhine  to  find  a  safe  crossing.  Everywhere 
they  found  the  French  in  front  of  them,  while  they  were  unable  to 
force  an  engagement  with  their  superior  numbers.  At  length, 
wearied  and  exhausted,  they  gave  up  all  hope  of  entering  Holland, 
and  retreated  to  attack  the  French  allies  in  Cologne  and  Minister. 
Louis  and  Louvois,  overjoyed  at  the  withdrawal  of  this  formidable 
enemy  from  the  Rhine,  sent  strict  orders  to  Turenne  not  to  risk  a 
pursuit.  But  conscious  of  his  strength,  he  boldly  disregarded  the 
orders  and  advanced  to  attack  the  allies.  The  worn  out  German 
army  could  make  no  effective  resistance,  and  were  driven  from  one 
defensive  line  to  another,  till  the  whole  of  Westphalia  was  in 
French  hands.  The  elector  of  Brandenburg  retired  in  disgust  to 
Berlin  and  offered  terms  which  were  readily  accepted.  He  promised 
to  remain  neutral,  and  the  French  undertook  to  restore  the  Cleve 
teiritories  which  were  held  by  the  Dutch.  Meanwhile,  in  Holland, 
William  of  Orange  was  bitterly  disappointed  at  the  failure  of  his 
German  allies.  Nevertheless,  with  a  reinforcement  of  10,000 
Spaniards,  he  attacked  Charleroi,  though  without  success.  During 
his  absence,  Luxemburg  made  a  bold  march  over  the  ice  against 
the  Hague,  and  the  capital  was  only  saved  by  a  sudden  thaw.  The 
brutal  spirit  of  Louvois  had  infected  the  French  army,  and  during 
their  retreat  they  were  guilty  of  atrocities  which  left  an  abiding 
hatred  of  France  in  the  minds  of  the  Dutch.  Louis  XIV.  now 
reappeared  in  person  at  the  head  of  an  army.  The  brilliant  but 
rash  operations  of  1672  were  now  out  of  the  question,  and  it  was 
determined  to  reduce  Maestricht  and  to  make  it  a  military  basis. 
The  siege  was  successfully  conducted  by  Vauban,  the  greatest 
engineer  of  the  age,  and  the  fortress,  which  commanded  the  whole 
line  of  the  Maas,  was  forced  to  surrender  (June  29,  1673). 

Thus  in  the  summer  of  1673  France  had  more  than  held  its  own 
against  numerous  enemies.  But  it  was  evident  that  the  war  had 
completely  lost  its  original  character.  In  August  a  league  was 
concluded  at  the  Hague  between  the  emperor,  Spain,  and  Holland. 
It  was  joined  by  the  king  of  Denmark,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  and 
the  duke  of  Lorraine.  The  imperial  army  had  been  reformed  in 
Bohemia  after  its  recent  defeat.  Montecuculi  was  not  again  out- 
manoeuvred by  Turenne.  A  junction  was  effected  with  William  of 
Orange,  and  the  combined  armies  laid  siege  to  Bonn.  All  the 
French  efforts  to  relieve  the  town  proved  fruitless.      The  Rhine 


a.d.  1673-1674.   FIRST  COALITION  AGAINST  FRANCE.   225 

was  completely  lost  to  France,  and  Turenne  had  to  fall  back  on  the 
Sarre.  This  decided  the  attitude  of  Germany.  The  bishops  of 
Minister  and  Cologne  had  to  make  peace.  The  elector  of  Branden- 
burg showed  signs  of  breaking  his  neutrality.  The  connexion  of 
France  with  the  German  princes,  established  so  firmly  by  the 
treaties  of  Westphalia,  the  Rhine,  and  the  Pyrenees,  was  in  a 
moment  annihilated.  Soon  afterwards  the  English  parliament, 
bitterly  exasperated  by  the  religious  policy  of  Charles  II.,  forced 
him  to  make  peace  with  the  Dutch  (February,  1674).  Swedt n 
was  the  only  ally  left  to  France,  and  Sweden,  isolated  in  the  north, 
could  do  nothing  of  importance.  Thus  Louis  XIV.'s  aggressions  had 
completely  altered  the  whole  balance  of  European  \  olitics.  The 
invasion  of  Holland  had  served  only  to  revive  the  old  duel  between 
France  and  the  House  of  Hapeburg,  with  this  all-important  differ- 
ence, that  the  powers  which  had  previously  supported  the  former 
were  now  united  in  opposition  to  her. 

§  7.  Fortunately  for  France,  Louis  XIV.  showed  himself  fully 
conscious  of  the  changed  aspect  of  affairs,  and  altered  his  plans  to 
meet  it.  He  ordered  the  evacuation  of  all  the  recent  conquests  in 
Holland  except  Maestricht  and  Grave.  He  was  even  anxious  to 
make  peace  with  the  enemy  whom  he  had  so  wantonly  provoked, 
but  William  of  Orange  would  listen  to  no  terms.  The  wur  was 
brought  back  to  the  French  frontiers.  Conde"  was  to  make  head 
against  the  Dutch  and  Spaniards  on  the  Mouse.  Turenne  under- 
took the  defence  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  against  the  Germans. 
Schomberg  was  sent  to  protect  Roussillon  from  a  threatened  Spanish 
invasion.  But  while  taking  these  measures  to  defend  his  newly 
acquired  borders,  Louis  dioV  not  altogether  abandon  his  schemes  of 
conquest.  He  himself  led  an  army  into  Franche-Comte'.  The 
duke  of  Lorraine  attempted  to  defend  the  province  but  was  pre- 
vented by  Turenne.  The  second  conquest  of  Franche-Comte'  took 
six  weeks  to  accomplish,  but  was  complete  and  final.  Henceforth 
the  Jura  was  to  be  the  eastern  frontier  of  France.  While  the  king 
was  occupied  with  this  easy  conquest,  Conde  was  attacked  by  the 
prince  of  Orange.  The  French  position  was  too  strong  for  an 
assault,  and  the  Dutch  and  Spanish  troops  retreated.  Conde 
followed  them  and  forced  an  engagement  at  Senef.  A  fiercely 
contested  battle  ended  in  the  victory  of  neither,  but  the  exhaustion 
of  both  armies.  WTilliam  succeeded  in  taking  Grave,  but  this  was 
the  only  success  gained  by  the  allies  in  1674.  Meanwhile,  Turenne 
was  conducting  a  campaign  which  put  the  seal  on  his  military 
fame.  Instead  of  waiting  to  be  attacked,  he  took  the  aggres- 
sive, crossed  the  Rhine  at  Philipsburg,  and  crushed  the  imperial 
forces  at  Sinzheim.     He  followed  up  his  success  by  devastating  the 


226  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xm. 

Palatinate,  so  as  to  deprive  the  enemy  of  sustenance.  The  cruelty 
with  which  this  was  done  is  a  lasting  stain  on  Turenne's  reputation. 
The  Germans  now  received  reinforcements,  and  resumed  their 
advance  with  numbers  far  superior  to  the  troops  of  Turenne.  The 
French  government,  fearing  an  invasion,  ordered  Turenne  to  fall 
back  for  the  defence  of  France.  But  he  again  refused  to  obey  the 
orders  of  the  court.  For  a  fortnight  he  held  the  enemy  in  check, 
until  want  of  provisions  compelled  them  to  march  along  the  Rhine 
to  Strasburg.  Turenne  followed  them,  but  too  late  to  save  the  city, 
which  surrendered,  and  opened  to  the  imperialists  the  entrance  into 
Alsace.  Instead  of  retreating,  as  everybody  expected,  the  French 
general  again  attacked  the  enemy,  and  won  a  complete  victory  at 
Enzheim,  a  battle  in  which  Churchill,  afterwards  duke  of  Marl- 
borough, took  part.  But  immediately  afterwards  the  arrival  of  the 
elector  of  Brandenburg  with  more  than  20,000  men,  restored 
their  superiority  to  the  German  forces,  and  Turenne  fell  slowly  back 
to  Lorraine.  The  Germans  occupied  Upper  Alsace,  and  promised 
themselves  complete  success  in  the  ensuing  campaign.  But  their 
active  enemy  would  allow  them  no  rest.  In  the  middle  of  winter, 
in  spite  of  frost  and  snow,  Turenne  marched  his  troops  through 
difficult  mountain-passes  to  Belfort.  The  Germans,  completely 
taken  by  surprise,  were  forced  to  retreat  in  confusion.  A  part  of 
the  army,  rallied  by  the  elector  of  Brandenburg,  was  routed  at 
Turkheim  by  Turenne,  who  followed  in  swift  pursuit.  Alsace  was 
completely  recovered,  and  the  victorious  general  returned  in  triumph 
to  Paris.  Altogether  few  years  are  so  famous  in  the  military  annals 
of  France  as  1674.  The  Spanish  attack  on  Roussillon  was  unim- 
portant, and  was  easily  repulsed  by  Schemberg. 

§  8.  The  campaign  of  1675  was  comparatively  unimportant  as 
regards  great  achievements.  Sweden  was  at  last  induced  to  keep 
the  promise  made  in  1671,  and  to  attack  Brandenburg.  This  forced 
the  elector  to  withdraw  his  troops  for  the  defence  of  his  own 
country,  and  thus  the  imperial  forces  were  greatly  reduced.  But  in 
compensation  for  this  Montecuculi  reassumed  the  command. 
Turenne  found  his  task  much  harder  than  in  the  preceding  year. 
His  first  success  was  in  defending  Strasburg,  and  thus  making 
Swabia  instead  of  Alsace  the  seat  of  war.  In  the  Black  Forest  six 
weeks  of  patient  manoeuvring  ensued,  in  which  the  two  generals  dis- 
played all  their  skill  in  the  space  of  a  few  square  leagues.  At  last 
Turenne  caught  the  enemy  at  a  disadvantage,  and  was  prepared  to 
crush  them,  when  he  was  killed  by  a  stray  bullet  just  as  he  made 
the  final  reconnaissance  before  the  battle.  The  death  of  their 
greatest  general  was  a  far  more  serious  loss  to  the  French  than  any 
defeat  could  have  been.     The  army  at  once  withdrew  across  the 


a.d.  1674-1676.      TUBENNE  AND  MONTECUCULI.  227 

Rhine,  and  Montecuculi,  obtaining  a  passage  through  Strasburg, 
was  enabled  to  threaten  Hagenau  in  Lower  Alsace.  At  the  same 
time  the  French  suffered  another  disaster.  The  duke  ot  Lorraine 
had  attacked  the  electorate  of  Trier,  where  he  was  opposed  by  an 
army  under  Marshal  Cre'qui.  At  Saarbriick  the  French  were  com- 
pletely defeated,  and  soon  afterwards  Trier  was  taken.  This  was  the 
last  act  of  the  old  duke  Charles  III.,  who  died  in  September,  having 
never  been  able  to  regain  his  lost  duchy.  Conde*  was  now 
despatched  to  replace  Turenne.  With  a  skill  and  prudence  worthy 
of  his  deceased  rival,  he  forced  Montecuculi  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Hagenau,  and  ultimately  drove  him  from  Alsace.  This  was  the 
last  campaign  of  both  these  great  generals.  Montecuculi,  broken 
down  in  health,  resigned  his  command.  Conde*  retired  into  private 
life  at  Chant  illy,  where  he  solaced  his  remaining  years  with  the 
most  brilliant  literary  society  of  France. 

$  9.  In  1676  the  loss  of  the  great  commanders  is  plainly  visible  in 
the  comparative  insignificance  of  the  campaign.  Louis  commanded 
in  person  the  army  in  Flanders,  with  the  usual  result.  Conde'  and 
Bouchain  were  taken,  but  an  excellent  opportunity  of  defeating  the 
prince  of  Orange  was  neglected.  The  fault  was  so  obviouH  that 
Louis  was  accused  of  personal  cowardice.  The  true  explanation  seems 
to  lie  in  his  extravagant  conception  of  his  own  dignity.  He  could  n<  4 
endure  even  to  run  the  risk  of  a  defeat  in  a  pitched  battle.  Sieges, 
ou  the  other  hand,  were  comparatively  secure.  LoOTOis,  though 
wanting  in  military  genius,  excelled  in  the  management  of  the  transit 
and  supplies  of  troops.  The  engineering  operations  were  safely 
entrusted  to  Vauban.  Thus  Louis*  successes,  though  not  brilliant, 
were  usually  substantial.  William  of  Orange  made  an  effort  to 
retake  Maestricht,  but  was  repulsed.  On  the  Rhine  the  young 
Charles  IV.  of  Lorraine  succeeded  his  uncle  in  the  command  of  the 
imperial  army.  He  gained  one  great  success  in  this  year,  the 
reduction  of  Philipsburg.  But  Luxemburg  succeeded  in  excluding 
fain  from  Alsace.  It  was  on  a  wholly  novel  element,  the  sea,  that 
France  gained  its  most  distinguished  successes  in  1676.  With  the 
support  of  France,  Messina  had  revolted  against  Spain  and  main- 
tained its  independence.  The  Spaniards  called  in  the  aid  of  the 
Dutch  fleet  under  Ruyter.  The  French  vessels  were  commanded 
by  Duquesne,  a  really  great  admiral,  who  fought  three  brilliant 
actions  against  the  combined  fleet,  in  one  of  which  Ruyter  was 
killed.  These  maritime  successes  were  due  in  the  first  place  to  the 
reforms  of  Colbert,  and  made  a  profound  impression  in  Europe. 
Hitherto  the  French  had  been  powerless  on  the  sea,  but  if  they  once 
gained  the  supremacy  there,  as  well  as  on  land,  they  would  become 
invincible. 


228  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xtii. 

France  had  made  great  exertions  during  these  years,  and  was 
beginning  to  show  signs  of  exhaustion.  Colbert  had  always  been 
opposed  to  the  war,  partly  because  it  gave  Louvois  an  influence 
superior  to  his  own,  partly  because  it  ruined  his  financial  policy. 
All  his  reforms  had  to  be  given  up  one  by  one ;  new  offices  were 
created  and  sold ;  the  taille  had  to  be  raised ;  even  the  old  system 
of  loans  was  revived.  France  was  again  suffering  from  exactions 
like  those  of  Richelieu  and  Mazarin.  Discontent  produced  revolts 
in  Normandy,  Brittany  and  Guienne.  It  was  obvious  that  the  glory 
of  resisting  all  Europe  was  not  without  its  drawbacks.  Louis 
seriously  desired  peace.  This  he  still  hoped  to  gain  by  a  separate 
negotiation  with  the  Dutch.  But  William  of  Orange  and  the 
emperor  were  determined  to  prolong  the  war  until  some  adequate 
security  was  obtained  against  French  ambition.  Louis  determined 
to  force  on  a  peace  by  an  energetic  prosecution  of  the  war.  In  1677 
he  appeared  in  Flanders,  and  took  Valenciennes  and  Cambray.  His 
brother,  the  duke  of  Orleans,  laid  siege  to  St.  Omer,  and  when 
William  of  Orange  advanced  to  its  relief,  inflicted  a  severe  defeat 
on  him  at  Cassel.  By  this  victory  he  secured  the  French  hold  on 
Flanders,  but  earned  his  brother's  jealousy.  Louis  could  not  pardon 
a  success  more  brilliant  than  he  had  ever  gained,  and  Orleans  was 
never  again  entrusted  with  a  command.  On  the  Rhine  Crequi  com- 
manded instead  of  Luxemburg.  He  had  learnt  wisdom  from  his  defeat 
at  Saarbriick,  and  henceforth  sought  to  emulate  the  prudent  strategy 
of  Turenne  rather  than  the  brilliant  rashness  of  Conde .  The  result 
was  a  most  successful  campaign  against  the  duke  of  Lorraine.  The 
latter  tried  to  effect  a  junction  with  Orange,  but  found  the  way 
barred :  then  he  turned  to  meet  the  army  of  the  circles  which  was 
advancing  from  Germany  to  assist  him,  but  Crequi  out-marched 
him,  and  completely  routed  the  Germans.  After  inflicting  a  defeat 
on  the  duke  of  Lorraine  in  Alsace,  Crequi  concluded  the  year  by 
taking  Freiburg  (Nov.  1677). 

These  brilliant  successes  increased  the  desire  for  peace,  especially 
among  the  Dutch,  who,  having  secured  their  independence,  had 
everything  to  lose  by  the  continuance  of  the  war.  But  William  of 
Orange  was  conscious  that  his  life's  task  was  to  oppose  Louis  XIV. 
His  point  of  view  was  European  rather  than  national.  The  result 
was  division  and  disaffection  in  Holland.  The  old  republican  party, 
apparently  crushed  by  De  Witt's  death,  once  more  raised  its  head. 
In  opposition  to  the  stadtholder,  the  states  sent  envoys  to  negotiate 
with  the  French  at  Nimwegen.  William,  thus  deserted  by  his 
subjects,  sought  to  strengthen  himself  by  an  English  alliance.  He 
induced  Charles  II.  to  consent  to  his  marriage  with  Mary,  daughter 
of  the  duke  of  York.     By  allying  himself  with  the  opposition  party 


a.d.  1677-1679.        PEACE  OF  NIMWEGEN.  229 

in  Parliament,  he  even  forced  the  English  king  to  declare  war 
against  France.  Louis  was  compelled  to  make  new  efforts,  and  to 
concentrate  his  forces.  Messina  was  evacuated,  and  left  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  Spain.  Cr^qui  again  defeated  the  duke  of 
Lorraine,  and  drove  him  from  Alsace  into  the  Palatinate.  Louis 
himself  again  entered  Flanders  and  captured  Ghent. 

§  10.  These  events  gave  a  final  impulse  to  the  negotiations  at 
N  fan  wegen.  On  August  11, 1678,  the  first  treaty  was  signed  bet  weeri 
France  and  Holland.  Four  days  afterwards,  William  of  Orangey 
still  anxious  to  make  peace  impossible,  made  a  desperate  attaek  on 
the  army  of  Luxemburg  before  Mons,  but  was  repulsed.  It  has 
never  been  definitely  known  whither  William  was  or  was  not 
cognisant  at  the  time  that  peace  had  been  mad*  Spain  accepted 
a  tit  at y  in  September.  The  emperor  continued  to  hold  out,  but  at 
last,  hampered  by  a  revolt  in  Hungary,  he  came  to  terms  in  February, 
1679.  France  was  the  only  gainer  by  a  war  which  she  had 
wantonly  provoked.  Holland  lost  nothing,  as  Maestricht,  the  last 
remnant  of  the  French  conquests,  was  restored,  and  an  advan- 
tageous treaty  of  commerce  was  arranged.  Spain,  as  the  weakest 
of  the  allies,  had  to  make  the  greatest  sacrifices.  Franche-Comte' 
was  irrevocably  renounced,  and  all  the  UnpUtUUll  frontier  towns 
of  the  Netherlands  were  handed  over  to  France.  The  treaty  with 
the  emperor  restored  the  arrangements  of  Westphalia,  with  the 
exception  that  Freiburg  was  given  to  France  in  exchange  for 
Philipsburg.  The  duke  of  Lorraine  was  to  be  restored  on  the  same 
terms  as  had  been  laid  down  in  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  but  these 
were  rejected  by  Charles  IV.,  and  his  duchy  remained  in  French 
hands.  The  Great  Elector  of  Brandenburg  refused  to  consent  to  the 
French  demands  that  all  conquests  made  from  Sweden  during  the 
war  should  be  restored.  But  the  appearance  of  Crequi  on  the  Elbe 
forced  him  into  acquiescence,  and  a  treaty  was  signed  in  June, 
1679.  Two  months  afterwards  Denmark  also  came  to  terms,  and 
thus  the  war  ended  in  the  general  pacification  of  Europe. 

§  11.  Louis  XIV.  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  glory.  Single- 
handed  he  had  confronted  the  allied  powers  of  Europe,  and  had 
emerged  from  the  contest  victorious.  In  the  invasion  of  Holland  he 
had  broken  through  the  oldest  and  wisest  traditions  of  French  policy, 
but  the  vast  resources  of  his  country  and  the  concentration  of 
national  forces  under  his  predecessors  enabled  him  to  escape  the 
consequences  of  his  error.  From  this  time,  however,  the  period  of 
decadence  sets  in.  The  brilliant  successes  of  his  early  years  are 
soon  forgotten  amidst  the  disasters  that  attend  the  close  of  his 
reign.  The  magnanimous  and  popular  prince  who  so  boldly  grasped 
the  reins  of  government  as  they  fell  from  the  hands  of  Mazarin, 


230  MODERN  EUROPE  Chap.  xra. 

sinks  gradually  into  the  gloomy  and  bigoted  tyrant,  dreaded  by  all 
Europe  and  by  his  own  subjects.  The  servility  and  adulation 
which  surrounded  Louis  in  the  years  following  the  peace  of  Nim- 
wegen  would  have  turned  the  head  of  any  mortal.  Flattery  almost 
gave  place  to  worship.  Louis  fell  an  easy  victim  to  temptation,  and 
became  intoxicated  with  the  idea  of  his  own  greatness  and  invin- 
cible power.  Opposition  was  unbearable  from  an  equal,  still  more 
from  a  subject.  He  refused  to  live  any  longer  at  the  Louvre  in  the 
midst  of  the  citizens,  and  built  for  himself  the  enormous  and 
wearisome  palace  at  Versailles,  which  remains  an  apt  memorial  of 
his  character  and  his  reign.  To  defray  the  immense  expenses,  Colbert 
had  to  continue  those  financial  expedients  which  had  been  forced 
on  him  by  the  war,  but  which  ruined  all  his  previous  schemes. 
If  he  ventured  the  slightest  remonstrance,  Louis  crushed  him  by  a 
reference  to  the  superior  devotion  of  his  rival  Louvois.  While  the 
people  groaned  under  the  taxes  levied  to  support  the  royal  luxury, 
the  nobles  were  degraded  from  all  political  importance  to  become 
the  valets  of  their  sovereign.  Representatives  of  the  great  houses 
of  France  were  content  to  hold  tho  towel  at  the  king's  toilet  instead 
of  wielding  the  marshal's  baton.  Military  and  official  posts  were 
conferred  on  members  of  the  middle  class  whose  servility  was 
assured.  The  patronage  of  literature,  for  which  Louis  has  been  so 
undeservedly  praised,  was  regulated  not  so  much  by  the  merits  of  a 
writer  as  by  his  talents  as  a  courtier  and  a  sycophant.  Everything 
was  made  to  centre  round  the  king  and  court.  All  that  was 
healthy  and  independent  either  in  thought  or  action,  was  sedu- 
lously stifled.  In  1683  one  of  the  last  securities  for  a  moderate 
government  was  removed  by  the  death  of  Colbert,  who  had  striven 
against  much  that  he  had  been  unable  to  prevent,  aud  had  acted  as 
some  counterpoise  to  the  baneful  influence  of  Louvois.  That 
minister  now  became  supreme  in  the  royal  council.  At  the  same 
time  a  new  actor  appeared  prominently  on  the  scene,  who  shares 
with  Louvois  the  control  of  the  king  in  the  ensuing  period. 
Louis  XIV.'s  first  mistress  was  Louise  de  la  Valliere,  who  had 
really  loved  him  and  who  retired  to  a  convent.  She  was  succeeded 
by  the  bold  and  brilliant  Madame  de  Montespan,  who  for  many 
years  was  supreme  at  court,  but  who  was  never  allowed  to  exert  any 
political  influence.  It  was  she  who  introduced  to  the  king's  notice 
the  lady  who  was  destined  to  be  her  rival  and  successor.  Francoise 
d'Aubigny,  noted  for  her  beauty  and  ability,  was  the  widow  of  the 
burlesque  writer  of  the  Fronde,  Scarron.  After  his  death  she  was 
reduced  to  great  poverty  until  she  was  induced  by  Madame  de 
Montespan  to  undertake  the  charge  of  the  king's  natural  children. 
Louis  himself  for  a  long  time  disliked  her,  though  he  gave  her  the 


ajj.  1678-1683.  THE  REUNIONS.  231 

territory  of  Maintenon  from  which  she  took  her  historical  name. 
Gradually  he  became  accustomed  to  her  society  till  he  could  no 
longer  dispense  with  it.  The  new  favourite  was  a  prude.  She  got 
rid  of  Madame  de  Montespan  by  effecting  a  reconciliation  between 
Louis  and  his  wife  Maria  Theresa.  When  the  latter  died  in  1683, 
the  king  was  privately  married  to  Madame  de  Maintenon.  Her 
character  has  been  the  subject  of  endless  dispute,  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  her  immense  influence  on  the  history  of  France. 

III.  The  Reunions.    Religious  Persecution.    The  League 
of  Augsburg. 

§  12.  Advantageous  as  the  treaty  of  Nimwegen  was  to  France, 
it  was  regarded  by  Louis  only  as  the  basis  of  new  acquisitions.  He 
was  determined  to  make  France  impregnable  to  external  invasion. 
Vauban  was  employed  to  erect  fortresses  on  every  side  of  the  French 
border.  But  there  were  still  some  points  on  the  frontier  which 
were  not  strong  enough  in  a  military  point  of  view.  Especially  the 
Three  Bishoprics  and  Alsace  were  exposed  to  attack.  This  Louis 
\\:is  determined  to  remedy  without  any  regard  to  law  or  equity. 
He  found  his  Opportunity  in  the  indefinite  wording  <»f  the  treaties 
of  Westphalia  and  the  Pyrenees.      For  iust.i  .  Toul,  and 

Verdun  had  been  ceded  to  France  "with  their  d«i>en<l»i  cii  s,"  and 
this  phrase  was  capable  of  various  interpretations.  Again*  in 
Alsace  the  immediate  vassals  uf  the  Empire  had  retained  their 
inde]iendence,  but  the  question  arose  as  to  who  was  really  such  an 
immediate  vassal.  And,  moreover,  subjection  to  the  Empire  was 
altogether  a  different  thing  to  subjection  to  France.  The  Empire. 
was  a  very  loosely  connected  body  in  which  the  various  units  did 
much  as  they  pleased.  In  France,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was  a 
highly  centralised  government,  which  allowed  no  independent 
action  whatever.  Hitherto  France,  occupied  with  the  Fronde  and 
with  foreign  wars,  had  allowed  these  imjM.rtant  questions  to  remain 
unsettled.  But  now  that  Europe  desired  peace,  Louis  determined 
to  settle  all  these  disputes  for  his  own  advantage.  The  parliament 
of  Metz  was  ordered  to  find  out  all  the  dependencies  of  the  Three 
Bishoprics,  and  they  were  speedily  compelled  to  acknowledge  French 
suzerainty.  At  Breisach  a  provincial  court  was  erected  to  decide 
on  the  limits  of  Louis*  rights  in  Alsace.  A  similar  assembly  in 
Besancon  was  to  act  in  Franche-Comte'.  These  are  the  famous 
"Chambers  of  Reunion,"  which  claimed  the  powers  of  an  international 
tribunal.  The  treaties  which  France  had  made  with  foreign  powers 
were  to  be  interpreted  at  the  pleasure  of  France  alone.  These 
assumptions,  bold  and  unparalleled  as  they  were,  aroused  the  mis- 


232  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xiii, 

trust  but  not  the  opposition  of  Europe.  Louis  had  kept  his  army 
on  a  war  footing,  while  his  rivals  had  disbanded  theirs.  The 
chamber  of  Breisach  awarded  to  France  the  complete  suzerainty  of 
Alsace.  The  lesser  imperial  vassals  had  to  submit  at  once,  and  the 
free  city  of  Strasburg,  suddenly  attacked  by  an  army  under  Louvois, 
was  compelled  to  surrender  (Sept.  1681).  On  the  very  same 
day  the  fortress  of  Casale  in  Italy,  which  had  been  of  such  im- 
portance in  the  time  of  Richelieu,  was  ceded  to  France  by  Charles 
of  Mantua.  Not  content  with  these  acquisitions,  Louis  demanded 
Alost  from  Spain,  and  to  enforce  the  demand  laid  siege  to  Luxem- 
burg, a  fortress  which  he  ardently  coveted. 

Louis  was  very  fortunate  in  the  moment  which  he  chose  for 
these  unheard-of  aggressions.  Spain  was  powerless  without  allies. 
William  of  Orange,  eager  for  war,  was  hampered  by  the  republican 
party,  which  insisted  on  peace.  In  Germany,  the  elector  of 
Brandenburg,  who  had  raised  himself  to  the  rank  of  a  great  power, 
was  so  disgusted  with  his  treatment  by  the  emperor  in  the  recent 
negotiations  that  he  had  formed  an  alliance  with  France.  The 
emperor  himself,  on  whom  devolved  the  duty  of  defending  his  out- 
lying frontiers,  was  occupied  with  a  revolt  in  Hungary,  which  was 
now  complicated  by  a  Turkish  war.  In  1683,  for  the  second  time 
in  history,  the  Turks  advanced  to  the  siege  of  ATienna.  No  event 
could  have  been  more  advantageous  for  Louis,  though  he  had 
probably  done  nothing  to  encourage  the  invasion.  With  a  show  of 
magnanimity  he  raised  the  siege  of  Luxemburg  to  allow  the 
Spaniards  to  assist  Austria  against  the  infidel.  But  Vienna  was 
saved  by  the  heroism  of  John  Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  and  France 
alone  refused  to  share  the  transports  of  Europe.  Louis  at  once 
resumed  his  hostilities  against  Spain.  Courtrai,  Dixmude,  and 
lastly  Luxemburg  were  taken.  Still  Europe  refused  to  check  the 
French  advance.  In  August,  1684,  a  twenty  years'  truce  was 
concluded  with  Holland,  Spain  and  the  Empire.  Louis  kept 
possession  of  Luxemburg,  and  the  legality  of  the  "  reunions  "  was 
virtually  recognised.  About  the  same  time  Louis  sought  to 
establish  his  naval  supremacy  in  the  Mediterranean.  Merely 
because  Genoa  had  preferred  a  Spanish  to  a  French  alliance,  the 
unfortunate  city  was  bombarded  and  forced  to  make  a  humiliating 
submission. 

§  13.  Louis'  absolutist  tendencies  were  to  the  full  as  conspicuous  in 
his  domestic  as  in  his  foreign  policy.  After  the  lapse  of  more  than 
half  a  century,  France  was  again  agitated  by  religious  disputes. 
The  great  questions  of  the  day  were,  the  schism  of  the  Jansenists, 
the  relations  of  the  Gallican  church  to  Rome*  and  the  position 
of  the  Huguenots  as  an  independent  sect.      The  French  church 


a.d.  1681-1684.  THE  JANSENISTS.  233 

was  at  this  time  dominated  by  the  Jesuits,  who  supplied  the 
royal  confessor,  Pere  la  Chaise.  The  famous  order  had  sadly 
degenerated  from  the  principles  of  Loyola.  They  had  become  more 
secular  and  more  greedy  of  power  and  riches.  The  old  unhesitating 
obedience  to  authority  had  disappeared,  and  in  1651  we  hear  of  a 
general  of  the  order  being  deposed.  Always  anxious  to  be  on  the 
winning  side,  the  Jesuits  had  given  up  their  close  alliance  with 
Spain  and  attached  themselves  to  the  House  of  Bourbon.  Louis 
could  rely  upon  them  for  support  even  against  the  papacy,  which 
they  had  been  founded  to  defend.  And  this  worldly  ambition  had 
brought  with  it  graver  moral  defects.  Their  system  of  casuistry 
t:\imht  them  to  find  excuses  for  tho  worst  vices  so  long  as  the  end 
was  laudable.  Their  influence  and  teaching  tended  to  lower  the 
whole  moral  and  religious  tone  of  the  people.  Against  this  influ- 
ence a  natural  reaction  set  in,  of  which  the  Jansenists  were  the 
>st  representatives.  Cornelius  Jansen  and  Jean  du  Vergier, 
two  fellow-students  at  Louvain,  were  the  founders  of  the  new  sect. 
Jansen  become  bishop  of  Ypres,  and  in  1635  produced  his  Avguitintu, 
in  which  he  laid  down  his  theological  principles.  Du  Vergier  was 
made  abbot  of  St.  Cyran  and  inculcated  the  same  principles  by  his 
life  and  personal  influence.  The  centre  of  the  Jansenists  was  the 
monastery  of  Port  Royal  and  a  neighbouring  retreat,  where  there 
were  soon  collected  a  number  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  France, 
including  Pascal,  Arnauld,  Nicole,  Tillemont  and  Racine.  The 
Jesuit  casuistry  was  based  upon  the  doctrine  of  free-will,  and  the 
Jansenists  developed  the  counter-theory  of  predestination,  which 
they  found  in  the  writings  of  Augustine.  In  their  strictness  of 
life  and  in  many  of  their  dogmas  they  resembled  the  Calvinists, 
and  they  have  been  called  the  "  Puritans  of  Catholicism."  Hut 
they  differed  from  the  Protestants  in  the  weight  which  they 
attached  to  tradition  and  the  fathers,  and  they  clung  steadfastly  to 
the  idea  of  the  universal  church.  From  the  first  the  sect  had  to 
make  its  way  against  opposition.  Richelieu,  who  dreaded  the 
appearance  of  new  Huguenots,  persecuted  them  and  even  imprisoned 
St.  Cyran.  But  after  his  death  their  influence  revived  and  spn  a<l 
itself.  During  the  Fronde  they  supported  De  Retz,  and  thus  drew 
on  themselves  the  enmity  of  Mazariu.  In  1658  the  pOpe»Iin0OOBl  X., 
was  induced  to  issue  a  bull  condemning  five  propositions  which 
were  supposed  to  be  found  in  the  Augustinus  of  Jansen.  A  form  of 
declaration  was  drawn  up,  and  approved  by  the  French  government 
and  a  clerical  assembly.  This  the  Jansenists  were  called  upon  to 
accept.  But  they  denied  that  the  propositions  were  to  be  found  in 
Jansen's  book,  and  they  maintained  that  the  papal  infallibility  did 
not  extend  to  matters  of  fact.  Threats  and  persecutions  were 
12 


234  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xm. 

unable  to  make  them  yield.  In  1654  Pascal  published  the  famous 
*  Provincial  Letters,'  a  satire  on  the  principles  of  the  Jesuists  so 
vigorous  and  incisive  that  the  order  never  really  recovered  its  hold 
on  the  popular  confidence.  Their  enmity  against  the  Jansenists 
became  more  bitter  than  ever,  but  they  failed  to  crush  them 
The  question  of  the  papal  bull  remained  unsettled  till  1G69,  when 
a  compromise  was  accepted  by  Clement  IX.  The  Jansenists 
agreed  to  condemn  the  five  propositions  as  heretical,  but  reserved 
the  question  as  to  whether  they  were  really  taken  from  their 
teacher's  book.  From  this  time  they  again  revived;  some  of 
them  gained  preferment  in  the  church,  and  their  doctrines  spread 
into  other  countries.  Louis  XIV.  hated  them,  partly  as  a  remnant 
of  the  old  Fronde,  partly  because  they  held  the  ecclesiastical  power 
to  be  independent  of  the  state,  and  partly  because  he  personally 
favoured  the  Jesuits.  They  were  thus  opposed  both  by  the  king  and 
by  the  pope,  and  were  only  saved  from  destruction  by  the  want  of 
unity  between  their  opponents. 

§  14.  Louis  XIV.  wished  to  be  supreme  in  the  church  as  well  as  in 
the  state,  and  this  necessarily  brought  him  into  collision  with  the 
rival  authority  of  the  papacy.  Moreover  the  popes  at  this  time  were 
afraid  of  the  rising  French  power,  and  usually  sided  with  the  House 
of  Hapsburg,  and  for  this  Louis  revenged  himself  by  encroaching 
on  their  spiritual  power.  The  basis  of  the  royal  power  in  church 
affairs  was  the  so-called  regale,  the  king's  right  to  receive  the 
revenues  of  a  vacant  bishopric,  and  to  appoint  to  all  the  livings 
th*t  belonged  to  it.  This  right  had  always  been  exercised  by 
the  French  kings  except  in  Guienne,  Languedoc,  Provence  and 
Dauphine\  Louis,  conscious  of  his  power,  wished  to  extend  it  to 
these  four  provinces.  The  two  bishops  of  Pamier  and  Alais,  who 
were  Jansenists  and  wished  to  restrict  secular  interference,  pro- 
tested against  this  extension  of  the  royal  power,  and  appealed  to 
the  pope.  Innocent  XL  at  once  took  up  their  cause,  and  forbade 
the  king  to  proceed  with  his  design.  But  Louis,  religious  and 
orthodox  as  he  was,  would  not  yield  to  papal  authority.  The 
clergy,  and  especially  the  Jesuits,  had  always  been  on  his  side,  and 
he  summoned  a  national  synod  in  1682.  They  approved  of  the 
extension  of  the  regale,  and  drew  up  four  general  propositions,  viz., 
that  the  temporal  power  is  independent  of  the  spiritual:  that  a 
general  council  is  superior  to  the  pope  :  that  the  papal  authority 
cannot  alter  the  usages  of  the  Grallican  church :  and  that  papal 
decisions,  even  in  matters  of  faith,  are  not  valid  till  they  have 
received  the  consent  of  the  church.  This  was  a  great  victory  for 
Louis.  The  clergy  combined  with  the  king  to  exclude  the 
domination  of  the  papacy  as  a  foreign  power.     This  was  a  great 


a.d.  1682-1684.  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS.     235 

advance  both  for  the  unity  of  the  nation  and  for  the  royal 
supremacy.  But  the  opposition  to  the  papacy  involved  not  the 
slightest  tendency  to  a  change  in  doctrine.  Louis,  under  the 
influence  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  was  more  rigidly  orthodox  than 
ever.  At  the  very  time  that  he  was  quarrelling  with  the  head  of 
his  church,  he  was  preparing  to  render  an  acceptable  service  to  that 
church  by  the  suppression  of  heresy  in  France. 

§  15.  Ever  since  the  fall  of  La  Rocheile  and  the  treaty  <>f  Alais,  the 
Huguenots  had  lived  peaceably  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  religious 
liberty  that  had  been  left  to  them.  During  the  Fronde  they  had 
remained  j>erfectly  quiet,  and  had  thus  earned  the  gratitude  of  the 
king.  One  of  Louis*  first  acts  was  a  promise  to  observe  the  Edict 
of  Nantes.  During  the  early  part  of  his  reigD  the  Huguenots  were 
unmolested.  Excluded  from  direct  military  or  ]>olitical  employ- 
ment, they  devoted  themselves  with  the  more  ardour  to  industry, 
and  especially  to  financial  administration.  Colbert  found  in  them 
his  ablest  and  most  trustworthy  instruments.  So  peaceful  and 
prosperous  was  the  Calvinist  population,  that  Louis  conceived  the 
idea  of  effecting  their  rtimioii  with  the  church.  The  rejection  of 
this  scheme  by  a  synod  in  1673  hurt  the  king's  self-love,  and  pro- 
produced  the  first  ill-will  against  the  Huguenots.  It  was  at  this 
time  that  he  was  at  war  with  Holland,  and  though  there  was  no 
trace  of  an  alliance,  he  was  irritated  to  think  that  a  portion  of  his 
subjects  had  common  religious  interests  and  sympathy  with  his 
enemies.  The  devotion  of  the  French  clergy,  who  in  1675  made 
him  an  extraordinary  grant  for  the  war,  seemed  to  merit  some 
Lrritt  til  return.  From  this  time  the  court  began  to  aim  at  the 
conversion  of  the  Huguenots,  at  first  by  rewards  and  favours 
showered  on  those  who  came  over,  afterwards  by  more  violent 
measures.  Every  possible  form  of  oppression  was  resorted  to 
that  did  not  run  directly  counter  to  the  letter  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes.  The  conversion  of  a  Catholic  to  the  reformed  faith  was 
forbidden  under  the  severest  penalties.  Mixed  marriages  were  pro- 
hibited. Huguenots  were  excluded  from  all  financial  employment, 
from  municipal  offices,  and  from  the  legal  and  medical  professions. 
The  taille  was  doubly  assessed  upon  them,  and  on  the  slightest  pre- 
text their  churches  were  demolished  by  the  orthodox  parliaments. 
Many  of  the  oppressed  sect  sought  a  refuge  from  persecution  in 
voluntary  exile.  But  emigration  was  forbidden  by  a  royal  edict. 
Risings  broke  out  in  the  Cevennes  and  other  provinces,  but  were 
speedily  put  down  by  force.  Louvois  now  hit  on  a  characteristic 
scheme  for  procuring  conversions.  Troops  were  quartered  on 
Huguenot  households  till  they  abjured  their  faith.  Military 
brutality  proved  a  most  effective  missionary  instrument.     Every 


236  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xin. 

day  came  the  news  of  numerous  conversions.  Louis  was  persuaded  by 
his  ministers  that  the  one  thing  necessary  to  complete  the  work 
was  that  the  royal  will  should  be  finally  and  unhesitatingly 
expressed.  This  could  be  most  effectively  done  by  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The  king  at  first  hesitated  to  take  such 
an  extreme  step.  France  had  obtained  its  greatness  by  alliance 
with  the  Protestants.  To  undo  the  great  work  of  Henry  IV. 
would  be  to  break  with  the  most  serviceable  of  French  allies.  Had 
war  with  the  Hapsburgs  been  going  on,  the  act  would  have  been 
impossible.  But  Europe  was  at  peace,  and  had  conclusively  shown 
its  desire  to  remain  so.  England,  once  the  champion  of  Protes- 
tantism, was  now  under  James  II.,  from  whom  applause  rather 
then  opposition  was  expected.  At  last  Louis  determined  on  the 
most  fatal  measure  of  his  reign.  On  Oct.  22,  1685,  appeared  an 
edict  by  which  the  Huguenots  were  deprived  of  all  the  privileges 
conferred  on  them  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes  or  the  treaty  of  Alais; 
the  reformed  worship  was  prohibited;  the  ministers  were  to  be 
exiled,  and  the  churches  destroyed ;  emigration  was  forbidden 
under  penalty  of  the  galleys.  The  only  concession  made  was  a 
promise  of  liberty  of  conscience,  so  long  as  no  public  worship  took 
place.  The  edict  was  welcomed  with  extravagant  applause  by  the 
Catholic  world.  Innocent  XL  alone,  jealous  of  Louis'  power,  and 
personally  inclined  to  mild  measures,  looked  on  in  gloomy  dis- 
approval. But  the  measure  was  fatal  to  the  real  interests  of 
France,  both  external  and  internal.  The  prohibition  of  emigration 
could  not  be  enforced.  More  than  half  a  million  of  the  most  in- 
telligent and  industrious  population  of  France  crossed  the  borders 
and  carried  their  skill  to  more  tolerant  countries — to  England, 
Holland,  and  Prussia.  By  the  gain  of  those  countries  may  be 
measured  the  loss  of  France.  The  industrial  life  which  Colbert 
had  hoped  to  create  and  stimulate,  seemed  to  be  irretrievably 
ruined.  And  the  moral  and  intellectual  energies  of  the  people  were 
no  less  seriously  injured.  Louis  XIV.  may  have  been  misled  and 
misinformed  by  Louvois,  he  may  have  been  influenced  by  the  milder 
bigotry  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  but  on  his  head  must  rest  the 
ultimate  responsibility  of  the  measure  which  did  such  infinite 
damage  to  France,  and  which  far  outweighs  any  benefits  that  his 
earlier  government  may  have  conferred  on  his  subjects. 

§  16.  In  foreign  politics  the  effect  of  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  was  equally  disastrous,  and  was  more  immediately  felt. 
All  the  Protestant  allies  of  France  were  completely  alienated.  In 
Holland  William  of  Orange  was  enabled  to  triumph  over  the 
republican  party,  which  had  hitherto  tied  his  hands.  The  elector 
of  Brandenburg,  who   had  closely  allied  himself  with  Louis  in 


a.d.  1685-1686.       LEAGUE   OF  AUGSBURG.  237 

opposition  to  the  emperor,  changed  his  attitude,  and  made  up  all 
his  differences  with  Austria.  The  influence  which  France  had 
obtained  over  the  German  princes  by  the  League  of  the  Rhine  was 
overthrown.  Louis  had  schemed  for  the  transference  of  the  Empire 
to  himself,  that  was  henceforth  hopeless.  The  aggressions  of  Louis 
on  the  frontiers  of  Germany,  hitherto  unopposed  and  condoned  by 
the  truce  of  1684,  would  no  longer  be  tolerated.  In  1685  the 
elector  palatine  Charles  died,  the  last  male  of  the  House  of 
Simmern.  The  electorate  passed  to  Philip  William  uf  the  line  of 
Xeulmrg.  Hut  Louis  at  once  claimed  great  part  of  the  Lower 
Palatinate,  in  right  of  Charles'  sister,  the  wife  of  his  brother  l'hilip 
of  Orleans.  Germany  raised  itself  to  oppose  the  claim.  In  July, 
a  defensive  league  was  concluded  at  Augsburg  between  the 
emperor,  Spain.  Sweden,  Holland  and  almost  all  the  German  princes 
and  circles.  In  the  next  year  it  was  joined  by  the  elector  of  Bavaria, 
the  duke  of  Saxony,  and  the  chief  independent  states  of  Italy.  The 
pope,  Innocent  XL,  gave  it  his  secret  support.  We  can  see  how 
completely  Looil  XIV.'s  ambition  and  bigotry  had  reversed  the 
attitude  of  the  European  powers.  Formerly  France  had  supported 
Protestantism  in  its  resistance  to  the  great  Catholic  power  of  the 
House  of  Hapsburg.  Now  Spain  and  Austria — even  the  Pope 
himself — were  leagued  with  the  Protestant  jM.wers  to  check  the 
aggressions  of  France  in  the  sphere  both  of  politics  and  of  religion. 
There  was  still  one  important  power  whose  adhesion  to  the  league 
against  Louis  seemed  necessary  to  ensure  its  success.  England 
which,  under  Elizabeth  ami  Cromwell,  had  been  the  champion  of 
Protestantism,  was  now  ruled  by  the  bigoted  and  impracticable 
James  II.  So  far  from  disapproving  of  Louis'  actions,  he  showed  a 
desire  to  imitate  them  in  his  own  country.  Like  his  predecessor, 
Charles  II.,  he  relied  upon  French  subsidies  and  French  tr« 
crush  any  discontent  among  his  subjects.  This  discontent  ho 
speedily  aroused.  In  a  reign  of  only  three  years  (1685-1688),  he 
succeeded  in  completely  alienating  every  class.  His  attack  on  the 
established  church  evoked  the  opposition  of  the  most  orderly  and 
submissive  of  his  subjects.  The  malcontents  turned  naturally  to 
William  of  Orange,  whose  wife  was  James'  daughter  and  presumptive 
heiress.  The  unexpected  birth  of  a  son  to  the  king  suddenly 
removed  all  prospect  of  a  Protestant  succession,  and  rendered 
prompt  measures  necessary  for  the  protection  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  It  was  determined  to  invite  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  England 
to  effect  a  settlement.  But  in  existing  circumstances  such  an  act  was 
of  European,  as  well  as  insular,  importance.  William  was  the  bitter 
and  avowed  opponent  of  the  French  king,  his  success  was  certain  to 
involve  England  in  the  great  conflict  impending  on  the  continent. 


238  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xiil 

So  intense  was  the  hostility  which  Louis  had  excited,  that  the 
Catholic  powers  of  Europe,  the  pope  at  their  head,  were  inclined  to 
support  a  scheme  which  must  result  in  the  triumph  of  English 
Protestantism,  and  which  might  involve  the  deposition  of  a 
legitimate  and  Catholic  sovereign.  Every  risk  must  be  ran  in 
order  to  deprive  France  of  so  important  an  ally. 

§  17.  It  was  manifest  that  Louis'  position  was  a  very  critical  one, 
and  required  the  most  cautious  action.  He  had  no  ally  of  importance 
except  the  Turks,  and  they  were  now  being  decidedly  worsted  in  the 
war  with  Austria.  In  1688,  the  great  fortress  of  Belgrade  was  taken 
by  the  imperial  army,  and  the  Porte  was  forced  to  sue  for  terms. 
But  Louis  obstinately  refused  to  yield  in  the  face  of  any  difficulties. 
Not  only  did  he  continue  to  prefer  his  claims  in  the  Palatinate,  he 
prepared  for  a  new  and  more  offensive  intervention  in  German 
affairs.  For  a  long  time  he  had  been  in  the  closest  alliance  with 
the  electors  of  Cologne,  and  this  alliance  was  of  great  moment  as 
securing  the  French  on  the  Rhine.  In  1688  the  archbishop 
Maximilian  Henry  died,  and  the  eyes  of  Europe  were  turned  on  the 
election  of  his  successor.  The  French  party,  which  included  the 
majority  of  the  chapter,  put  forward  William  of  Fiirstenberg,  a 
vassal  of  Louis,  who  had  been  coadjutor  under  the  late  elector. 
But  the  emperor  was  determined  not  to  allow  so  great  a  principality 
to  remain  practically  subject  to  France.  He  put  forward  an 
opposition  candidate,  Joseph  Clement,  brother  of  the  elector  of 
Bavaria.  The  imperial  intervention  had  some  weight  with  the 
chapter,  and  Fiirstenberg  only  obtained  thirteen  votes  out  of  twenty- 
four,  while  his  rival  received  nine.  But  for  a  legitimate  election 
two  thirds  of  the  votes  were  required,  and  the  dispute  had  to  be 
referred  to  the  pope.  Innocent  XL  had  many  grounds  for  quarrel 
with  Louis  XIV.,  and  to  these  had  been  added  a  recent  grievance. 
A  frequent  source  of  abuse  in  Rome  had  been  the  franchises  claimed 
by  foreign  ambassadors,  which  enabled  them  to  shelter  any  persons, 
however  criminal,  who  sought  refuge  in  the  neighbourhood  of  their 
residence.  Innocent  had  issued  a  decree  abolishing  these  franchises. 
Louis  XIV.,  with  characteristic  haughtiness,  refused  to  give  up  the 
privileges  of  his  embassy  at  the  command  of  the  pope.  An  envoy 
was  sent  to  Rome  with  a  military  escort  to  enforce  his  pretensions. 
The  pope  excommunicated  the  ambassador,  and  France  and  Rome 
were  again  at  open  war  with  each  other.  It  was  obviously  the 
interest  of  Innocent  to  check  Louis'  power  in  every  way.  He  at 
once  declared  Joseph  Clement  to  be  the  lawful  archbishop  of 
Cologne.  The  French  king,  afraid  of  losing  his  hold  on  Cologne, 
replied  by  acknowledging  Fiirstenberg  and  announcing  his  intention 
to  uphold  him. 


a.d.  1688-1689.     THE  ENGLISH  REVOLUTION.  239 

But  meanwhile  the  interests  of  France  were  still  more  directly 
threatened  by  William  of  Orange's  projected  expedition  to  England. 
Louis  sent  urgent  warnings  to  James  II.  and  threatened  to  attack 
Holland.  But  James,  with  his  usual  stupid  arrogance,  refused  to 
listen  to  the  warnings,  and  declared  that  his  position  was  weakened 
by  the  open  avowal  of  the  French  alliance.  Louis  had  to  act  for 
himself.  His  council  was  divided  as  to  the  measures  to  be  taken, 
Seignelay,  Colbert's  son,  who  was  minister  of  the  revenue,  urged 
war  against  Holland  both  by  land  and  sea.  But  Louvois,  always 
jealous  of  the  Colbert  family,  and  fearing  that  a  naval  war  might 
increase  his  rival's  influence,  advised  an  immediate  attack  upon 
Germany.  His  opinion  was  adopted  by  the  king.  An  army  under 
the  dauphin  laid  siege  to  Philipsburg,  and  the  skill  of  Vauban 
compelled  its  speedy  surrender.  The  League  of  Augsburg  was 
entirely  unprepared  for  war,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of 
time  the  four  Rhenish  electorates  were  at  the  feet  of  France.  The 
Palatinate  was  devastated  for  the  second  time.  Louis'  attack  upon 
Germany  decided  the  fate  of  England.  William  of  Orange,  freed 
from  the  danger  of  French  invasion,  hastened  his  preparations,  and 
on  Nov.  11,  1688,  sailed  for  England.  James  II.  showed  as  much 
abject  cowardice  in  danger  as  foolish  confidence  beforehand.  Deser- 
tions from  his  army  and  his  own  family  convinced  him  of  the  utter 
hopelessness  of  resistance,  and  he  fled  from  the  capital.  Captured 
and  brought  back  again  he  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity 
offered  by  his  crafty  opponent,  and  escaped  to  France.  There 
Louis  received  him  with  great  pomp,  and  magnanimously  allowed 
him  to  maintain  an  expensive  court  at  St.  Germains.  William, 
with  his  wife  Mary,  received  the  English  crown,  and  one  of  his  first 
acts  was  to  secure  the  admission  of  England  into  the  League  of 
Augsburg.  Thus  the  circle  of  Louis'  enemies  was  completed.  The 
Revolution  of  1688,  to  which  his  own  errors  essentially  contributed, 
marks  the  triumph  of  those  principles  to  which  the  French  king 
was  most  diametrically  opposed. 

§  18.  In  1689  the  war  became  general.  The  object  of  the  allies 
was  to  enforce  a  return  to  the  state  of  things  recognised  by  the 
treaty  of  the  Pyrenees.  Louis  fought  to  retain,  and,  if  possible, 
to  extend  his  acquisitions.  France  had  to  face  attack  on  every 
side,  on  the  Pyrenees  from  Spain,  on  the  east  from  the  combined 
forces  of  Holland,  Germany,  and  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  on  the 
Italian  frontier  from  Savoy.  At  the  same  time  the  coast  had  to  be 
defended  against  the  two  great  maritime  powers,  England  and 
Holland.  So  immense  were  the  resources  of  France,  and  so  admir- 
able the  machinery  for  employing  them,  that  all  these  tasks  were 
performed  at  once.      Louis  had  never  less  than  four  armies  in  the 


240  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xm. 

field,  and  sometimes  as  many  as  six.  Nor  were  the  allies  on  their 
side  wanting  in  energy.  Germany  alone  furnished  three  armies. 
One  under  the  prince  of  Waldeck  advanced  to  co-operate  with  the 
Dutch,  English  and  Spaniards  in  the  Netherlands,  and  defeated  the 
French  under  d'Humieres  at  Yalcourt.  Two  others,  commanded 
respectively  by  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the  duke  of  Lorraine, 
undertook  to  drive  the  French  from  their  recent  conquests  on  the 
Rhine.  Kaiserwerth,  Bonn,  and  Mainz  were  captured.  But  these 
early  reverses  only  roused  Louis  to  greater  efforts.  The  ablest  of 
surviving  French  generals,  Luxemburg,  was  sent  to  the  Nether- 
lands, the  most  important  scene  of  war.  Marshal  Boumers  was  to 
act  on  the  Moselle,  and  the  dauphin,  under  the  supervision  of  de 
Lorges,  on  the  Rhine.  Catinat,  hardly  inferior  to  Luxemburg  in 
ability,  was  sent  against  Savoy,  while  the  duke  de  Noailles  led  a 
fifth  army  across  the  Pyrenees  into  Catalonia.  It  is  impossible  to 
follow  the  details  of  these  various  campaigns.  Everywhere  the 
French  held  their  own,  and  even  won  battles,  but  the  numerical 
superiority  of  the  allies  always  neutralised  the  importance  of  these 
successes.  Luxemburg  defeated  Waldeck  at  the  battle  of  Fleurus 
(1690),  but  the  enemy  was  immediately  reinforced  by  the  elector  of 
Brandenburg,  and  the  French  could  make  no  advance.  More 
brilliant,  though  not  more  lasting,  were  the  achievements  of  Catinat 
on  the  Italian  frontier.  Victor  Amadeus  of  Savoy  had  joined  the 
League  of  Augsburg  in  the  hope  of  restoring  to  his  duchy  the  great 
fortresses  of  Pinerolo  and  Casale,  which  were  the  basis  of  French 
influence  in  Italy.  At  first  there  seemed  little  prospect  of  his 
hopes  being  realised.  Catinat  crushed  his  forces  at  Staffarda  (1690), 
and  in  a  short  time  conquered  almost  the  whole  of  Savoy.  In  the 
next  year  he  reduced  Nice  and  Montmelian.  And  while  the  French 
retained  their  supremacy  on  land,  they  almost  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing a  similar  supremacy  on  the  sea.  In  the  same  year  (1690), 
their  admiral,  Tourville,  succeeded  in  defeating  the  combined 
English  and  Dutch  fleets  off  Beachy  Head. 

While  France  was  making  these  marvellous  but  exhausting 
exertions  by  land  and  sea,  Louis  was  by  no  means  forgetful  of  the 
interests  of  James  II.  A  French  force  escorted  him  to  Ireland, 
where  he  soon  obtained  almost  universal  recognition.  It  was  only  in 
the  Protestant  north  that  opposition  was  to  be  dreaded.  It  would 
have  been  the  most  complete  triumph  for  Louis  XIV.'s  policy  if 
England  could  have  been  conquered  from  the  side  of  Ireland.  But 
William  III.  did  not  wait  for  an  invasion.  He  hurried  to  meet  the 
enemy,  and  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  (July  1,  1690)  decided  the 
contest.  James  again  fled  to  France,  and  William's  generals  were 
left  to  continue  the  reduction  of  Ireland.     It  was  completed  in 


a.d.  1689-1692.  DEATH  OF  LOUVOIS.  241 

1691  by  the  pacification  of  Limerick.  The  success  of  William  of 
Orange  was  a  terrible  blow  to  Louis.  The  combined  English  and 
Dutch  forces  were  now  free  to  act  directly  against  France,  and 
William  was  able  to  bring  his  abilities  and  his  dauntless  resolution 
to  the  assistance  of  the  allies. 

§  19.  Louis  XIV.,  as  if  conscious  that  the  war  in  the  Netherlands 
was  dignified  by  the  presence  of  his  great  rival,  appeared  to  take 
the  command  in  person.  But  as  usual  when  he  was  there  none 
but  the  safest  enterprises  were  undertaken.  Mons  was  besieged 
in  form,  and  taken  by  the  skill  of  Vauban.  William  advanced  to 
relieve  it,  but  found  the  covering  army  too  strong  and  had  to  retire. 
The  capture  of  Mons,  and  Catinat's  successes  in  Savoy,  were  the  only 
military  events  of  importance  in  1691.  More  memorable  than 
anything  else  was  the  death  of  Louvois,  the  suggester  of  Louis' 
unscrupulous  policy  and  therefore  the  real  originator  of  the  war. 
His  royal  master  had  for  some  time  been  weary  of  him,  and  his 
death  was  so  sudden  that  reports  were  circulated  and  believed  of 
poison  administered  by  order  either  of  the  king  or  of  Madame  de 
Maintenon.  Louvois  was  the  last  able  minister  of  Louis  XIV. 
The  military  administration  was  entrusted  to  his  son,  Barbesieux, 
but  he  was  young  and  incapable.  The  king  had  become  so  feebly 
jealous  of  power  that  he  could  not  bear  the  presence  of  able  men. 
I  Inn  c!'«.rth  he  surrounded  himself  with  second-rate  officials,  and 
trusted  more  and  more  to  his  own  impulses  or  the  suggestions  ot 
Madame  de  Maintenon. 

Great  preparations  were  made  for  the  campaign  of  1692.  Louis 
was  determined  on  a  fresh  undertaking  in  favour  of  James  II. 
Tourville,  the  admiral  who  had  been  so  successful  two  years  before, 
was  ordered  to  convey  the  deposed  king  to  Ireland.  Great  expecta- 
tions were  based  upon  the  popularity  of  James  with  the  English 
fleet ;  he  had  even  a  secret  correspondence  with  the  admiral,  Mussel). 
But  Russell  refused  to  recognise  even  his  legitimate  king  on  the  deck 
of  a  French  vessel.  In  the  battle  of  La  Hogue,  the  French  showed 
conspicuous  bravery,  but  Tourville  was  forced  by  superior  numbers 
to  a  disastrous  retreat.  The  expedition  was  now  impossible,  and 
England  regained  her  naval  superiority.  Henceforth  the  maritime 
successes  of  the  French  were  limited  to  the  raids  on  Dutch  and 
English  commerce  of  adventurous  privateers  such  as  Jean  Bart. 
Colbert's  son,  Seignelay,  who  had  done  so  much  for  the  French 
navy,  had  died  soon  after  the  victory  of  1690.  His  successor, 
Pontchartrain,  was,  like  all  Louis'  later  ministers,  incapable.  By 
land  the  French  had  still  the  upper  hand.  Louis  again  commanded 
the  army  and  attacked  Namur.  The  siege  is  reckoned  as  Vauban's 
masterpiece,  and  the  fortress  was  defended  by  the  second  engineer 
12* 


2  VI  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xm. 

of  the  age,  Cohorn.  William's  attempt  at  relief  was  frustrated  by 
Luxemburg,  and  Namur  surrendered.  Louis  had  now  a  great 
opportunity  of  crushing  his  enemy,  but  as  usual  he  refused  to  risk 
a  battle,  and  soon  afterwards  returned  to  France.  Luxemburg,  who 
was  left  behind  with  diminished  forces,  was  drawn  by  William  into 
a  trap  at  Steinkirk,  but  he  extricated  himself  with  masterly  energy 
and  skill,  and  the  allied  forces  were  compelled  to  retreat.  Neither 
side  seemed  able  to  gain  any  decisive  success.  France  was 
exhausted  by  its  unparalleled  exertions,  and  disaffection  began  to 
make  itself  heard.  Louis  had  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  the 
necessary  supplies.  It  was  not  till  June,  1693,  that  he  was  able  to 
take  the  field,  and  this  delay  gave  the  allies  time  to  prepare  their 
defence.  On  arriving  in  the  Netherlands,  Louis  refused  to  venture 
an  assault  on  William's  position,  and  quitted  the  army  without 
having  achieved  anything.  It  was  his  most  conspicuous  military 
failure,  and  he  never  again  assumed  the  command.  It  was  to  no 
purpose  that  Luxemburg  defeated  the  allies  at  Neerwinden.  The 
only  result  was  the  capture  of  Charleroi.  In  the  next  year  the 
French  were  forced  to  stand  altogether  on  the  defensive,  and  in 
January,  1695,  Luxemburg  died.  Meanwhile  Catinat  was  holding 
his  ground  in  Savoy,  even  against  the  rising  Austrian  commander, 
prince  Eugene.  Eugene  was  French  on  his  father's  side,  and 
Italian  by  his  mother,  who  was  one  of  Mazarins  nieces.  But, 
slighted  by  Louis,  he  had  thrown  himself  altogether  on  to  the  side  of 
the  emperor.  In  1692  the  forces  of  Savoy  had  the  better  of  the 
conflict,  and  even  attempted  an  invasion  of  Dauphine.  But  the 
next  year  Catinat  defeated  them  at  Marsaglia  and  reconquered 
Piedmont.  In  Catalonia  Noailles  gained  still  more  conspicuous 
successes. 

§  20.  But  all  these  heroic  efforts  served  only  to  prolong  a  conflict 
which  was  already  decided  by  the  exhaustion  of  France.  In 
response  to  the  royal  demands,  all  classes,  and  especially  the  clergy, 
had  made  great  voluntary  sacrifices,  but  this  could  not  go  on  for  ever. 
The  financial  administration  had  fallen  into  very  incompetent 
hands  since  Colbert's  death,  but  even  Colbert  could  hardly  have 
coped  with  existing  difficulties.  Not  only  had  the  annual  expendi- 
ture risen  to  an  unexampled  amount,  but  the  sources  of  revenue 
were  proportionately  diminished.  The  Huguenots  had  carried 
with  them  much  of  the  wealth  of  France,  and  their  departure  had 
inflicted  irreparable  damage  on  French  industries.  Commerce  and 
the  colonies  suffered  from  the  attacks  of  English  and  Dutch.  Even 
the  coasts  were  no  longer  secure.  The  English  fleet  bombarded 
Havre  and  Dunkirk,  and  it  was  feared  that  they  might  effect  a 
landing.     To  these  internal  misfortunes  were  now  added  military 


a.d.  1692-1697.        TREATY  OP  RYSWICK.  243 

reverses.  In  1695  William  of  Orange  with  the  assistance  of  Cohora 
retook  Namur.  The  energetic  defence  of  the  commander,  Boufflers, 
and  the  attempted  relief  by  Villeroy,  Luxemburg's  successor,  proved 
fruitless.  It  was  evidently  necessary  for  France  to  obtain  peace. 
Louis  had  already  withdrawn  many  of  the  obnoxious  demands 
which  he  had  put  forward  at  the  commencement  of  the  war,  but 
without  satisfying  the  allies.  He  now  determined  to  break  up  the 
hostile  league  by  separate  negotiations.  The  duke  of  Savoy,  whose 
interest  in  the  war  was  purely  selfish,  was  easily  induced  to  come 
over  to  the  side  of  France  by  the  restitution  of  all  his  territories, 
including  Richelieu's  great  acquisitions,  Pinerolo  and  Casale.  His 
daughter  was  married  to  Louis*  grandson,  the  duke  of  Burgundy. 
It  was  an  enormous  sacrifice  both  of  power  and  dignity  for  Louis 
to  make,  but  it  produced  the  desired  result.  The  neutrality  of 
Italy  being  secured,  he  was  able  to  strengthen  his  forces  at  other 
points.  The  allies,  weakened  by  the  defection  of  Savoy,  consented 
to  accept  the  mediation  of  Charles  XI.  of  Sweden,  and  a  diplomatic 
conference  was  opened  in  May,  1697,  at  Ryswick,  half  way  between 
the  Hague  and  Delft. 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  peace  were  great  and  numerous. 
Many  of  the  demands  were  regarded  by  Louis  as  inconsistent  with 
his  honour  and  dignity  as  well  as  with  his  interests.  Spain  wished 
to  restore  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees,  Germany  that  of  Westphalia. 
And  above  all  there  was  the  bitter  but  inevitable  necesM: 
acknowledging  the  legality  of  the  English  revolution.  Fortunately 
for  France  the  interests  of  the  allies  were  not  identical,  and  it  was 
possible  by  satisfying  one  to  limit  the  concessions  to  the  other. 
Louis  determined  to  expedite  matters  by  an  accommodation  with 
William  III.  The  treaty  between  Kngland  and  France  was  not 
settled  by  the  diplomatists  at  Ryswick,  but  by  a  private  conference 
between  Bentinck,  William's  friend  and  confidant,  and  the  French 
marshal,  Boufflers.  Louis  agreed  to  acknowledge  William  III.  as 
king  of  England,  and  to  withhold  all  assistance  from  his  enemies. 
But  with  a  magnanimity  becoming  a  great  king,  he  refused  to 
listen  to  the  demand  for  the  expulsion  of  James  II.  from  French 
soil.  On  these  terms  William  undertook  to  manage  Austria  and 
Spain,  who  were  anxious  to  continue  the  war.  Spain  was  forced  to 
a  decision  by  the  news  that  Barcelona  had  surrendered  to  the  duke 
of  Vendome,  who  had  taken  Noailles'  command  in  Catalonia.  On 
Sept.  20,  1697,  the  first  treaty  was  signed  at  Ryswick  between 
France,  England,  Spain,  and  Holland.  Besides  the  concessions  to 
William  III.,  Louis  withdrew  from  all  conquests  made  since  the 
peace  of  Nimwegen,  and  agreed  that  the  Dutch  should  garrison  the 
frontier  towns  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  as  a  security  against  a 


244  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xiii. 

French  invasion.  The  emperor  still  held  out,  and  demanded  the 
cession  of  Strasburg.  William  was  so  convinced  of  the  importance 
of  this,  that  he  was  personally  willing  to  resume  the  war.  But 
England  and  Holland  were  almost  unanimous  in  their  desire  for 
peace,  and  Louis  was  enabled  to  carry  his  point.  On  October  30, 
the  second  treaty  between  France  and  the  empire  was  concluded. 
Louis  surrendered  the  great  fortresses  of  Freiburg,  Breisach,  and 
Philipsburg,  and  restored  all  the  places  acquired  since  the  peace  of 
Nimwegen  except  Strasburg.  That  town  with  the  whole  of  Alsace 
remained  subject  to  France  until  our  own  day.  Lorraine,  with  the 
sole  exception  of  Saarlouis,  was  restored  to  its  lawful  duke,  Leopold, 
son  of  Charles  IV.  Joseph  Clement  of  Bavaria  was  recognised  as 
elector  of  Cologne,  and  the  pretensions  of  Fiirstenberg  abandoned. 
The  claims  of  the  duchess  of  Orleans  on  the  Palatinate  were  surren- 
dered for  a  sum  of  ready  money. 

The  treaty  of  Ryswick  was  a  great  blow  to  the  pretensions  of 
Louis  XIV.  He  had  failed  to  enforce  the  legality  of  his  famous 
"  reunions,"  and  had  been  compelled  to  withdraw  from  the  Rhine 
frontier.  The  Stuarts,  whose  alliance  had  been  of  such  service  to 
him,  remained  excluded  from  the  English  throne.  Holland,  which 
he  had  wished  to  humiliate,  was  by  its  union  with  England  more 
powerful  than  ever.  The  French  had  retired  from  their  command- 
ing position  on  the  side  of  Italy.  Louis  had  posed  as  the  champion 
of  Catholicism,  but  the  Protestant  interests  had  prevailed  in 
Europe.  And  the  king  had  also  found  it  advisable  to  yield  in  his 
struggle  with  the  papacy.  Directly  after  Innocent  XL's  death,  the 
French  ambassador  gave  up  the  right  of  franchise.  Avignon,  which 
the  French  had  occupied,  was  restored,  the  French  clergy  humbly 
implored  forgiveness  for  their  opposition  to  the  Holy  See,  and 
finally  the  four  articles  of  1682  were  abrogated.  But  these  con- 
cessions were  not  regarded  by  Louis  as  a  final  check  to  his  ambition, 
they  were  only  made  with  a  definite  object  in  view.  The  question 
of  the  Spanish  succession,  which  had  absorbed  so  much  attention 
at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  was  now  coming  to  a  crisis,  Louis 
wished  to  have  his  hands  completely  free.  It  is  necessary  to  have 
a  clear  conception  of  the  various  claims  that  were  involved. 

IV.  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession. 

§  21.  Charles  II.,  the  reigning  king  of  Spain,  had  never  enjoyed 
sound  health  either  in  body  or  mind,  and  he  was  now  rapidly  sink- 
ing into  the  grave.  He  was  the  last  male  of  the  Spanish  branch 
of  the  Hapsburgs,  the  descendants  of  Charles  V.  He  had  been 
married  twice,  first  to  Marie  Louise,  a  niece  of  Louis  XIV.,  and 


a.d.  1697.  THE   SPANISH  SUCCESSION.  245 

afterwards  to  Maria  Anna  of  Neuburg,  a  sister-in-law  of  the  emperor 
Leopold,  but  there  was  no  prospect  of  his  having  children,  and  the 
succession  to  his  throne  must  go  to  claimants  by  the  female  side. 
The  eldest  daughters  both  of  Philip  III.  and  of  Philip  IV.  had  been 
married  into  the  house  of  Bourbon,  Anne  to  Louis  XIII.,  and  Maria 
Theresa  to  Louis  XIV.  But  both  had  on  their  marriage  re- 
nounced all  claims  to  the  succession.  Mazarin  and  Louis  XIV. 
had  endeavoured  to  obtain  some  declaration  of  the  invalidity  of 
these  renunciations,  but  hitherto  without  result.  By  a  curious 
coincidence  the  younger  sisters  of  the  two  French  queens  had  been 
married  into  the  Austrian  branch  of  the  Hapsburgs,  Philip  III.'s 
daughter  to  Ferdinand  III.,  and  Philip  IV.'s  to  Leopold.  Neither 
of  them  had  made  any  renunciation,  and  Philip  IV.'s  will  had 
expressly  favoured  the  succession  of  his  younger  in  preference  to 
his  elder  daughter.  The  French  claims  therefore  being  excluded 
by  the  renunciations  of  Anne  of  Austria  and  Maria  Theresa,  the 
hereditary  right  seemed  to  belong  incontestably  to  the  issue  of 
Leopold's  marriage  with  Margaret  Theresa.  This  was  a  daughter 
Maria,  who  was  married  to  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  and  who  had 
already  given  birth  to  a  son,  Joseph  Ferdinand.  But  Leopold  was 
unwilling  to  allow  Spain  to  fall  altogether  from  Hapsburg  hands. 
He  had  compelled  his  daughter  to  renounce  her  claims  on  Spain, 
and  demanded  the  succession  for  himself  as  grandson  of  Philip  III., 
or,  as  a  substitute,  for  the  archduke  Charles,  his  younger  son  by  a 
second  marriage.  There  were,  therefore,  three  claimants  of  import- 
ance, the  electoral  prince  of  Bavaria,  the  archduke  Charles,  and  either 
the  son  or  one  of  the  grandchildren  of  Ix>uis  XIV. 

The  Spanish  monarchy  had  declined  immensely  from  its  old 
importance,  but  it  was  still  a  prize  well  worth  the  winning.  One 
king  after  another  had  been  compelled  to  sacrifice  provinces  and 
strongholds  either  to  successful  rebellion  or  to  French  ambition. 
Holland  and  Portugal  were  independent.  France  had  annexed 
Artois,  Roussillon,  Franche-Comtd,  and  great  part  of  Flanders  and 
Hainault.  But  besides  Castile,  Aragon,  and  Navarre,  there  still 
remained  the  bulk  of  the  Netherlands,  Milan,  Naples  and  Sicily, 
and  the  great  dominions  in  the  New  World.  The  succession  to  so 
enormous  an  empire  was  of  European  importance,  and  Europe  was 
prepared  to  have  a  voice  in  the  matter.  These  were  the  days  when 
the  "balance  of  power"  was  the  watchword  of  diplomacy,  and  it 
was  natural  that  the  idea  of  subdivision  should  commend  itself.  A 
secret  treaty  of  partition  had  been  concluded  long  ago  between 
Louis  and  the  emperor,  but  that  was  now  out  of  date.  The 
circumstances  of  the  two  princes  had  completely  changed,  and, 
moreover,  William  III.  had  arisen  since  then,  and  was  prepared  to 


246  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xm. 

defend  the  interests  of  Europe.  All  the  lesser  powers  were 
unwilling  to  allow  the  aggrandisement  of  either  France  or  Austria 
by  the  acquisition  of  the  Spanish  territories.  It  was  their  obvious 
interest  to  support  the  claims  of  Bavaria,  which  were  also  the  best 
from  a  legal  point  of  view,  because  the  renunciation  of  Leopold's 
daughter,  made  without  any  reference  to  Spain  and  without  Spanish 
sanction,  was  a  purely  Austrian  transaction  and  could  not  be 
regarded  as  valid.  Louis,  who  dreaded  the  natural  tendency  of  the 
Spanish  king  to  favour  the  collateral  branch  of  his  own  family,  and 
who  was  anxious  to  exclude  Austria  at  all  costs,  thought  it  advis- 
able to  fall  in  with  the  wishes  of  Europe.  The  first  treaty  of 
partition  was  concluded  between  France,  England,  and  Holland 
on  October  11,  1698.  The  archduke  Charles  was  to  receive  the 
Milanese,  the  Bourbon  claimant  was  to  have  Naples,  Sicily,  the 
Tuscan  ports  and  Guipuscoa.  All  the  rest  of  the  monarchy 
was  to  go  to  the  electoral  prince  of  Bavaria,  Joseph  Ferdinand. 

This  treaty  might  secure  the  interests  of  Europe,  but  it  had  one 
fatal  defect,  that  it  took  no  account  whatever  of  Spanish  interests 
or  feelings.  There  both  court  and  people  were  unanimous  in  their 
opposition  to  any  scheme  of  partition  whatever  as  likely  to  be 
fatal  to  the  greatness  of  Spain.  Charles  determined,  if  possible,  to 
avert  such  a  misfortune,  and  in  November  made  a  formal  will,  in 
which  the  Bavarian  prince  was  acknowledged  as  heir  to  all  his 
dominions.  But  in  January,  1699,  the  infant  prince  suddenly  died, 
either  of  small-pox  or  of  poison.  Both  the  partition-treaty  and  the 
royal  will  were  thus  nullified,  and  the  old  question  appeared  again 
under  altered  conditions.  The  elector  of  Bavaria  claimed  to  stand  in 
his  son's  place  by  the  letter  of  the  treaty,  but  the  claim  was  rejected 
both  by  Louis  and  by  William  III.  A  second  treaty  of  partition 
was  agreed  upon  in  May,  1700,  which  was  much  more  advantageous 
to  Austria.  The  archduke  Charles  was  to  have  all  the  Spanish 
inheritance,  except  the  Milanese.  This  was  to  be  handed  over 
to  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  who  was  in  return  to  cede  his  duchy  to 
France. 

§  22.  The  obstinate  determination  of  the  European  powers  to  divide 
the  Spanish  inheritance  excited  the  greatest  indignation  in  Spain. 
A  strong  party  formed  itself  to  maintain  at  all  costs  the  unity  of 
the  empire.  Now  the  only  claimant  who  could  really  enforce  this 
unity  was  Louis  XIV.,  who  was  himself  a  party  to  the  treaties  of 
partition.  But  it  was  probable  that  the  prospect  of  undivided 
succession  would  easily  induce  him  to  throw  over  his  allies.  It 
was  certain,  at  any  rate,  that  the  House  of  Bourbon  was  stronger 
than  the  Hapsburgs,  and  that  the  accession  of  the  latter  must 
inevitably  result  in  the  weakening  and  dismemberment  of  Spain. 


a.d.  1G98-1700.  CHARLES   II.'S.   WILL  247 

These  opinions  were  sedulously  encouraged  by  Louis'  envoy,  count 
Harcourt,  the  ablest  diplomatist  in  the  French  service.  The 
charm  of  his  manner  had  already  gained  popular  feeling  to  the  side 
of  France,  even  when  the  court,  under  the  influence  of  the  queen, 
was  wholly  German  in  its  sympathies.  And  now  the  attitude  of 
the  court  was  beginning  to  change.  The  queen's  power  de- 
creased, and  cardinal  Porto- Carrero,  the  leader  of  the  new  French 
party,  obtained  supreme  influence  over  the  weak  king.  Charles 
sent  to  Rome  to  implore  the  pope's  advice,  and  Louis  now  reaped 
the  benefit  of  his  reconciliation  with  the  i<apacy.  Innocent  XII. 
declared  in  favour  of  the  French  claims.  The  contention  was  that 
the  renunciation  of  the  two  infantas  had  been  made  only  to  prevent 
the  union  cf  the  two  crowns  on  one  head.  This  could  be  avoided 
by  giving  Spain  to  Philip  of  Anjou,  the  dauphin's  second  son,  who 
was  not  the  heir  to  the  French  throne.  On  Oct.  2, 1700,  Charles  If. 
made  a  new  will  declaring  the  duke  of  Anjou  heir  to  tho  whole 
Spanish  territories,  on  condition  that  he  should  renounce  for  him- 
self and  his  heirs  all  claims  to  the  French  crown.  Before  another 
month  had  elapsed  the  king,  who  had  been  forced  to  disinherit  hit* 
own  family  in  favour  of  his  old  enemies,  closed  his  unfortunate 
life. 

Everything  now  depended  on  Louis  XIV.'b  decision,  whether  ho 
would  stand  fast  by  the  treaty  of  partition,  or  whether  he  would 
accept  the  dazzling  prospect  offered  by  (  harles'  will  and  risk  a 
European  war.  It  is  still  a  debated  question  whether  the  indecision 
manifested  by  the  French  court  at  this  juncture  was  real  or  feigned. 
Some  writers  have  maintained  that  Louis  had  all  along  been 
intriguing  for  the  undivided  succession,  and  that  the  treaties  of 
I  an  it  ion,  especially  the  second,  were  only  intended  as  a  blind  to 
conceal  his  real  designs.  Whatever  be  the  truth  on  this  point,  it 
is  certain  that  the  true  interests  of  France  would  have  been  best 
served  by  the  peaceful  acceptance  of  the  advantages  secured  by  the 
I  en  t  it  ion.  But  this  would  have  alienated  Spain,  and  moreover  Louis 
had  learnt  to  disregard  all  national  interests  in  comparison  with 
those  of  his  own  dynasty.  The  will  was  finally  accepted,  and  the 
d  ike  of  Anjou  was  formally  proclaimed  as  Philip  V.  of  Sjtiiti. 

§  23.  Europe  was  astounded  at  the  news  of  this  unexpected  event, 
1'  it  it  was  not  prepared  for  organised  opposition.  It  seemed  at  first 
as  if  Louis  would  carry  through  his  great  project  unhindered. 

Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  who  had  been  appointed  governor  of  the 
Netherlands  by  Charles  II.,  was  gained  over  entirely  to  the  side  of 
France.  Philip  V.  was  proclaimed  in  Brussels,  and  the  barrier 
fortresses  which,  in  accordance  with  the  treaty  of  RyBwick,  were 
garrisoned  by  Dutch  troops,  were  now  handed  over   to  French 


248  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xiil 

garrisons.  Moreover  the  Bavarian  elector  and  his  brother,  the 
archbishop  of  Cologne,  promised  their  support  to  France  in  the 
event  of  war  against  Austria.  On  the  side  of  Italy,  Louis  was 
equally  fortunate.  The  dukes  of  Savoy  and  Mantua  were  won  over, 
and  Philip  was  proclaimed  without  opposition  both  in  Milan  and 
Naples.  The  emperor  was  the  most  determined  opponent  whom 
the  French  had  to  fear.  The  establishment  of  French  power  in 
Milan  was  a  constant  and  pressing  source  of  danger  to  Austria. 
Moreover,  the  claims  of  the  archduke  Charles  were  not  to  be 
relinquished  without  a  struggle.  Fortunately  the  Turkish  war 
had  been  ended  by  the  peace  of  Carlowitz  in  1698.  In  Germany, 
Leopold  could  rely  upon  the  newly  created  elector  of  Hanover,  and 
on  Frederick  of  Brandenburg,  whom  he  bribed  with  a  promise  to 
transform  his  electorate  into  a  kingdom.  But  even  with  these 
allies  the  Austrian  power  was  not  sufficient  to  do  more  than  hold 
its  own  in  Germany  and  to  attack  Milan.  There  could  be  no 
chance  of  obtaining  the  Spanish  crown  without  the  support  of  the 
maritime  powers. 

England  and  Holland  had  both  acknowledged  Philip  V.  as  king 
of  Spain.  William  III.  protested  bitterly  against  Louis'  breach  of 
faith,  but  he  couid  do  nothing  against  the  obstinate  desire  for  peace 
which  was  shown  by  his  subjects.  In  England  he  had  become  very 
unpopular.  The  Tory  majority  in  Parliament  was  not  only  opposed 
to  the  war,  but  made  a  direct  attack  on  the  king's  whole  system  of 
government.  William  went  so  far  as  to  meditate  abdication  and  a 
return  to  Holland.  From  these  difficulties  he  was  freed  by  the 
action  of  Louis  himself.  Shortly  after  Philip's  departure  for  Spain, 
his  right  to  an  eventual  succession  in  France  was  formally  recog- 
nized. This  was  a  distinct  threat  to  Europe,  which  was  determined 
to  prevent  the  union  of  the  two  crowns.  The  exclusion  of  the 
Dutch  garrisons,  which  destroyed  all  barrier  against  French 
aggression,  opened  the  eyes  of  the  states  to  the  impending  danger. 
It  was  evident  that  Louis  treated  his  son's  dominions  as  his  own. 
Finally,  the  measures  taken  to  extend  French  and  Spanish 
commerce  at  the  expense  of  England  and  Holland,  touched  the 
most  vital  interests  of  both  countries.  William  III.  was  at  last 
enabled  to  arrange  the  Grand  Alliance  at  the  Hague  (Sept.  7, 
1701),  between  the  emperor  and  his  German  allies,  Holland,  and 
England.  These  powers  agreed  to  restore  the  barrier  in  the 
Netherlands  between  France  and  Holland,  to  compel  the  cession 
of  the  Milanese  to  Austria,  to  protect  the  threatened  Dutch  and 
English  commerce,  and  exclude  France  from  the  Spanish  treaties. 
It  is  evident  that  the  allies  did  not  undertake  to  fight  the  succession 
quarrel  on  behalf  of  the  emperor,  but  only  to  assist  him  as  far  as 


a.d.  1700-1702.      THE  GRAND  ALLIANCE.  249 

coincided  with  their  own  interests,  and  to  extort  reasonable 
securities  from  France.  A  few  days  after  the  conclusion  of  this 
alliance  James  II.  died  at  St.  Germains.  Under  the  impulse  of  the 
moment,  and  forgetful  of  the  stipulations  made  at  Ryswick, 
Louis  acknowledged  the  young  prince  as  king  of  EnglancL  The 
act  does  honour  to  his  heart,  but  it  was  a  false  political  move. 
Public  opinion  in  England  was  profoundly  stirred  by  the  claim  of  a 
foreign  prince  to  determine  who  should  be  their  king.  The  Tory 
parliament  was  dissolved,  and  the  new  elections  were  overwhelm- 
ingly in  favour  of  the  king's  partisans.  William  was  lot 
from  the  last  obstacle  in  the  way  of  that  great  war  against  France 
which  was  the  object  of  his  life.  But  before  he  could  Fee  the  fruit 
of  his  policy,  he  died,  without  children,  on  March  19,  1702. 
England  and  Holland  were  now  separated.  The  crown  of  the 
former  fell  to  William's  feeble  sister-in-law,  Anne.  But  the  great 
statesman's  policy  survived  his  death.  It  was  ably  continued  in 
Holland  by  the  grand  pensionary  Heinsius,  and  in  England  by  the 
duke  of  Marlborough.  These  two  men,  with  tho  Austrian  com- 
mander, prince  Eugene,  were  the  real  leaders  of  the  alliance  against 
Louis  XIV. 

The  Grand  Alliance  was  in  no  way  more  formidable  than  the 
previous  leagues,  which  had  failed  to  conquer  France  even  when 
Spain  was  separate  and  hostile.  But  France  was  no  longer  what  it 
had  been.  The  three  short  years  of  peace  had  been  insufficient  to 
restore  order  in  the  financial  administration.  The  king  continued 
his  enormous  personal  expenditure,  and  considered  that  he  was 
benefiting  the  people  by  squandering  millions  on  useless  luxury. 
Louis  himself  was  growing  old  ;  he  lived  more  in  retirement,  and 
had  less  knowledge  of  men  and  measures.  The  great  ministers  and 
generals  who  had  shed  such  lustre  on  his  earlier  years  had  dis- 
appeared. Villars  and  Yendome  were  able  commanders,  but  far 
inferior  to  Condi,  Turenne,  or  Luxemburg.  And  in  civil  adminis- 
tration there  was  no  one  to  be  compared  with  Colbert,  or  even  with 
Louvois.  When  Pontchartrain  was  made  chancellor,  the  charge  of 
the  finances  was  entrusted  to  Chamillart,  a  young  man  who  had  no 
other  merit  than  his  ignorance  and  docility.  So  easy  did  Louis  find 
it  to  work  with  a  minister  inferior  to  himself,  that  in  1701,  on  the 
death  of  Barbesieux,  Chamillart  received  the  war  department  in 
addition.  He  was  thus  practically  sole  minister,  and  had  to  bear 
the  burdens  that  had  taxed  to  the  uttermost  the  joint  energies  of 
Louvois  and  Colbert.  The  inevitable  result  was  confusion  and 
maladministration.  In  the  army  especially,  the  old  discipline  dis- 
appeared, venality  and  other  disorders  flourished.  The  troops 
were  ill-paid  and  ill-fed :   the  organisation  which  Louvois  had 


250  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiii. 

raised  to  such  excellence,  fell  to  pieces.  The  king,  with  fatal  self- 
confidence,  assumed  the  task  of  directing  from  the  cabinet  the 
campaigns  of  his  generals.  They  were  often  compelled  to  send  for 
instructions,  and  were  not  infrequently  defeated  before  the  courier 
returned. 

§  24.  The  war  broke  out  in  Italy  in  1701,  before  the  conclusion 
of  the  Grand  Alliance.  Prince  Eugene  led  an  imperial  army  against 
the  Milanese.  The  French  commander  was  Catinat,  who  had  gained 
such  successes  in  the  last  war.  But,  hampered  by  royal  orders,  he 
could  neither  oppose  Eugene's  entry  into  Italy,  nor  resist  his 
further  advance.  He  was  too  independent  and  upright  to  be  popular 
at  court,  and  Louis  was  easily  induced  to  give  a  superior  command 
to  Villeroy,  his  own  personal  favourite,  and  the  most  fatally  incom- 
petent of  all  the  French  generals.  Villeroy  not  only  gained  no 
successes,  but  by  his  arrogance  disgusted  the  duke  of  Savoy,  and 
almost  alienated  him  from  the  French  alliance.  Against  the 
unanimous  advice  of  his  council,  he  determined  to  attack  the 
imperialists  at  Chiari,  and  was  repulsed  with  great  loss  (Sept. 
1701.)  As  he  was  quartered  in  fancied  security  at  Cremona,  the 
town  was  surprised  by  a  night  attack  of  Eugene,  and  Villeroy  him- 
self was  taken  prisoner.  To  repair  these  losses  the  command  was 
given  to  the  duke  of  Vendome,  a  great  grandson  of  Henry  IV. 
Though  a  glutton  and  a  sluggard,  Vendome  had  great  military 
talents,  and  though  his  indolence  often  led  him  into  difficulties,  his 
ability  hardly  ever  failed  to  extricate  him  from  them.  He  was 
beloved  by  the  soldiers,  whose  vices  he  made  no  efforts  to  check. 
Under  him  the  balance  of  power  in  Italy  and  the  reputation  of  the 
French  arms  were  restored.  He  forced  Eugene  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Mantua,  and  won  a  somewhat  indecisive  victory  at  Suzzara.  But 
he  was  unable  to  drive  the  imperialists  from  Italy,  and  could  only 
protect  Mantua  and  Milan.  And  his  successes,  such  as  they  were, 
were  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  defection,  in  1703,  of  the 
duke  of  Savoy.  In  spite  of  his  close  relationship  with  the  Bourbons 
— he  was  the  father-in-law  both  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy  and  of 
Philip  V. — he  had  embarked  in  the  war  solely  from  motives  of  self- 
interest.  The  emperor  now  offered  him  territorial  concessions,  and 
a  larger  subsidy  than  France  had  given  him.  The  bribe  was  quite 
sufficient  to  change  the  allegiance  of  a  prince,  whose  "  geography 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  be  a  man  of  honour."  From  this  time 
the  French  cause  in  Italy  steadily  declined. 

§  25.  There  were  two  other  important  scenes  of  operation — the 
Netherlands  and  Germany.  There,  as  in  Italy,  the  French  had 
an  excellent  position  to  start  with.  The  Spanish  Netherlands  were 
wholly  in  their  hands,  and  they  had  two  powerful  allies  in  the 


a.d.  1701-1703.     OUTBREAK  OF  THE  WAR.  251 

electors  of  Cologne  and  Bavaria.  But  the  war  was  no  more  suc- 
cessful than  that  of  the  Milanese.  Troops  from  Prussia  and  the 
Palatinate  took  the  important  fortress  of  Kaiserwerth  (June,  1702), 
and  at  one  blow  rendered  powerless  the  elector  of  Cologne.  He  had 
already  been  placed  under  the  imperial  ban,  and  he  now  retired  to 
Navarre.  The  command  of  the  allied  forces  was  undertaken  by 
Marlborough,  who,  with  a  diplomatic  ability  quite  equal  to  that  of 
William  III.,  combined  far  superior  military  talents.  Though  at 
first  he  was  hampered  by  disunion  and  jealousy  among  the  allies, 
his  forces  were  very  superior  to  the  French  under  the  duke  of 
Burgundy  and  Boufflers.  One  fortress  after  another  fell  into  his 
hands,  though  he  was  unable  to  fight  a  pitched  battle.  In  1703 
he  took  Bonn,  and  drove  the  French  altogether  from  the  electorate 
of  Cologne.  One  solitary  success  attended  the  French  arms.  A 
detachment  of  Dutch  troops,  under  Opdam,  attacked  Boufflers*  line 
kerne,  and  was  repulsed  with  great  loss.  The  French  were 
driven  from  the  Rhine,  but  they  still  held  Brabant,  Hainault  and 
Flanders  defended  and  intact.  It  was  no  slight  disadvantage  for 
Louis  that  at  a  moment  when  all  his  forces  were  required  for 
external  war,  a  revolt  broke  out  among  the  Huguenots  of  Languedoc. 
The  mountaineers  of  the  Cevennes,  who  had  long  endured  rigorous 
persecution,  at  last  rose  in  defence  of  their  churches  and  pastors. 
Under  the  leadership  of  a  brilliant  youth  named  Cavalier,  they 
gained  considerable  successes,  and  though  ultimate  defeat  was  in- 
evitable, they  occupied  for  several  years  some  of  the  best  troops 
and  generals  of  France. 

In  Germany  the  command  of  the  French  army  was  given  to 
Catinat,  who  left  Italy  to  assume  it.  But  he  was  not  strong 
enough  for  decisive  action.  The  imperialists,  under  the  command 
of  Lewis  of  Baden,  took  the  fortress  of  Landau  without  any  attempt 
being  made  to  relieve  it.  Alsace  was  now  open  to  attack,  and 
would  speedily  have  been  overrun,  but  for  a  diversion  effected  by 
the  elector  of  Bavaria.  He  declared  war  against  Austria,  and 
seized  Ulm.  Lewis  of  Baden  was  compelled  to  withdraw  from 
Alsace  to  meet  this  new  danger.  The  elector,  in  danger  of  being 
crushed  between  two  hostile  armies,  urged  the  French  to  advance 
to  his  relief.  Catinat,  always  cautious,  refused  to  run  the  risk,  but 
the  task  was  undertaken  by  one  of  his  lieutenants,  Villars,  an 
active  and  enterprising  commander.  He  marched  towards  the 
Black  Forest  and,  more  by  accident  than  anything  else,  defeated  the 
imperialists  at  Friedlingen  (Oct.  14,  1702).  For  this  victory  he 
was  made  a  marshal^  of  France,  while  Catinat  retired  from  the 
command  in  disgrace.  Early  in  1703  Villars  effected  the  desired 
junction  with  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  and  their  combined  forces 


252  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xm. 

seemed  capable  of  some  great  achievement.  Villars  wished  to 
march  upon  Vienna,  and  the  Austrian  capital  would  probably  have 
fallen.  But  the  elector  preferred  an  invasion  of  Tyrol  as  more 
practicable,  and  because  the  conquest  of  that  province  would  sever 
Austria  from  Italy.  The  duke  of  Vendome  was  to  co-operate  by 
a  simultaneous  advance  from  the  south.  But  the  enterprise  was 
a  failure.  The  Tyrolese,  like  the  Swiss,  were  invincible  in  their 
own  mountains,  and  the  elector  failed  to  effect  a  junction  with 
Vendome.  Meanwhile,  Bavaria  was  attacked  both  by  Lewis  of 
Baden,  and  by  a  new  Austrian  army  under  count  Sty  rum.  The 
elector  returned  only  just  in  time  to  prevent  a  junction  between  the 
two  hostile  armies.  With  the  aid  of  Villars  he  repulsed  Lewis  of 
Baden,  and  then,  returning  to  the  Danube,  defeated  Styrum  at 
Hochstedt.  And  in  Alsace  the  French  recovered  ground.  Marshal 
Tallard,  taking  advantage  of  the  absence  of  Lewis  of  Baden  in 
Bavaria,  besieged  and  took  Landau.  Thus  the  campaign  of  1703 
proved  a  brilliant  success  for  the  French.  But  unfortunately, 
Villars  and  the  elector  of  Bavaria  had  quarrelled,  and  could  no 
longer  act  cordially  together.  In  deference  to  his  ally,  Louis 
recalled  his  ablest  general,  and  sent  him  to  put  down  the  Camisards 
— as  the  rebels  in  the  Cevennes  were  called.  The  command  in 
Bavaria  was  left  in  the  comparatively  incapable  hands  of  Marsin, 
while  Tallard  continued  to  lead  the  army  in  Alsace.  At  the  same 
time  the  French  cause  in  Europe  was  immensely  weakened  by  the 
defection  of  Savoy  and  Portugal.  The  latter  country  was  bribed 
by  the  commercial  advantages  offered  by  England  in  the  Methuen 
treaty. 

§  26.  The  campaign  of  170:1  was  the  decisive  turning-point  in  the 
war.  The  elector  of  Bavaria  took  Passau,  and  Vienna  was  exposed 
to  immediate  attack.  The  emperor  was  the  centre  of  the  Grand 
Alliance.  If  he  could  be  crushed,  the  war  might  easily  be  ended. 
The  greatest  exertions  were  necessary  to  prevent  such  a  result. 
Prince  Eugene  left  Italy  to  concert  measures  with  Marlborough. 
It  was  decided  to  leave  a  small  force  in  the  Netherlands,  and  to 
make  a  bold  advance  upon  Bavaria.  Easily  eluding  the  incapable 
Villeroy,  who  had  escaped  from  prison  to  bring  renewed  discredit 
on  the  French  arms,  Marlborough  marched  directly  towards  the 
Danube.  The  elector's  troops  were  posted  in  a  strong  position  at 
Schellenberg,  but  Marlborough  forced  his  lines,  and  drove  him  to 
retreat.  A  junction  with  Eugene  was  triumphantly  effected.  The 
other  imperial  commander,  Lewis  of  Baden,  jealous  of  Marlborough 
and  Eugene,  preferred  to  act  independently.  Meanwhile,  Tallard 
had  quitted  Alsace,  marched  through  the  Black  Forest,  and  joined 
Marsin  and  the  elector.     Their  combined  troops  were  numerically 


a.d.  1703-1706.  BLENHEIM  AND  BAMILLIES.  253 

superior  to  the  allies,  and  they  determined  to  risk  a  general  engage- 
ment at  Blenheim.  There  ensued  one  of  the  great  battles  in  the 
world's  history,  in  which  the  allies,  through  superior  generalship, 
won  a  complete  victory.  Marlborough  was  opposed  to  Tallard, 
Bogene  to  the  Bavarians.  Marsin  and  the  elector,  after  an  obstinate 
struggle,  were  able  to  make  an  orderly  retreat,  but  Tallard's  army 
was  cut  to  pieces.  Austria,  and  the  interests  of  the  Grand  Alliance 
were  saved.  Bavaria  was  completely  overrun  by  the  allies,  and 
Maximilian  Emanuel  sought  refuge  in  France,  where  he  met  his 
equally  unfortunate  brother,  the  archbishop  of  Cologne.  Landau 
was  retaken  by  the  margrave  of  Baden,  while  Marlborough  reduced 
Trarlmch,  and  occupied  Trier. 

§  27.  These  successes  on  the  part  of  the  allies  suggested  the  bold 
move  of  a  direct  invasion  of  France.  The  new  emperor,  Joseph  I., 
who  succeeded  his  father  in  May,  1705,  was  eager  for  this,  and 
Marlborough  was  willing  to  undertake  it.  Great  hopes  were  enter- 
tained of  a  decisive  co-operation  of  the  rebels  in  the  Cevennes. 
But  the  German  commander,  Lewis  of  Baden,  was  opposed  to  the 
plan,  and  his  tardy  movements  sacrificed  the  opportunity.  Villars 
had  already  crushed  the  Camisards  with  relentless  severity,  and 
was  now  called  upon  to  protect  the  threatened  frontier.  Marl- 
borough received  intelligent  e  that  Villeroy,  taking  advantage  of  his 
absence,  was  threatening  Liege.  With  bitter  complaints  against 
the  dilatory  Germans,  he  gave  way  before  Villars,  and  retreated  to 
resume  his  work  in  the  Netherlands.  Liege  was  relieved,  and 
Villeroy  driven  back  to  his  old  lines.  But  no  attempt  at  fresh 
conquests  was  possible.  The  success  of  these  defensive  measures, 
in  1705,  encouraged  the  French  to  new  efforts  for  the  next  year. 
Louis  and  Chamillart  strained  every  nerve  to  send  reinforcements 
to  the  favoured  Villeroy,  who  was  authorised  to  take  the  offensive. 
Nothing  could  have  suited  Marlborough  better.  At  the  village  of 
Ramillies  he  fell  upon  Villeroy,  and  completely  defeated  him 
(May  23,  170G).  The  battle  of  Ramillies  was  as  decisive  for  the 
Netherlands  as  that  of  Blenheim  had  been  for  Bavaria.  All  the 
great  cities,  Brussels,  Ghent,  and  Bruges,  fell  into  Marlborough's 
hands.    The  archduke  was  proclaimed  king  of  Spain,  as  Charles  III. 

In  Italy,  also,  decisive  events  took  place  in  the  same  year,  1706. 
Vendome  had  returned  in  1703  from  his  fruitless  compaign 
in  Tyrol  to  oppose  the  duke  of  Savoy  who  had  gone  over  to 
Austria.  The  French  attacked  Piedmont  and  reduced  most  of  the 
strong  places.  The  emperor,  who  attached  supreme  importance  to 
the  retention  of  northern  Italy,  sent  Eugene  thither  in  1705.  But 
Vendome  more  than  held  his  own  in  a  battle  near  Cassano,  and 
when  Eugene  returned  to  Vienna,  on  the  news  of  the  emperor's 


254  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xih. 

death,  the  Austrians  were  completely  defeated.  The  French  now 
laid  siege  to  the  capital  of  Piedment,  Turin,  and  this  pressing 
danger  again  called  Prince  Eugene  across  the  Alps.  The  siege  was 
entrusted  to  a  royal  favourite,  La  Feuillade,  while  Vendome  under- 
took to  oppose  the  advance  of  the  Austrian  general.  But  just  at 
this  critical  juncture  he  was  recalled  to  take  the  place  of  Villeroy, 
who  had  been  disgraced  at  Ramillies.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
Vendome  could  have  held  his  own  against  Eugene;  it  was  certain 
that  his  succesors,  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  Marsin,  could  not.  The 
Austrians  attacked  the  French  position,  and  carried  all  before  them. 
Marsin  was  killed,  and  the  whole  army  routed.  Orleans,  a  man  of 
considerable  ability,  wished  to  make  a  stand  at  Casale,  but  his 
defeated  troops  would  not  follow  him,  and  fled  in  confusion  towards 
the  Alps.  Not  only  was  Turin  relieved,  but  the  French  cause  in 
Italy  was  ruined.  The  French  troops  in  Mantua  capitulated.  A 
small  Austrian  force  entered  Naples,  and  proclaimed  Charles  III. 
without  opposition.  The  pope  found  it  necessary  to  acknowledge 
the  archduke  as  king  of  Spain. 

The  Portuguese  alliance  had  meanwhile  opened  the  peninsula  to 
the  allied  forces.  An  English  fleet  escorted  the  archduke  Charles 
to  Lisbon,  but  all  attempts  to  invade  Spain  from  the  west  proved 
futile.  The  English  commander,  Sir  George  Rooke,  gained  an 
important  success  by  surprising  Gibraltar  (August  4,  1704),  of 
which  he  took  possession  in  the  name  of  his  sovereign,  and  which 
England  has  ever  since  retained.  The  French  fleet  under  the 
count  of  Toulouse,  a  natural  son  of  Louis  XIV.,  was  defeated  and 
forced  to  retreat.  The  archduke  now  proceeded  to  Catalonia,  a 
province  often  in  revolt  against  its  rubrs,  and  which  had  lately  been 
alienated  by  the  conduct  of  Philip  V.  The  command  of  the  English 
forces  was  undertaken  by  the  brilliant  but  eccentric  earl  of  Peter- 
borough. Barcelona  capitulated  (Oct.,  1705),  and  Charles  III. 
was  acknowledged  as  king  by  the  provinces  of  Catalonia,  Aragon 
and  Valencia.  A  great  effort  was  made  by  Philip  V.  in  the  next 
year  to  recover  the  lost  provinces.  Barcelona  was  blockaded  by 
land  and  sea,  and  was  on  the  point  of  surrender  when  it  was 
relieved  by  the  arrival  of  the  allied  fleet.  Philip's  army  was  dis- 
persed, and  he  could  only  return  to  Madrid  by  getting  round  to 
Rousillon  and  crossing  the  Pyrenees.  No  sooner  had  he  arrived 
there  than  he  was  forced  to  retreat  by  a  double  attack  from 
Portugal  and  the  west.  The  allies  entered  Madrid  in  triumph,  and 
Charles  III.  was  proclaimed  in  the  capital  of  Spain. 

Thus  in  one  year  the  French  Jhad  been  driven  from  Italy  and 
the  Netherlands,  and  for  the  moment  their  cause  seemed  ruined  in 
the  peninsula.     But  the  Spanish  crown  was  saved  to  the  Bourbons 


a.d.  1706-1707.         THE  WAR  IN  SPAIN.  255 

by  the  provincial  jealousies  still  existing  in  that  country.  Castile 
and  Aragon,  although  subject  to  the  same  'ruler  ever  since  the 
marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  had  never  laid  aside  their 
mutual  hostility.  The  Castilians  refused  to  accept  a  king  who 
came  to  them  supported  by  Aragonese  forces.  And  their  Catholic 
bigotry  was  aroused  by  the  predominance  of  Protestantism  among 
the  allies.  Charles  I II.  was  called  "  the  Most  Catholic  King  by  the 
grace  of  heretics."  An  outburst  of  popular  feeling  drove  the  allies 
from  Madrid  and  restored  Philip  V.  (October,  1706\  The  allied 
forces  were  now  commanded  by  Huvigny,  a  French  refugee,  and 
contained  a  regiment  of  Camisards  under  their  old  leader  Cavalier. 
Thfl  men  whom  Louis'  bigotry  had  driven  from  his  kingdom 
became  everywhere  the  most  bitter  enemies  of  their  former 
monarch.  The  Franco-Spanish  army  was  led  by  the  duke  of 
Berwick,  a  natural  son  of  James  II.  and  Arabella  Churchill,  and 
thus  a  nephew  of  Marlborough.  He  seems  to  have  possessed  much 
of  his  uncle's  military  capacity,  and  proved  one  of  the  most  eminent 
and  t  rust  wort  hy  of  French  generals.  He  drove  the  allies  out  of 
Castile  into  Valencia,  and  when  l.'uvigny  attempted  to  resume  the 
offensive  he  completely  defeated  him  in  the  battle  of  Almanza 
(April,  1707).  Cavalier's  regiment  was  cut  to  pieces  and  the  allied 
army  dispersed.  Valencia  and  Aragon  were  compelled  to  submit  to 
Philip.  Charles  III.  still  held  Barcelona,  and  thus  kept  his  hold  on 
iiia,  but  there  seemed  little  prospect  of  his  wresting  the 
crown  from  his  rival. 

§  28.  It  was  not  in  Spain  alone  that  the  French  arms  were  success- 
ful in  1707.  Everywhere  the  progress  of  the  allies  seemed  checked. 
V i liars,  who  in  the  preceding  year  had  remained  inactive  for  want 
of  forces,  was  now  strong  enough  to  cross  the  Rhine  and  to  force  the 
lines  of  Stolhofen,  which  were  weakened  by  the  recent  death  of 
Lewis  of  Baden.  The  French  advanced  almost  as  far  as  the 
Danube  carrying  all  before  them.  Although  compelled  to  fall  back 
across  the  Rhine  by  a  superior  force  under  the  elector  of  Hanover, 
ViHars  had  collected  a  large  booty,  and  had  given  renewed  courage 
to  the  French  soldiers.  And  his  successes  also  affected  the  campaign 
in  the  Netherlands.  Marlborough  had  to  send  reinforcements  to 
Germany,  and  thus  weakened  could  effect  nothing  of  importance. 
Vendome  was  enabled  to  maintain  his  defensive  position  and  to 
protect  the  provinces  which  still  remained  in  French  hands.  Great 
excitement  was  aroused  in  this  year  by  the  appearance  in  Germany 
of  the  brilliant  warrior  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden.  Louis  XIV.  made 
great  efforts  to  entice  him  to  his  side.  But  Charles  was  directly 
opposed  to  the  religious  policy  of  the  French  king,  and  a  personal 
visit  from  Marlborough  decided  him  to  remain  neutral.    Be  quitted 


256  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiii. 

Saxony  to  resume  hostilities  against  Russia,  which  was  rapidly  rising 
to  greatness  under  Peter  the  Great. 

§  29.  The  comparative  successes  of  1707  were  a  poor  compensa- 
tion for  the  financial  exhaustion  which  the  great  war  was  causing  in 
France.  Every  method  of  raising  money,  honest  or  dishonest,  had  been 
resorted  to  by  Louis  and  his  minister  Chamillart.  Old  taxes  were 
increased,  and  new  ones  imposed ;  offices  were  created  merely  in 
order  to  sell  them ;  the  value  of  the  coinage  was  arbitrarily  raised. 
The  kingdom  seemed  rapidly  advancing  towards  bankruptcy,  and 
the  misery  among  the  lower  classes  was  appalling.  Regardless  of 
the  murmurs,  more  or  less  distinct  of  his  people,  Louis  pursued  his 
way  with  truly  royal  obstinacy.  His  displeasure  was  visited  on  all 
who  ventured  an  unfavourable  criticism  on  his  government.  Fenelon, 
the  blameless  archbishop  of  Cambray  and  the  tutor  of  the  young 
duke  of  Burgundy,  was  suspected  of  satirical  intentions  in  his 
Telemaque,  and  was  exiled  from  the  court.  Yauban,  touched  by 
the  popular  miseries,  published  a  scheme  for  an  equitable  readjust- 
ment of  taxation.  Louis,  indignant  at  his  presumption  and 
forgetful  of  his  past  services,  ordered  the  book  to  be  burnt,  and  the 
patriotic  author,  unable  to  bear  disgrace,  died  soon  afterwards.  But 
evils  could  not  be  removed  by  punishing  those  who  pointed  them 
out.  Chamillart,  worn  out  and  despairing,  petitioned  for  leave  to 
retire.  The  king  at  first  refused,  but  finally  transferred  the  finances 
to  Desmarets,  a  nephew  of  Colbert,  and  endowed  with  some  of  his 
uncle's  abilities.  His  appointment  restored  the  public  credit  for  a 
moment  and  enabled  new  supplies  to  be  raised  on  loan.  With 
these  Louis  determined  on  a  grand  effort  for  1708,  and  actually  set 
on  foot  five  armies.  Besides  this,  another  attempt  was  made  in 
favour  of  the  Stuarts.  A  French  fleet  received  orders  to  convey 
thft  Pretender  to  Scotland,  where  public  opinion  was  hostile  to 
England  on  account  of  the  recent  Union  (1707).  But  the  naval 
supremacy  of  England  was  now  firmly  established,  and  the  expedi- 
tion was  lucky  in  being  able  to  return  in  safety  to  Dunkirk.  It 
was  in  the  Netherlands,  however,  that  the  French  king  decided  to 
strike  a  decisive  blow.  An  enormous  army  was  raised,  not  without 
great  difficulty,  but  with  almost  inexplicable  fatuity  Louis  entrusted 
the  joint  command  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy  and  Vendome.  No 
two  men  could  be  more  utterly  different  in  character,  the  former 
pious  and  methodical,  the  latter  a  libertine  and  the  most  irregular 
and  eccentric  of  strategists.  Their  quarrels  ensured  the  failure  of 
the  enterprise.  But  at  first  everything  seemed  favourable.  The 
Catholics  of  the  Netherlands  were  alienated  by  the  rule  of 
Charles  III.,  which  only  nominally  concealed  the  domination  of  the 
hated  Dutch  Calvinists.     They  welcomed  the  French  as  deliverers. 


a.d.  1708-1709.      OUDENARDE  AND  MALPLAQUET.       257 

Ghent,  Bruges  and  other  towns  hastened  to  open  their  gates  to 
them.  Marlborough,  hampered  as  usual  by  divisions  among  the 
allies,  despaired  for  a  moment  of  success,  but  his  courage  was 
restored  by  the  arrival  of  Eugene,  who  had  dexterously  eluded  the 
French  under  Berwick  and  made  his  way  to  Brussels.  Burgundy 
and  Vendome,  disputing  almost  every  movement,  were  now  advanc- 
ing on  Oudenarde.  There  the  allies  attacked  them  and  gained  a 
complete  victory.  The  victors  at  once  laid  siege  to  Lille,  a  fortress 
of  great  strength,  which  was  regarded  as  Vauban's  masterpiece  and 
which  was  defended  by  Bouffiers  with  a  large  force.  Eugene 
undertook  the  conduct  of  the  siege,  while  Marlborough  covered  him 
from  attack.  The  disputes  between  the  French  commanders  were 
embittered  by  the  arrival  of  Berwick,  win  •, « »ut  <  »f  jealousy  of  Vendome, 
supported  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  Vendome  wished  to  attack 
Marlborough,  but  was  finally  overruled,  and  Lille  was  left  to  its 
fate.  Boufflers,  after  a  heroic  defence,  was  forced  to  surrender 
(December  8,  1708).  Ghent,  Bruges  and  the  whole  of  Flanders 
had  to  submit. 

To  these  military  disasters  were  added  an  empty  treasury  and 
famine.  The  winter  of  1708-9  was  excessively  cold  in  France,  and 
the  general  misery  found  expression  in  a  discontent  that  might 
easily  become  rebellion.  Louis  XIV.,  whose  dynastic  policy  was 
the  cause  of  these  evils,  was  at  last  compelled  to  give  way  and  to 
implore  peace.  His  minister,  Torcy,  was  despatched  to  the  '  trium- 
virate '  who  directed  the  affairs  of  the  allies,  Eugene,  Marlborough 
and  Heinsius.  These  men  were  the  bitter  opponents  of  Louis  XIV, 
and  were  determined  to  weaken  and  humiliate  him  as  the  enemy  of 
Europe.  Their  chief  demands  were,  the  exclusion  of  the  Bourbons 
from  all  share  in  the  Spanish  monarchy,  the  erection  of  a  strong 
barrier  for  Holland,  and  the  restoration  to  the  empire  of  all  acquisi- 
tions made  since  the  peace  of  Westphalia.  These  demands  wero 
I >e i  haps  not  too  excessive,  considering  the  condition  of  France  and 
the  successes  of  the  allies.  But  to  these  they  added  the  exasperat- 
ing condition  that  Louis  should  himself  assist  in  expelling  his 
grandson  from  the  Spanish  dominions.  With  a  reminiscence  of  his 
old  greatness  he  declared  that  if  he  must  fight,  it  should  be  against 
his  enemies  rather  than  hi«*  own  children,  and  broke  off  the 
negotiations.  By  Torcy's  advice  he  published  a  direct  appeal  to 
the  nation,  detailing  all  the  circumstances  and  calling  on  them  for 
assistance.  His  subjects,  touched  by  this  unparalleled  condescension 
of  their  aged  ruler,  responded  with  enthusiasm.  Another  army 
was  raised  and  entrusted  to  Villars,  the  only  general  who  had  met 
with  no  great  disaster.  He  was  unable  to  prevent  Marlborough  from 
taking  Tournay,  but  blocked  his  way  to  Mons.  AtMalplaquet  the 
13 


258  MODEKN  EUKOPE.  Chap,  xiil 

most  stubbornly  contested  battle  of  the  war  was  fought  (Sept.  11, 
1709).  Villars  was  wounded  and  the  army  retreated  under  Boufflers. 
Though  the  allies  were  nominally  victorious,  and  Mons  surrendered 
to  them,  they  suffered  enormous  losses,  far  more  than  their  opponents. 
The  courage  of  the  French  was  immensely  raised  when  they  learned 
that  the  invincible  Marlborough  might  be  faced  without  the 
certainty  of  defeat. 

§  30.  Louis  was  able  to  resume  negotiations  in  1710  on  somewhat 
better  terms.  A  congress  met  at  Gertruydenburg,  and  the  French 
offered  great  concessions.  The  acknowledgment  of  Charles  III., 
the  withdrawal  of  all  assistance  from  Philip  V.,  the  cession  of  the 
barrier  fortresses  to  the  Dutch,  and  the  restoration  of  all  territory 
acquired  since  the  time  of  Richelieu,  seemed  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
most  exacting  of  enemies.  But  the  triumvirate  were  inexorable. 
They  maintained  that  there  could  be  no  valid  security  for  Philip's 
abdication,  unless  the  French  supported  the  allies  in  compelling  it. 
On  this  point  Louis  could  not  in  honour  give  way,  and  the 
negotiations  came  to  an  end.  All  the  time  the  war  continued,  to 
the  constant  disadvantage  of  the  French.  Douai,  Aire,  Bethune, 
and  a  number  of  other  towns  were  taken.  Villars,  with  an  inferior 
force,  could  do  nothing  but  save  Arras  from  attack.  Louis'  acqui- 
sitions in  the  north,  which  he  had  hoped  to  form  into  an  unassail- 
able frontier,  had  been  conquered  one  after  another.  The  allies  had 
now  advanced  to  the  old  borders  of  France,  and,  if  they  could  only 
hold  together,  seemed  likely  to  invade  and  to  conquer  the  kingdom. 

But  this  was  not  to  be.  It  was  soon  made  evident  that  the 
allies,  in  pressing  too  hardly  upon  Louis,  had  injured  their  own 
cause.  Public  opinion,  an  important  though  incalculable  force, 
sympathised  with  the  king  who  so  resolutely  refused  to  turn  against 
his  grandson.  At  the  very  moment  when  affairs  seemed  most 
hopeless,  when  Louis  himself  had  determined  to  induce  Philip  to 
make  a  voluntary  abdication,  more  favourable  prospects  showed 
themselves.  It  was  from  Spain  that  the  first  good  news  came  to 
France.  There  the  war  had  been  by  no  means  terminated  by  the. 
triumph  of  Philip  V.  in  1707.  The  archduke  Charles  still  held  out 
in  Catalonia,  and  in  1710,  strengthened  by  reinforcements  from 
England  under  Stanhope,  and  from  Austria  under  Stahremberg,  was 
able  once  more  to  take  the  offensive.  The  Franco-Spanish  forces 
were  defeated  at  Saragossa,  and,  by  Stanhope's  advice,  Charles  once 
more  occupied  Madrid.  But  the  geographical  position  of  the 
Spanish  capital  makes  it  one  of  the  least  important  towns  of  Spain 
from  a  military  point  of  view.  No  advantage  was  gained  by  its 
occupation,  and  the  people  remained  resolute  in  their  attachment  to 
the  Bourbon  king.     The  presence  of  the  Protestant  English  roused 


a.d.  1709-1711.        FALL  OF  THE  WHIGS.  259 

all  the  relieious  antipathies  of  the  orthodox  Castilians.  Charles 
soon  found  it  advisable  to  evacuate  Madrid.  And  now  Vendome 
appeared  in  Spain  to  recover  the  reputation  he  had  lost  at  Oudenarde. 
Attacking  Stanhope  at  Brihuega,  he  took  prisoners  the  whole 
English  detachment.^  Following  up  his  success,  he  completely 
defeated  Stahremberg  at  Villa  Viciosa.  This  victory  secured  to 
Philip  V.  the  Spanish  crown.  Aragon  and  Valencia  were  reduced, 
and  the  archduke  was  once  more  confined  to  Catalonia. 

Still  more  favourable  to  the  French  was  the  ministerial  revolution 
that  took  place  at  this  time  in  England.  Anne  was  by  nature 
inclined  to  the  Tory  party,  to  which  power  had  been  entrusted  at 
the  commencement  of  her  reign.  But  the  opposition  of  the  Tories 
to  the  continental  war  forced  Marlborough,  whose  influence  was 
supreme  with  the  queen,  to  rely  more  and  more  upon  the  Whigs, 
and  at  last  a  purely  Whig  ministry  was  formed  under  Godolphin. 
But  English  public  opinion  was  gradually  turning  against  the 
costly  and  apparently  endless  war.  The  losses  at  Malplaquet  made 
a  profound  impression.  The  duchess  of  Marlborough,  so  long  domi- 
nant at  the  court,  was  supplanted  in  the  queen's  favour  by  Mrs. 
Masham.  The  impeachment  of  Sacheverel  for  a  sermon  against  the 
Whig  theori-s  alarmed  Anne  for  the  safety  of  the  established 
chureh.  The  Whigs  were  turned  out  of  office  to  make  room  for  the 
Tories  under  Harley  and  St.  John.  The  new  ministers  at  once  set 
themselves  to  reverse  the  txjlicy  of  their  predecessors,  and  opened 
secret  negotiations  with  France. 

At  this  juncture  a  decisive  event  occurred.  The  emperor,  Joseph 
I.,  died  in  April  1711,  without  children.  The  heir  to  his  territories 
was  the  archduke  Charles,  the  claimant  of  the  Spanish  crown,  who 
became  emperor  as  Charles  VI.  To  allow  him  to  obtain  the 
Spanish  succession  would  be  to  revive  the  empire  of  Charies  V., 
ami  would  be  even  more  dangerous  to  the  balance  of  Europe  than 
the  recognition  of  Philip  V.  Thus  the  attitude  of  the  allies  was  in 
a  moment  completely  changed.  The  object  for  which  they  had 
been  making  such  immense  exertions  was  now  a  result  to  be  averted 
at  any  cost. 

§  31.  These  events  seemed  to  make  peace  inevitable,  but  till  the 
terms  could  be  arranged,  the  war  continued.  Marlborough  still  held 
his  command  in  the  Netherlands,  and  was  preparing  for  the  projected 
invasion  of  France.  He  broke  through  the  lines  which  Vi liars  had 
fortified,  and  invested  Bouchain,  which  surrendered.  But  this  was 
his  last  success.  His  enemies  in  England  at  last  had  the  courage 
to  recall  him,  and  he  was  deprived  of  all  his  offices.  The  duke  of 
Ormond,  who  succeeded  to  his  command,  received  orders  to  act 
strictly  on  the  defensive.      The  preliminaries  of  peace  had  already 


260  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xm. 

been  arranged  between  Torcy  and  St.  John,  now  viscount 
Bolingbroke.  In  January,  1712,  the  diplomatists  met  in  congress 
at  Utrecht.  The  emperor  was  still  eager  to  prolong  the  war,  and 
sent  Eugene  to  London.  But  the  great  commander  met  with 
nothing  but  insults,  and  was  convinced  that  lje  must  carry  on  the 
war  alone.  England  and  France  agreed  to  a  truce  in  May,  and 
Louis  ceded  Dunkirk  as  a  pledge  for  the  honesty  of  his  designs.  In 
spite  of  this  defection,  Eugene  had  still  a  large  army,  with  which  he 
laid  siege  to  Landrecies,  as  a  preliminary  to  an  invasion  of  France. 
But  the  danger  was  averted  by  a  brilliant  move  on  the  part  of 
Villars.  He  determined  to  break  the  enemy's  line  of  communica- 
tions by  an  attack  on  Denain,  which  was  held  by  the  Dutch.  The 
design  was  as  happily  conducted  as  it  was  conceived.  Eugene 
hurried  up,  just  in  time  to  witness  the  defeat  of  his  allies.  The 
siege  of  Landrecies  was  raised,  and  Villars,  after  reducing  Douai, 
Quesnay,  and  Bouchain,  returned  in  triumph  to  Paris.  France  was 
secure  and  a  powerful  impulse  was  given  to  the  negotiations  at 
Utrecht. 

The  great  object  of  England,  which  took  the  lead  in  the  negotia- 
tions, was  to  prevent  the  union  of  the  crowns  of  France  and  Spain 
on  the  same  head.  Accordingly  two  alternatives  were  offered  to 
Philip  V. :  either  the  Italian  provinces  of  Spain  with  the  prospect 
of  the  succession  in  France,  or  Spain  and  the  Indian  empire  with  a 
renunciation  of  all  claims  to  the  French  crown.  He  at  once  decided 
in  favour  of  the  country  which  had  shown  such  devoted  attach- 
ment to  him.  In  a  sitting  of  the  Cortes  he  formally  renounced  all 
rights  to  the  French  succession.  At  the  same  time  the  two  nearest 
princes  of  royal  blood  in  France,  the  dukes  of  Berry  and  Orleans, 
made  a  similar  renunciation  of  all  claims  upon  Spain.  Thus  all 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  peace  were  removed.  The  Dutch,  who  were 
at  first  inclined  to  stand  out,  and  were  bitter  against  the  defection 
of  England,  gave  way  after  the  battle  of  Denain.  On  the  11th  of 
May,  1713,  the  series  of  treaties  known  as  the  peace  of  Utrecht, 
were  signed  by  all  the  belligerent  powers,  except  the  emperor. 
Philip  V.  was  recognised  as  king  of  Spain  and  the  Indies,  on  con- 
dition of  the  above-mentioned  renunciation.  England  reaped  the 
greatest  advantages  from  the  war  of  which  she  had  borne  the  chief 
burden.  The  Protestant  succession  was  secured,  and  the  Stuarts  ex- 
cluded from  France.  The  cession  of  Gibraltar  and  Minorca  established 
English  predominance  in  the  Mediterranean.  Dunkirk  was  to  be  dis- 
mantled. Newfoundland,  Acadia  (Nova  Scotia),  and  Hudson's  Bay 
were  ceded  by  France,  and  a  favourable  commercial  treaty  was  con- 
cluded. Spain  also  made  great  commercial  concessions  to  England. 
The  Dutch  obtained  the  coveted  barrier  fortresses  of  the  Spanish 


a.d.  1712-1714.        TREATY  OF  UTRECHT.  261 

Netherlands,  the  rest  of  which  were  to  go  to  Austria.  The  duke  of 
Savoy  received  Sicily  with  the  title  of  king.  Prussia  was  recog- 
nised as  a  kingdom,  and  obtained  Upper  Gelderland.  It  is  a  lasting 
disgrace  to  the  allies  that  no  stipulations  were  made  in  favour  of 
the  Catalans,  who  had  rendered  loyal  service  during  the  war,  and 
were  now  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 

§  32.  The  emperor  refused  to  accept  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  and 
continued  the  war  against  France.  l/»uis  XIV.,  with  the  help  of 
Desmarets,  raised  the  necessary  funds  for  a  last  campaign.  Villars 
took  the  command  of  the  army,  and  it  was  soon  trident  that 
Austria,  unsupported  by  the  allies,  was  no  match  for  France.  After 
reducing  Landau,  Villars  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  in  spit*.-  of  the 
efforts  of  Eugene,  besieged  and  reduced  Freiburg.  These  successes 
forced  the  emperor  to  come  to  terms.  The  two  generals  under  tout 
the  negotiations,  and  the  treaty  of  Kastadt  was  concluded  with 
Charles  VI.  (March,  1714).  Soon  afterwards  a  supplementary 
treaty  was  arranged  at  Baden  with  the  whole  empire.  The  emj>eror 
received  as  his  share  of  the  Spanish  inheritance,  Naples,  Milan, 
Mantua  and  Sardinia.  About  the  Netherlands  he  was  to  make  Ids  own 
terms  with  Holland.  He  agreed  to  restore  the  electors  of  Bavaria 
and  Cologne  to  their  territories  and  rights.  France  kept  Landau, 
Strasburg  and  Alsace,  but  ceded  Freiburg,  Breisach,  Kehl  and  all 
Other  places  which  the  French  occupied  m  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine.  Thus  the  general  pacification  of  Europe  was  at  last 
completed. 

V.  Last  Years  of  Louis  XIV. 

§  33.  While  France  was  occupied  with  the  great  war,  the  internal 
agitation  on  religious  questions  continued  to  attract  attention. 
The  Huguenots  were  finally  crushed  by  the  reduction  of  the 
Cevennes,  but  the  Jansenists  still  existed,  and  with  increased 
influence.  As  Louis  XIV.  grew  older,  he  fell  more  and  more  under 
the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  who  sought  to  identify  the  Catholic 
cause  with  that  of  the  monarchy.  His  confessor  was  no  longer 
the  mild  and  politic  La  Chaise,  but  Le  Tellier,  a  peasant's  son, 
harsh  and  cruel,  and  living  only  in  the  narrow  interests  of  his  order. 
The  result  was  that  every  element  of  opposition  to  the  government 
was  naturally  inclined  to  Jansenism.  The  disasters  of  the  war  and 
the  reckless  financial  administration  raised  the  sect  to  tho  greatest 
importance.  Noailles,  the  successor  of  Harlay  in  the  archbishopric 
of  Paris,  was  himself  a  moderate  Jansenist,  and  took  under  his 
patronage  a  book  by  Quesnel,  which  the  Jesuits  accused  of  con- 
taining heretical  doctrines.  Louis,  who  had  always  aimed  at 
the  absolute  unity  of  France  both  in  religion  and  politics,  could 


262  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xiil 

not  tolerate  the  existence  of  a  sect  which  divided  the  nation  into 
two  hostile  camps.  Moreover,  he  saw  among  the  Jansenists  all 
those  tendencies  represented  which  he  had  tried  to  crush ;  the 
constitutional  longings  of  the  old  Fronde,  the  independence  of  the 
nobles,  the  provincial  liberties,  and  the  exclusion  of  state  control  in 
church  matters.  It  was  easy  for  Le  Tellier  to  induce  him  to  take 
vigorous  measures.  The  first  step  was  directed  against  Port  Royal, 
the  original  home  of  Jansenism.  The  monastery  was  now  occupied 
only  by  aged  nuns,  as  the  admission  of  novices  had  been  long 
prohibited.  They  were  called  upon  to  sign  a  declaration  acknow- 
ledging the  heresies  of  their  first  teacher,  but  they  preferred 
martyrdom  to  submission.  Accordingly  the  aged  ladies  were 
forcibly  dispersed  aDd  some  of  them  imprisoned,  and  the  monastery 
of  Port  Royal  was  rased  to  the  ground.  Not  content  with  this, 
the  Jesuits  induced  pope  Clement  XL  to  issue  the  bull  Unigenitus, 
in  which  he  explicitly  condemned  QuesneFs  book  which  the 
archbishop  of  Paris  had  formally  approved.  This  exercise  of  papal 
authority  produced  the  greatest  ferment.  Noailles  and  eight  other 
bishops  refused  to  accept  it  and  were  supported  by  the  Parliament 
of  Paris  and  a  crowd  of  followers.  The  king  was  induced  to  support 
the  bull  and  to  regard  the  opposition  as  a  revolt  against  the  royal 
authority.  A  persecution  followed,  less  important  and  less  open 
than  that  of  the  Protestants,  but  quite  as  discreditable.  The 
number  of  sufferers  is  reckoned  at  thirty  thousand  of  the  most 
cultured  and  orderly  classes.  They  were  allowed  no  trial,  but 
were  arbitrarily  imprisoned  by  lettres  de  cachet.  Noailles  was 
allowed  to  escape  through  the  favour  of  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
whose  niece  was  married  to  the  archbishop's  nephew.  This  secret 
and  cowardly  persecution  casts  a  gloom  over  the  closing  years  of 
Louis'  reign. 

§  34.  The  general  depression  which  overspread  the  court  at  this 
time  and  which  contrasts  so  strongly  with  the  gaiety  and  festivities  of 
Louis'  youth,  was  caused  in  the  first  place  by  the  military  disasters 
and  the  universal  misery  of  the  people,  but  was  deepened  by  losses 
in  the  royal  family.  In  a  country  like  France,  where  centralisation 
had  been  carried  to  extremes,  and  everything  centred  round  the 
monarch,  such  losses  had  a  far  more  general  and  definite  importance 
than  in  constitutionally  governed  countries.  And  Louis  had  always 
laid  great  stress  on  the  position  and  alliances  of  the  members  of  his 
family.  He  wished  to  form  them  into  a  separate  caste  between  the 
crown  and  the  great  nobles,  and  thus  to  lower  the  latter  in  the 
social  scale.  It  was  an  inestimable  advantage  to  him  that  his  only 
brother  showed  none  of  those  tendencies  towards  independent 
action,  which  had  been  so  common  with  previous  princes  of  the 


a.d.  1714.  LOUIS  XIV.'S  FAMILY.  263 

blood.  Philip,  who  became  duke  of  Orleans  on  the  death  of  his 
uncle  Gaston,  was  always  completely  submissive  to  his  elder 
brother.  He  supported  his  domestic  policy,  he  rendered  substantial 
military  service  as  long  as  he  was  allowed  to  lead  armies,  and  when 
fraternal  jealousy  withheld  this  occupation  he  retired  contentedly 
to  St.  Cloud,  where  he  imitated  the  superior  grandeur  of  Versailles. 
He  was  married  twice,  first  to  Henrietta  of  England,  the  favourite 
of  king  and  court,  and  the  negotiator  of  the  treaty  of  Dover,  and 
afterwards  to  Charlotte  Elizabeth  of  the  Palatinate,  whose  obstinate 
adherence  to  the  customs  and  principles  of  her  fatherland  made  her 
a  conspicuous  but  isolated  figure  at  the  royal  court.  One  son, 
Philip,  was  born  of  his  marriage,  and  on  his  father's  death  in  1701 
he  became  duke  of  Orleans.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  and 
versatile  talents,  but  he  disgraced  them  by  a  libertinism  which  was 
without  parallel  even  in  those  days.  The  king,  who  became  more 
decorous  than  ever  in  his  later  years,  regarded  his  nephew  with  the 
gravest  suspicion  and  mistrust. 

Louis  himself  had  only  one  son,  the  dauphin,  with  whose  educa- 
tion the  greatest  pains  were  taken.  The  Delphin  edition  of  the 
classics  was  drawn  up  for  his  special  use,  and  it  was  for  him  that 
Bossuet  wrote  his  universal  history.  But  all  these  pains  were 
thrown  away.  He  grew  up  without  any  intellectual  taxtes,  and 
plays  a  very  subordinate  part  in  the  history  of  the  reign.  His 
father's  wishes  were  law  to  him,  and  he  unhesitatingly  adopted 
Louis'  religious  and  dynastic  policy.  He  was  married  to  a  Bavarian 
princess,  who  lived  unhappily  with  him,  but  brought  him  three 
sons,  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  Anjou,  and  Berry.  The  second  of 
these  became  king  of  Spain  as  Philip  V.  Besides  these  legitimate 
descendants,  Louis  had  a  number  of  natural  children,  who  also 
absorbed  a  great  share  of  his  attention.  These,  too,  he  was  prepared 
to  exalt  above  the  heads  of  the  great  nobles.  The  most  important 
of  them  were  his  two  sons  by  Madame  de  Montespan,  who  were 
created  duke  of  Maine  and  count  of  Toulouse.  They  had  been  early 
separated  from  their  mother  and  entrusted  to  the  care  of  Madame 
de  Maintenon,  who  seems  to  have  felt  for  them  an  affection  which 
they  reciprocated.  The  duke  of  Maine  received  high  military 
command  and  the  important  governorship  of  Languedoc.  The 
count  of  Toulouse  was  made  admiral  of  the  fleet.  For  his  natural 
daughters,  too,  Louis  secured  lofty  alliances,  and  employed  them  to 
bind  the  nobles  closer  to  his  person.  One  was  married  to  the  prince 
of  Conti ;  another  to  a  grandson  of  the  great  Conde" ;  and  a  third  to 
the  young  Philip  of  Orleans,  much  to  the  disgust  of  that  prince's 
mother,  who  had  German  notions  on  the  subject  of  rank  and 
birth. 


264  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiii. 

In  1711  the  dauphin,  who  had  so  long  been  regarded  as  the 
successor  to  the  throne,  and  was  expected  to  continue  his  father's 
policy,  died  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  of  small-pox.  His  death 
attracted  universal  attention  to  his  eldest  son,  the  duke  of  Burgundy, 
who  now  became  dauphin.  His  education  at  the  hands  of  Fenelon 
had  been  far  more  successful  than  that  of  bis  father.  He  had 
become  learned  and  devout,  and  what  was  more  important,  had 
conceived  a  real  desire  to  appreciate  and  to  remedy  the  grievances 
of  the  people.  He  had  little  sympathy  for  the  policy  and  character 
of  his  grandfather,  and  held  himself  as  much  as  possible  aloof  from 
the  court.  His  accession  to  the  throne  would  probably  have  altered 
many  of  his  views,  but  must  have  proved  a  great  era  in  the  history  of 
France.  His  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Savoy,  was  in  every 
respect  the  antithesis  of  her  husband,  but  in  spite  of  this  she  was 
devotedly  attached  to  him,  and  would  have  supplied  many  of  the 
deficiences  of  his  character.  Light-hearted  and  anxious  to  please, 
she  delighted  in  the  court  festivities,  and  the  charm  of  her 
out-spoken  gaiety  completely  won  over  the  king  and  even  Madame 
de  Maintenon.  The  grief  of  the  court  was  intense  when  the 
dauphine  was  seized  with  fever  in  February,  1712,  and  died  after 
a  few  days'  illness.  Hut  the  grief  became  consternation  when  the 
dauphin,  scarcely  a  week  afterwards,  fell  a  victim  to  the  same 
disease.  The  hopes  and  expectations  of  every  disinterested  patriot 
had  been  based  on  his  accession,  and  they  were  suddenly  dashed 
to  the  ground.  Two  sons  had  been  born  to  the  dauphin,  but  the 
elder  followed  his  parents  to  the  grave,  and  the  younger,  an  infant 
two  years  old,  was  only  saved  by  the  most  careful  nursing.  These 
deaths  following  so  closely  after  each  other,  were  a  terrible  blow  to 
the  old  king.  The  family  on  which  he  had  based  such  hopes  seemed 
suddenly  annihilated.  The  one  great-grandchild  was  a  sickly 
infant  whom  no  one  expected  to  survive.  The  second  grandson 
was  the  king  of  Spain,  who  was  excluded  from  all  prospect  of 
succession.  There  remained  of  the  king's  direct  descendants  only 
the  duke  of  Berry,  who  possessed  neither  virtue  nor  ability,  but  who 
seemed  destined  to  rule  France  either  as  regent  or  as  king.  But 
in  1714  this  prince  also  died  in  the  same  sudden  manner  and  with 
the  same  symptoms  as  his  relatives. 

§  35.  This  fourth  death  suddenly  gave  the  position  of  first  prince 
of  the  blood  to  the  king's  nephew,  Philip  of  Orleans,  and  in  the 
natural  course  of  things  he  would  become  regent  on  Louis'  death. 
But  popular  rumour  persistently  accused  him  of  having  poisoned  all 
who  stood  between  him  and  this  position.  There  were  suspicious 
circumstances  attending  the  deaths  of  the  princes,  and  Orleans' 
character  was    such    that  no   crime  was  considered   impossible. 


a.d.  1711-1715.        DEATH  OF  LOUIS  XIV.  265 

Louis  XIV.  probably  did  not  share  the  prevalent  suspicion,  but  he 
had  always  disliked  his  nephew,  and  could  not  endure  the  idea  oi 
leaving  the  government  in  his  hands.  To  avoid  this  he  determined 
to  strain  his  royal  authority  to  the  utmost.  In  July,  1714,  he  issued 
an  edict  by  which  he  conferred  on  his  two  natural  sons,  Maine  and 
Toulouse,  the  rank  of  princes  of  the  blood  royal,  and  declared  them 
heirs  to  the  throne  in  case  of  the  failure  of  the  legitimate  line. 
This  attempt  to  treat  the  crown  as  a  private  property,  and  the 
violation  of  the  laws  of  morality  and  religion,  provoked  the  greatest 
discontent,  especially  among  the  nobles,  who  felt  themselves  most 
directly  jpjured  and  insulted.  Regardless  of  this  prevalent  senti- 
ment, the  king  made  a  last  will,  nominating  the  duke  of  Maine 
guardian  of  the  infant  heir  to  the  throne,  and  appointing  a  council 
of  Regency,  of  which  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  to  be  only  president 
Thus  he  hoped  to  secure  the  continuance  of  bis  policy.  Orleans 
would  be  excluded  from  personal  influence  over  the  young  king,  and 
was  to  be  powerless  in  the  council  against  the  duke  of  Maine  and 
the  Jesuits.  This  attempt  to  prolong  his  arbitrary  will,  even  after 
his  death,  was  the  last  important  act  of  the  "grand  monarque." 
He  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  the  House  of  Hanover  established 
in  England  by  George  Us  accession,  to  the  perpetual  exclusion 
of  his  proteges  the  Stuarts.  On  Sept.  1,  1715,  Louis  XI \ Vs 
long  and  eventful  reign  came  to  an  end,  and  his  infant  great- 
grandson  became  king,  as  Louis  XV.  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who 
had  long  wearied  of  her  husband  and  the  gilded  slavery  in  which 
she  lived  with  him,  retired  at  once  to  St.  Cyr,  where  she  had 
established  a  school  for  the  daughters  of  noble  families.  There  she 
spent  the  rest  of  her  life  in  absolute  retirement,  and  died  in  1719. 

Louis  XIV.  succeeded  to  a  strong  centralised  monarchy,  which 
had  been  established  by  Richelieu,  and  saved  by  Mazarin.  In  his 
domestic  government  he  followed  the  lines  which  they  had  laid 
down,  with  the  important  difference  that  the  king  himself  took  the 
place  formerly  held  by  the  minister.  All  institutions  which  claimed 
to  check  or  control  the  government  were  weakened  or  destroyed. 
The  States-General  fell  into  oblivion,  and  the  Parliament  was 
reduced  to  submission.  The  religious  unity,  which  to  other  rulers 
had  appeared  desirable  but  dangerous,  was  effected  by  the  repression 
of  Huguenots  and  Jansenists,  though  at  the  expense  of  much  that 
was  best  and  most  wholesome  in  the  life  of  France.  The  nobles 
were  excluded  from  the  political  influence  which  had  once  seemed 
to  be  their  inalienable  right.  At  the  same  time  their  allegiance  to 
the  crown  was  secured  by  exemptions  and  social  privileges,  which 
raised  them  above  the  other  classes,  but,  by  arousing  jealousy  and 
hatred,  proved  the  ultimate  cause  of  their  downfall.  Members  of 
13* 


266  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xin. 

the  middle  class  were  raised  to  official  power,  and  even  to  rank,  but 
the  class  from  which  they  sprang  reaped  no  benefit  from  their 
elevation.  The  reckless  expenditure  in  royal  magnificence  and 
aggressive  wars  destroyed  the  commercial  prosperity  which  the 
monarchy  had  once  attempted  to  foster.  The  work  of  Colbert 
perished  almost  before  it  was  accomplished.  The  misery  which  the 
king  caused  and  disregarded,  gave  an  origin  and  a  justification  to 
theories  of  opposition,  which  were  destined  to  ripen  into  revolution. 
In  his  foreign  policy  Louis  was  marvellously  successful  as  long  as 
he  was  content  to  follow  the  footsteps  of  Richelieu  and  Mazarin. 
France,  by  successive  acquisitions,  acquired  a  frontier  which  was 
almost  impregnable,  and  which  was  never  wholly  overstepped,  even 
in  the  subsequent  period  of  military  failure.  But  Louis'  successes 
made  him  regardless  of  the  necessary  limits  of  his  power.  Forget- 
ting the  means  by  which  France  had  risen  to  such  greatness,  he 
first  alienated  his  Protestant  allies,  and  then,  under  these  altered 
conditions,  recommenced  his  old  quarrel  with  his  Catholic  neighbours. 
In  the  struggle  that  ensued,  France  displayed  an  abundance  and 
readiness  of  resource  that  dismayed  and  astounded  Europe.  But 
these  extraordinary  exertions  were  too  exhausting  to  last,  and  the 
result  was  a  defeat  which  narrowly  escaped  becoming  a  conquest. 
It  would  have  been  well  for  Louis'  reputation  if  he  could  have  died 
before  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  or  at  latest'  just  after 
the  treaty  of  Ryswick.  By  the  disastrous  policy  of  the  succession 
war,  a  war  due  only  to  his  dynastic  ambition,  he  forfeited  all  claims 
to  the  gratitude  of  France,  while  he  earned  the  reprobation  of 
Europe. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
PETER  THE  GREAT  AND  CHARLES  XII. 

§  1.  Decline  of  Sweden  and  rise  of  Russia.  §  2.  Peter  the  Great ;  char- 
acter and  policy ;  his  travels ;  domestic  reforms.  §  3.  Hostility  to 
Sweden ;  triple  alliance  between  Russia,  Poland,  and  Denmark.  §  4. 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden ;  attack  on  Denmark ;  treaty  of  Travendahl. 
§  5.  Defeat  of  the  Russians  at  Narwa  :  conquest  of  Livonia  and 
Courland;  Charles  decides  to  attack  Poland.  §  6.  Condition  of 
Poland;  Swedish  success  in  1702-3;  Augustus  renews  the  alliance 
with  Russia;  election  of  Stanislaus  Leczinski ;  reduction  of  Lithuania. 
§  7.  Charles  XII.  in  Saxony  ;  Augustus  compelled  to  resign  the  Polish 
crown ;  camp  at  Altranstadt.  §  8.  Charles  XII.  marches  towards 
Moscow  ;  his  defeat  at  Pultawa.  §  9.  Revival  of  the  triple  alliance 
against  Sweden.  $  10.  Charles  XII.  at  Bender;  alliance  with  the 
Porte ;  critical  position  of  the  Czar ;  treaty  of  the  Pruth ;  Charles 
quits  Turkey.  §  11.  Events  in  the  North  during  Charles' absence ; 
ministry  of  Gtirz.  §  12.  Sweden  allied  with  Russia  and  with  Spain  ; 
chimerical  schemes;  death  of  Charles  XII.  §  13.  Accession  of  Ulrica 
Eleanor ;  establishment  of  an  oligarchy  in  Sweden ;  execution  of 
Gorz ;  treaties  of  peace.  §  ll.  Government  of  Peter  the  Great; 
family  policy ;  death  of  the  Czar.  $  15.  Reigns  of  Catharine  I.  and 
Peter  II. ;  accession  of  Anne  of  Courland. 

§  1.  In  the  17th  century  Sweden,  thanks  to  a  succession  of  able 
sovereigns,  and  to  the  military  ardour  of  its  inhabitants,  had 
attained  to  a  position  in  Europe  wholly  disproportionate  to  its 
resources.  This  position  could  in  the  nature  of  things  be  only  tem- 
porary, and  the  decline  of  Sweden  would  have  been  as  unimportant 
as  it  was  inevitable,  but  that  it  was  accompanied  by  the  rise  of 
another  power  of  vastly  superior  strength  and  extent,  which  for  good 
or  evil  has  exercised  the  greatest  influence  on  European  history. 
Russia  had  emerged  from  the  Tartar  yoke,  and  under  Iwan  the 
Terrible  had  obtained  immense  extensions  of  territory  in  the  east 
and  south.  But  as  yet  it  was  hardly  a  European  power.  Its 
religion  was  Greek;  its  civilisation,  so  far  as  it  had  any,  was 
Asiatic.  Its  only  port,  Archangel,  was  closed  for  more  than  half 
the  year  by  ice,  and  was  at  all  times  difficult  of  access.  To  enable 
Russia  to  enter  into  the  European  state-system,  and  to  obtain  even 


268  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiv. 

a  superficial  amount  of  western  civilisation,  further  increase  of 
territory  was  necessary,  and  a  connection  must  be  established  with 
the  Black  Sea  and  the  Baltic.  The  dispersion  of  the  territories  of 
the  Order  of  the  Sword  had  offered  an  opportunity  for  acquisitions 
on  the  Baltic,  but  the  attempt  had  failed.  Sweden  and  Poland  had 
shared  the  coveted  lands,  and  Russia  remained  excluded  from  free 
contact  with  the  west.  To  reverse  this  condition  of  things  was  the 
grand  design  of  Peter  I.,  and  its  accomplishment  rightly  earned 
for  him  the  title  of  "  the  Great." 

§  2.  Peter  had  been  recognised  as  Czar  in  1682,  on  the  death  of 
Feodor,  his  half-brother  Iwan  being  passed  over  as  incapable,  and  his 
half-sister  Sophia  as  a  woman.  But  Sophia  was  too  ambitious  to 
remain  content  with  the  life  of  seclusion  to  which  Asiatic  ideas  con- 
demned her.  With  the  help  of  the  Streltsi,  the  guards  who  had  been 
instituted  by  Iwan  the  Terrible,  she  organized  a  revolution,  which 
ended  in  the  acknowledgment  of  Iwan  and  Peter  as  joint  Czars,  and 
of  herself  as  real  ruler  of  the  empire.  This  arrangement  lasted  only 
till  1689,  when  Peter,  conscious  of  his  ability  to  rule,  drove  his 
sister  into  a  cloister,  and  assumed  the  supreme  control  of  the 
government.  It  is  difficult  for  the  modern  student  to  realise  the 
character  of  this  extraordinary  man.  Personally  he  was  a  savage, 
cruel,  lustful,  regardless  of  human  life,  stained  with  the  grossest 
crimes,  yet  at  the  same  time,  undoubtedly  the  ablest  and  the 
most  successful  ruler  of  his  time.  It  is  as  if  a  criminal  of  the 
lower  classes  were  called  upon  to  govern,  and  were  found  to  be 
endowed  with  the  highest  qualities  of  constructive  statesmanship. 
From  the  first  Peter  realized  clearly  the  objects  before  him,  and 
never  for  a  moment  relaxed  in  his  pursuit  of  them.  Russia  must 
extend  her  frontiers  to  the  south  and  west.  European  usages  must 
supplant  the  old-established  customs  which  had  come  from  Asia. 
Above  all,  the  military  system  must  be  reorganised  so  as  to  enable 
Russia  to  compete  successfully  with  the  western  powers.  Every- 
thing in  church  and  state  must  be  removed  which  could  restrict  the 
absolute  authority  of  the  Czar.  There  were  great  obstacles  in  the 
way.  The  Russians  were  madly  jealous  of  foreigners,  and  were 
devotedly  attached  to  the  usages  and  institutions  of  their  ancestors. 
But  these  obstacles  were  trampled  under  foot  by  the  reckless 
energy  of  the  Czar.  It  is  quite  possible  to  doubt  the  wisdom  of 
Peter's  reforms,  to  say  that  a  superficial  civilisation  was  forced  upon 
a  people  unprepared  and  unfitted  to  receive  or  appreciate  it.  But 
there  can  be  no  question  of  the  enormous  influence  which  was 
exercised  by  the  genius  of  a  single  man.  Russia  has  had  to  follow, 
more  or  less  unwillingly,  in  the  lines  laid  down  for  her  by  Peter  the 
Great. 


a.d.  1682-1721.  PETER  THE  GREAT.  269 

Peter's  first  act,  after  he  began  to  reign,  was  his  intervention  in 
the  Turkish  war,  by  which  he  obtained  possession  of  Azof,  and  thus 
opened  a  connexion  with  the  Black  Sea.  In  1697  he  started  on  the 
first  of  his  famous  journeys.  Passing  through  Prussia  and  Hanover, 
he  spent  most  of  his  time  in  Holland  and  England.  There  he 
studied,  not  as  a  visitor,  but  as  a  workman,  the  arts  and  employ- 
ments of  an  industrial  community.  More  than  700  skilled  artisans 
were  induced  by  him  to  emigrate  to  Russia.  On  his  return  journey 
he  visited  Vienna,  and  was  preparing  to  go  to  Venice,  when  he  was 
recalled  by  the  news  of  disturbances  at  home.  His  absence  had  been 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  opponents  of  reform  to  attempt  a  revolu- 
tion. It  was  proposed  to  expel  all  foreigners,  to  replace  Peter  by 
his  infant  son  Alexis,  and  to  give  the  regency  to  Sophia  during  the 
latter's  minority.  The  priests  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  scheme, 
and  the  Strdtsi  were  to  be  employed  to  carry  it  out.  But  these 
forces  were  no  match  for  the  small  body  of  regular  troops  which 
Peter  had  already  formed  under  a  Scotchman,  Gordon.  The  move- 
ment was  practically  suppressed  before  Peter  arrived  to  take 
vengeance.  The  ringleaders  were  barbarously  punished,  and  Peter 
himself  is  said  to  have  wielded  the  executioner's  axe.  Sophia  was 
confined  in  a  narrow  cell,  at  the  window  of  which  three  of  the 
rebels  were  hanged,  with  a  petition  t<>  btt  in  their  hands. 

The  suppression  of  the  revolt  gave  Peter  the  opportunity  to 
introduce  some  of  his  reforms.  The  Strdtsi  were  disbanded  and  their 
place  taken  by  an  army  formed  on  the  European  model,  and 
consisting  of  eighteen  regiments  of  infantry  (2000  men  in  each)  and 
two  regiments  of  dragoons.  Russian  customs,  and  especially  the 
practice  of  wearing  a  beard,  were  interdicted  at  court  and  among 
the  nobles.  Women  were  released  from  the  oriental  seclusion  in 
which  they  had  hitherto  been  kept,  and  the  Czar  invited  both  sexes 
to  his  entertainments.  Nobles  were  compelled  to  educate  them- 
selves and  to  travel,  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  their  rank. 
Nobility  was  made  to  depend  upon  service  rather  than  upon  birth. 
Peter  actually  sent  his  own  wife  into  a  cloister  on  account  of  her 
conservative  prejudices.  Perhaps  his  most  important  reform  was 
that  of  the  church.  Hitherto  the  Patriarch  had  occupied  a  position 
hardly  inferior  to  that  of  the  temporal  sovereign.  In  1700  the  office 
became  vacant,  and  Peter,  instead  of  appointing  a  new  Patriarch, 
had  the  duties  performed  by  an  administrator.  This  was  only  the 
prelude  to  further  change.  In  1721  he  erected  the  "  Holy  Synod  " 
which  was  to  rule  the  church  in  complete  subordination  to  the 
court.  The  Czar  now  became  as  supreme  in  ecclesiastical  as  in 
temporal  affairs. 

§  3.  Peter  the  Great  was  now  able  to  turn  his  attention  to  what 


270  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiv. 

has  proved  the  most  permanently  important  of  his  successes,  the 
acquisition  of  an  opening  to  the  Baltic.  That  sea  was  practically 
a  Swedish  lake.  Finland,  Carelia,  Ingria,  Esthonia,  Livonia  and 
the  greater  part  of  Pomerania,  all  belonged  to  Sweden.  Russia  could 
only  gain  its  desired  object  by  the  dismemberment  of  this  Scandi- 
navian empire.  And  there  were  other  powers  interested  in  bringing 
this  about.  Poland,  Brandenburg,  and  Denmark  had  ail  suffered 
considerable  losses  to  aggrandize  Sweden,  and  were  ready  to  seize 
any  opportunity  that  offered  of  recovering  their  former  territory.  The 
arbitrary  government  of  Charles  XI.  (1660-1697)  had  alienated  the 
subject  populations  of  his  monarchy.  Their  resentment  found  a 
vigorous  representative  in  John  Reinhold  Patkul,  a  Livonian  noble, 
who  had  represented  the  grievances  of  his  country  to  Charles  XI.  in 
1690,  and  had  been  condemned  to  death  for  his  patriotic  freedom  of 
speech.  Escaping  from  prison  he  became  the  soul  of  the  general 
hostility  to  Sweden,  and  was  determined,  with  foreign  assistance,  to 
free  Livonia  from  the  hated  oppressor.  He  first  applied  to  Branden- 
burg, where  a  little  earlier  he  might  have  found  a  ready  hearer  in 
the  Great  Elector,  but  he  failed  to  make  any  impression  on  his 
sluggish  son.  Ultimately  he  turned  to  Augustus,  elector  of  Saxony 
and  since  1697  king  of  Poland.  Poland  had  a  hereditary  quarrel  to 
fight  out  with  Sweden,  and  the  loss  of  Livonia  and  Esthonia  was  too 
recent  to  be  forgotten.  But  Augustus  was  not  influenced  so  much  by 
Polish  interests,  as  by  a  desire  to  make  his  power  in  his  kingdom 
as  absolute  as  it  was  in  his  electorate.  The  Poles  were  determined 
to  restrict  in  every  way  the  authority  of  the  king  whom  they  had 
chosen,  and  were  resolutely  hostile  to  the  employment  of  Saxon 
troops  within  their  borders.  This  opposition  could  only  be  over- 
come by  the  outbreak  of  war,  and  hence  arose  the  willingness  of 
Augustus  and  his  minister  Flemming  to  embark  in  a  contest  with 
Sweden.  In  November,  1699,  Patkul  was  able  to  negotiate  a 
treaty  between  Augustus  and  Peter,  by  which  the  latter  was  to 
obtain  Ingria  and  Carelia,  while  Poland  occupied  Livonia  and 
Esthonia. 

A  third  member  of  the  alliance  against  Sweden  was  found  in 
Frederick  IV.  of  Denmark.  The  house  of  Oldenburg  on  their 
accession  in  1449  had  united  to  the  Danish  crown  the  duchies  of 
Schleswig  and  Holstein.  But  Christian  III.  (1534-1558)  out  of 
affection  for  his  brother  Odolf  had  arranged  a  curiously  intricate 
joint  rule  over  these  duchies.  This  arrangement  proved  the  source 
of  endless  quarrels  between  the  Danish  kings  and  their  relatives 
of  the  line  of  Holstein-Gottorp,  the  descendants  of  Odolf.  The 
former  were  always  endeavouring  to  annex  the  duchies  to  their 
monarchy,  while  the  dukes  wished  to  make  themselves  independent. 


a.d.  1697-1700.       CHARLES  XII.   OF  SWEDEN.  271 

Every  time  that  a  king  of  Denmark  had  almost  succeeded  in 
attaining  his  object,  he  was  foiled  by  the  intervention  of  the  neigh- 
bouring powers.  Finally,  in  1689,  the  independence  of  Holstein 
haxl  been  guaranteed  by  England,  Holland  and  Sweden,  in  the  treaty 
of  Altona.  This  arrangement  Frederick  IV.  was  determined  to 
overthrow.  But  the  duke  of  Holstein,  another  Frederick  IV.,  had 
married  the  sister  of  Charles  XII.,  who  was  devotedly  attached 
to  his  brother-in-law.  The  Danish  king  could  only  effect  his  object 
in  defiance  of  Sweden.  Therefore  he  readily  undertook  to  invade 
Schleswig  and  Holstein,  while  the  Poles  and  Prussians  overran  the 
Swedish  provinces  in  the  east  of  the  Baltic. 

1 1  is  interesting  to  compare  this  triple  league  of  the  north  with 
the  Grand  Alliance  which  was  arranged  at  the  Hague  almost  at  the 
same  time.  In  the  latter  there  was  at  least  one  common  motive, 
hostility  to  France.  But  the  northern  powers  were  in  pursuit  ot 
entirely  personal  and  selfish  objects,  and  sought  only  to  use  each 
other  for  their  own  ends.  Augustus  committed  h.mself  to  the  war 
without  obtaining  or  even  seeking  the  approval  of  the  Poles.  The 
kim:  <»f  Denmark  cared  nothing  about  the  eastern  Baltic  if  only  he 
could  acquire  the  coveted  duchies.  Peter  the  Great  would  not 
move  a  finger  to  put  Poland  in  possession  of  Esthonia  and  Livonia, 
and  thought  only  of  making  himself  master  of  the  mouth  of  the 

Neva. 

§  4.  1  he  allies  based  their  hopes  of  success,  not  so  much  on  their 
united  co-operation,  as  on  the  supposed  weakness  of  Sweden.  In 
1697  Charles  XII.,  then  fifteen  years  of  age,  had  succeeded  hi* 
father  Charles  XI.  As  there  were  three  years  to  elapse  before  he 
attained  his  majority,  the  regency  was  entrusted  to  his  mother. 
But  Charles,  with  the  help  of  Count  Piper,  who  became  henceforth 
his  chief  adviser,  got  this  arrangement  altered,  and  took  the  reins  ot 
government  into  his  own  hands.  Hitherto  he  had  been  occupied 
only  with  hunting  and  similar  amusements;  and  his  youth  and 
inexperience  flattered*  his  opponents  with  the  prospect  of  an 
easy  victory.  But  Charles  was  a  born  soldier,  conspicuous  even 
among  a  race  of  military  rulers.  In  1700,  the  news  reached  him 
that  the  Danes  had  entered  Schleswig,  that  Augustus  II.  had  laid 
siege  to  Riga,  and  that  the  Russians  had  advanced  to  Narwa.  From 
that  moment  the  young  king  gave  up  every  other  occupation  and 
devoted  himself  heart  and  soul  to  the  trade  of  war.  On  the  8th  oi 
May  he  quitted  Stockholm,  which  he  never  saw  again.  While 
Frederick  IV.  was  in  Holstein,  the  Swedish  fleet  sailed  directly  to 
the  coast  of  Zealand.  It  was  a  great  advantage  to  Charles  that 
the  maritime  states,  anxious  to  prevent  the  outbreak  of  war  in  the 
north,  had  sent  a  fleet  into  the  Baltic  to  compel  the  observance  ot 


272  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xit. 

the  treaty  of  Altona.  The  Danes  were  unable  to  oppose  the 
landing  of  the  Swedes,  and  Copenhagen  was  defenceless.  Denmark 
must  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  invaders  but  for  the  media- 
tion of  England  and  Holland.  Frederick  IV.  was  fortunate  to  escape 
with  nothing  worse  than  the  peace  of  Travendahl  (August  20, 
1700),  by  which  he  restored  the  independence  of  the  duke  of 
Holstein-Gottorp,  and  withdrew  from  all  hostile  alliances  against 
Sweden. 

§  5.  The  other  allies  were  not  more  fortunate.  Riga  was  ably 
defended  by  Dalberg,  and  Augustus  had  to  withdraw  his  troops  with- 
out having  effected  anything.  Charles  XII.  was  now  able  to  meet 
the  most  formidable  of  his  opponents,  Russia.  With  little  more 
than  80C0  men  he  attacked  an  army  of  63,500  before  Narwa.  Peter 
withdrew  before  the  conflict,  either  through  the  cowardice  of 
inexperience  or,  as  he  asserted,  to  seek  reinforcements.  The 
Russian  troops  were  ill-trained  and  suspicious  of.  the  foreign  officers 
who  commanded  them.  The  engagement  was  rather  a  panic  than 
a  battle.  The  Swedes  took  more  prisoners  than  their  own  numbers, 
and  regard  for  their  own  safety  compelled  them  to  dismiss  all  the 
common  soldiers.  The  victory  was  a  great  and  decisive  one,  but 
its  results  were  more  fatal  to  Sweden  than  to  Russia.  Charles  XII. 
was  intoxicated  with  success,  deemed  himself  invincible,  and  des- 
pised his  enemy  as  cowardly  and  incapable.  Peter,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  gained  experience  and  had  lost  only  an  army,  no  great 
matter  to  the  despot  of  Russia.  Report  attributes  to  him  the 
prophetic  saying  that  "  the  Swedes  will  often  beat  us,  but  in  the 
end  they  will  teach  us  to  beat  them." 

Charles  XII.  followed  up  his  success  at  Narwa  by  entering  Livonia. 
Routing  the  Saxon  troops  on  the  Diina,  he  reduced  the  whole 
province  and  also  the  duchy  of  Courland  to  obedience.  In  July, 
1701,  the  Swedish  king  had  defeated  all  his  enemies  and  might 
have  concluded  the  war.  But  he  had  not  yet  had  his  fill  of  glory 
and  was  determined  to  win  fresh  laurels.  The  question  now  arose 
as  to  which  of  the  two  hostile  powers,  Russia  or  Poland,  he  should 
attack.  All  his  wisest  and  most  experienced  advisers  urged  that 
Augustus  was  really  powerless,  that  the  power  and  even  the 
existence  of  Sweden  were  involved  in  the  depression  of  Russia.  The 
destinies  of  Europe  depended  on  Charles'  decision.  He  allowed 
himself  to  be  guided  by  revenge  rather  than  by  policy,  and 
determined  to  make  his  first  object  the  deposition  of  Augustus 
from  the  Polish  throne.  Early  in  1702,  he  invaded  Poland  and 
occupied  Warsaw. 

§  6.  Affairs  in  Poland  were  in  a  condition  which  would  have  been 
impossible  in  any  other  state.     The  king  was  at  war,  but  the 


A.D.  1700-1704.      CHARLES  XII.  IN  POLAND  273 

republic  was  not.  Augustus  had  disregarded  the  constitutional 
obligation  of  consulting  the  diet,  and  this  was  in  itself  enough  to 
disgust  the  nobles  with  the  enterprise.  They  also  feared  the  king's 
design  to  make  himself  absolute  with  the  help  of  Saxon  troops. 
The  iHet,  therefore,  refused  all  assistance ;  the  treaty  with  Russia 
remained  unconfirmed ;  Augustus  was  called  upon  to  withdraw  his 
own  army  and  was  not  allowed  to  levy  that  of  MmwJ  It  was  one 
of  the  great  defects  of  the  elective  monarchy,  that  the  king,  chosen 
by  a  faction,  remained  always  the  head  of  a  faction.  The  powerful 
Lithuanian  family  of  Sapieha  had  already  assumed  an  attitude  of 
«i|H-n  hostility  to  the  king  in  opposition  to  the  Oginsky,  who 
supported  him.  And  many  of  Augustus*  own  partisans  had  been 
alienated  by  his  rule  or  were  absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  selfish 
objects.  Prominent  among  them  was  the  Cardinal-Primate, 
Radziejowski,  the  arch-intriguer  of  this  period,  who  wished  to  give 
the  crown  to  a  creature  of  his  own,  so  as  to  make  himself  the  real 
ruler  of  Poland. 

The  opposition  to  Augustus  did  not  at  first  take  the  form  of  an 
alliance  with  Charles  XII.  The  early  embassies  of  the  diet  called 
upon  him  to  quit  the  territory  of  a  state  which  had  given  him  no 
cause  of  quarrel.  But  the  continued  successes  of  the  Swedish  king 
speedily  induced  the  malcontents  to  rally  to  his  standard.  In  June, 
1702,  he  routed  the  Saxon  forces  at  Clissow,  and  followed  this  up 
by  the  reduction  of  Krakau.  His  presence  alone  seemed  to  ensure 
success.  In  the  next  year  he  took  Lublin  and  Pultusk,and  t he  West- 
Prussian  towns  of  Thorn,  Elbing  and  Danzig.  He  made  no  secret 
of  his  stern  determination  to  compel  the  deposition  of  Augustus, 
cost  him  what  time  and  toil  it  might. 

It  wasin  vain  that  Augustus  applied  for  assistance  to  the  powers 
of  central  Europe  :  no  one  was  willing  to  take  a  step  which  might 
throw  the  Swedish  conqueror  on  to  the  side  of  Louis  XIV.  Nothing 
remained  but  to  renew  the  alliance  with  Russia,  which  had  hitherto 
been  of  little  assistance.  This  was  negotiated  by  Patkul,  who  had 
now  entered  the  service  of  Peter  the  Great,  as  a  more  useful  instru- 
ment to  avenge  his  own  wronps  and  those  of  Livonia.  The  Saxon 
army  was  reinforced  by  Russian  troops  and  by  the  Polish  partisans 
of  Augustus.  But  it  was  too  late  to  arrest  the  progress  of  events. 
In  February,  1704,  an  assembly  at  Warsaw,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  Cardinal-Primate,  declared  that  Augustus  had  forfeited  the 
crown,  which  was  therefore  vacant.  The  choice  of  a  successor  would 
have  fallen  upon  James  Sobieski,  the  son  of  the  defender  of  Vienna, 
but  for  a  dexterous  move  on  the  part  of  Augustus.  A  small  body 
of  Saxons  captured  James  Sobieski  and  one  of  his  brothers,  and 
carried  them  prisoners  to  Leipzig.    Charles  XII.  was  urged  to  assume 


274  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xiv, 

the  crown  himself,  but  he  insisted  on  the  election  of  Stanislaus 
Leczinski,  woivode  of  Posen.  The  choice  was  not  a  fortunate  one. 
Leczinski  was  personally  able  and  disinterested,  but  he  had  no 
considerable  following,  and  his  elevation  disgusted  those  who 
deemed  themselves  his  equals.  Radziejowski,  who  saw  himself 
baulked  of  the  results  of  his  ambition,  was  especially  alienated. 
But  there  was  no  opposing  the  resolute  will  of  Charles.  On  the 
12th  of  July,  1704,  amidst  ill-concealed  discontent,  Leczinski  was 
formally  elected  king  of  Poland.  It  was  obvious  from  the  first 
that  he  could  only  wear  his  crown  as  long  as  he  was  supported  by 
a  Swedish  army. 

The  election  of  a  rival  under  foreign  dictation  gave  a  momentary 
impulse  to  the  cause  of  Augustus.  While  Charles  was  employed 
in  reducing  Lemberg,  Augustus  made  a  sudden  attack  upon  Warsaw, 
captured  the  Swedish  garrison,  and  Stanislaus  had  to  escape  in  haste 
to  the  camp  of  his  protector.  Charles  hastened  back  to  repair  the 
loss,  recovered  Warsaw  without  difficulty,  and  defeated  the  Saxons 
at  Wehlau.  After  witnessing  the  formal  coronation  of  Stanislaus 
in  the  Polish  capital,  the  Swedish  army  was  led  into  Lithuania, 
which  had  been  invaded  by  the  Russians  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  the  agreement  with  Augustus.  In  spite  of  the  difficulties 
caused  by  the  marshy  nature  of  the  country,  Charles  continued  his 
successes  and  forced  the  invaders  to  retire.  Elsewhere  the  Swedes 
were  equally  fortunate.  Levenhaupt  entered  Courland  from  Riga, 
and  defeated  the  Russian  general  Cheremitief  (July,  1705).  In 
the  next  year  another  Swedish  commander,  Rhenschild,  won  a  great 
victory  at  Frauenstadt  (February,  1706),  over  a  vastly  superior 
army  of  Saxons,  Poles,  and  Russians  under  the  command  of  count 
Schulenburg. 

§  7.  Charles  XII.  had  completed  the  reduction  of  Lithuania,  but  it 
was  a  necessary  result  of  his  position  that  his  successes  lasted  only 
so  long  as  he  was  present  in  person.  No  sooner  had  he  marched 
into  the  southern  province  of  Vollhynia  than  Augustus  was  able  to 
recover  much  of  the  lost  ground  in  Lithuania.  Charles  now  deter- 
mined to  reduce  his  enemy  to  submission  by  an  invasion  of  Saxony. 
Uniting  the  army  of  Rhenschild  with  his  own,  and  leaving  only  a 
small  detachment  under  Mardefeld  in  Poland,  he  passed  the  frontier 
of  Germany  without  any  permission  from  the  Emperor,  crossed  the 
Oder  at  Steinau,  and  marching  straight  into  Saxony,  where  no 
preparations  had  been  made  to  resist  him,  he  took  up  his  quarters 
at  Altranstadt,  near  Leipzig.  The  invaded  country  was  compelled 
to  suffer  for  the  errors  of  its  rulers,  and  to  pay  contributions  for  the 
support  of  the  Swedish  army.  Augustus  was  now  in  a  dilemma. 
Freed  from  the  presence  of  his  dreaded  foe,  and  secure  of  assistance 


a.d.  1704-1707.  ALTRANSTADT.  275 

from  Russia,  he  could  easily  recover  the  crown  of  Poland.  But 
then  he  was  not  prepared  to  sacrifice  his  hereditary  electorate  for 
the  sake  of  his  foreign  kingdom.  In  this  difficulty  he  resorted  to 
dissimulation.  While  professing  his  adherence  to  the  Russian 
alliance,  he  sent  two  envoys,  Imhof  and  Pringsten,  with  purp  sety 
vague  powers,  to  negotiate  with  Charles.  The  envoys  tried  to  buy 
on  the  Swedish  king  by  proposing  a  partition  of  Poland,  a  favourite 
design  of  Augustus.  But  Charles  would  have  nothing  but  revenge, 
and  adhered  to  his  original  ultimatum,  the  abdication  of  Augustus. 
Against  his  iron  will,  arguments  of  friend  and  foe  were  alike  useless, 
and  on  the  25th  of  September  the  envoys  agreed  to  a  treaty,  by 
which  Augustus  renounced  the  Polish  crown  in  favour  of  Leczin>ki ; 
but  kept  the  royal  title,  withdraw  fad  all  alliances  against  Sweden, 
especially  that  with  the  Czar,  and  promised  to  release  James 
Slitski  ami  his  brother.  The  treaty  was  now  sent  to  Augustus 
for  ratification.  His  ftorittan  was  more  difficult  than  ever.  He 
had  been  joined  by  the  Russian  general  MenschikofT,  who  was 
urging  him  to  attack  the  inferior  force  of  Swedes  under  Mardefeld. 
Augustus  dared  neither  refuse  nor  consent.  He  ratified  the 
Altranstadt  and  sent  secret  warning  to  the  Swedish 
general.  But  Mardefeld  treated  this  as  a  ruse  and  risked  a  battle, 
in  which  he  was  completely  defeated  (29th  October).  Augustus 
tried  hard  to  excuse  his  conduct  to  Charles  XII.  who  contempt- 
uously replied  by  publishing  the  treaty  to  the  world.  This  forced 
the  hand  of  the  elector,  who  escaped  as  best  he  could  from  the 
Russian  allies  whom  he  had  deceived,  and  appeared  in  December  at 
Dresden.  Charles  had  an  interview  with  his  defeated  rival,  forced 
him  to  write  a  letter  of  congratulation  to  Leczinski,  and  induced 
him  to  surrender  Patkul,  who  had  been  sent  as  envoy  by  the  Czar 
to  the  Saxon  court.  In  defiance  of  the  law  of  nations  and  of  the 
dirtates  of  humanity,  Charles  had  the  unfortunate  noble  broken  on 
the  wheel  as  a  rebel  against  his  lawful  sovereign.  Augustus  had  to 
pay  another  penalty  for  his  shifty  intrigues.  The  Swedish  army 
remained  for  a  year  longer  on  Saxon  soil,  living  at  the  expense  of  a 
country  which  was  too  weak  to  require  conquest,  and  which,  in 
spite  of  the  strictness  of  Swedish  discipline,  had  to  suffer  the  usual 
hardships  of  a  foreign  occupation. 

At  this  period  the  eyes  of  all  Europe  were  fixed  on  the  camp  of 
Altranstadt.  In  1707,  Villars  had  broken  through  the  lines  oi 
Stolhofen,  and  penetrated  far  into  Swabia.  If  his  army  were  to 
be  joined  to  that  of  the  Swedish  hero,  Germany  would  be  at  their 
mercy.  Louis  XIV.  spared  no  pains  to  induce  Charles  XII.  to 
play  the  part  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  to  his  Richelieu.  The  Grand 
Alliance  was  alarmed  at  the  magnitude  of  the  danger.     The  emperor 


276  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiv. 

Joseph  I.  sent  his  ablest  diplomatist,  Wratislaw,  to  Altranstadt, 
and  even  condescended  to  make  concessions  to  his  Protestant 
subjects  in  Silesia  at  the  dictation  of  a  foreign  monarch.  Marl- 
borough also  appeared  in  the  Swedish  camp.  It  is  difficult  to 
ascertain  whether  the  English  general  had  "any  success  in  his 
mission.  It  was  rumoured  that  he  bribed  Piper  and  other  ministers 
of  Charles.  It  is  certain  that  he  satisfied  himself  that  the  danger 
was  less  than  it  appeared.  Charles  was  at  this  time  a  sincere 
Protestant,  and  had  no  more  sympathy  with  the  dynastic  designs 
than  with  the  religion  of  Louis  XIV.  And  there  was  another 
enemy  with  whom  he  had  to  cope,  and  whom  he  had  too  long 
neglected,  the  Czar  of  Russia. 

§  8.  At  Altranstadt,  Charles  XII.  was  at  the  zenith  of  his  great- 
ness. At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  had  an  apparently  invincible 
army  at  his  back,  and  seemed  able  to  dictate  to  Europe.  But  his  fall 
was  more  rapid  than  his  rise  had  been.  Ever  since  the  battle  of 
Narwa,  he  had  pursued  a  radically  unsound  policy.  His  campaigns 
in  Poland  and  Saxony  had  not  only  given  Peter  time  to  recover  from 
defeat,  but  had  indirectly  furthered  his  cause.  The  only  result  of 
the  humiliation  of  Augustus  was  to  give  Russia  a  larger  share  of 
the  Swedish  territories  than  had  originally  been  dreamt  of.  Not 
only  had  Peter  reduced  Ingria  and  Carelia,  and  laid  the  foundations 
of  his  new  capital  on  the  swampy  banks  of  the  Neva,  but  his  troops 
had  also  overrun  Livonia  and  Courland.  It  was  now  to  be  seen 
whether  the  Swedish  king  could  recover  the  losses  for  which  his 
own  conduct  was  chiefly  to  blame.  It  is  probable  that  if  Charles 
had  marched  directly  to  the  eastern  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  he  would 
have  carried  all  before  him.  But  he  determined  to  pursue  the 
same  tactics  that  had  been  so  successful  against  Frederick  IV.  and 
Augustus,  and  to  checkmate  his  adversary  by  a  direct  attack  on  his 
capital.  He  was  destined  to  find  that  Russia  was  a  very  different 
country  from  Denmark,  Poland  or  Saxony.  At  the  end  of  1707, 
he  collected  all  his  forces,  amounting  to  33,000  of  the  finest  troops 
in  the  world.  Early  in  1703  he  started  to  march  directly  to  Moscow. 
Levenhaupt  had  orders  to  follow  him  with  18,000  men.  By 
September,  Charles  was  still  300  miles  from  the  Russian  capital. 
Peter  had  adopted  the  wise  tactics  of  watching  and  molesting  the 
enemy  without  risking  a  pitched  battle.  The  Swedes  might  still 
have  been  saved  if  Charles  had  been  willing  to  wait  for  the 
arrival  of  Levenhaupt  with  supplies  and  reinforcements.  But  he 
was  led  away  by  an  agreement  which  he  had  made  with  Mazeppa, 
a  hetman  of  the  Cossacks,  who  hoped  with  Swedish  aid  to  free 
himself  from  Russian  sovereignty  and  to  found  an  independent 
Cossack  empire.     To  join  him  Charles  turned  from  the  direct  road 


a.d.  1707-1709.  BATTLE  OF  PULTAWA.  277 

and  marched  southwards  into  the  Ukraine.  He  discovered  that 
Mazeppa  was  unable  to  fulfil  his  grandiloquent  promises,  and  could 
only  bring  5000  Cossacks  to  his  aid.  The  Swedish  troops,  hardy 
as  they  were,  suffered  terribly  from  a  winter  of  unparalleled  severity. 
Peter  took  prompt  advantage  of  his  adversary's  error.  Falling  upon 
Levenhaupt  with  immensely  superior  forces  he  cut  his  army  to 
pieces,  and  destroyed  his  convoy.  Levenhaupt  displayed  the 
most  conspicuous  courage  and  generalship,  but  he  could  only  bring 
the  shattered  remnant  of  his  army  to  join  his  master.  From  this 
time  the  ruin  of  the  Swedes  was  only  a  matter  of  time.  As 
soon  as  spring  had  put  an  end  to  the  worst  sufferings,  Charles  laid 
siege  to  Pultawa,  an  enterprise  which  want  of  artillery  rendered 
hopeless  from  the  first.  Everything  was  now  prepared  for  the  final 
blow.  In  June,  1709,  Peter  arrived  with  60,000  men  to  crush  the 
w.. ni-out  Swedes,  who  only  numbered  29,000.  To  make  matters 
worse  Charles  had  received  a  bullet-wound  in  the  foot,  which  com- 
pelled him  to  exchange  his  horse  for  a  litter  and  to  entrust  the  chief 
command  to  Rhenschild.  On  the  27th  of  June  the  great  battle  was 
fought  which  decided  a  momentous  question  for  Europe,  and 
transferred  to  Russia  the  position  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  and 
his  success. )rs  had  won  for  Sweden.  Rhenschild,  PlfMl  and  more 
than  20,000  officers  and  men  were  taken  prisoners  and  dispersed 
through  Russia,  never  to  see  their  native  country  again.  Charles, 
with  a  few  companions,  fled  southwards,  and  just  succeeded  in 
escaping  into  Turkish  territory.  There  he  was  hospitably  received, 
and  suddenly  disappeared  from  the  view  of  Europe  in  his  famous 
retirement  at  Bender. 

§  9.  The  northern  states  took  no  heed  of  the  great  change  which 
Pultawa  made  in  the  balance  of  power.  Instead  of  recognising  the 
fact  that  Russia  had  now  become  their  most  formidable  rival,  they 
thought  only  of  the  fall  of  their  ancient  enemy,  and  how  they  could 
profit  by  the  spoils  of  Sweden.  The  triple  alliance  between  Russia, 
Poland,  and  Denmark,  which  Charles  XII.  had  so  triumphantly 
crushed,  sprang  into  life  again  on  his  defeat.  Peter  was  naturally 
able  to  secure  the  lien's  share  of  the  booty.  He  completed  his 
conquest  of  Livonia  and  Estlionia,  and  captured  Riga,  Diinamunde, 
Revel,  and  other  important  towns.  His  hold  on  the  Baltic  was  now 
secure,  and  he  could  continue  the  building  of  St.  Petersburg  with- 
out fear  of  attack.  Augustus  was  not  slow  to  find  a  pretext  for 
breaking  the  treaty  of  Altranstadt.  The  Pope  absolved  him  from 
his  obligations,  and  the  negotiators,  Pfingsten  and  Imhof,  were  con- 
demned to  severe  punishments  on  a  trumped-up  charge  of  having 
exceeded  their  powers.  The  crown  of  Poland  was  recovered  as 
easily  as  it  had  been  lost,  and  Leczinski,  who  was  {powerless  with- 


278  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xit. 

out  Swedish  aid,  was  driven  into  Pomerania,  whence  he  made  his 
way  to  join  his  unfortunate  patron  at  Bender.  Frederick  IV.  had  no 
scruples  about  throwing  up  the  treaty  at  Travendahl.  Ever  since 
its  conclusion  he  had  been  occupied  in  improving  his  military  forces. 
Not  only  did  he  resume  his  designs  against  the  duchy  of  Holstein, 
he  also  sent  an  army  across  the  Sound  to  attack  the  southern  part 
of  Sweden.  But  the  Swedes,  though  exhausted  by  the  long  war, 
and  demoralised  by  the  loss  of  their  army  and  the  absence  of  their 
king,  were  still  able  to  resist  invasion.  The  Danes  were  utterly 
routed  under  the  walls  of  Helsingborg  by  a  hastily  collected  army 
of  peasants,  and  were  compelled  to  retire  into  Zealand.  The 
maritime  states,  afraid  lest  the  northern  complications  might 
impede  their  war  with  France,  concluded  a  treaty  at  the  Hague,  by 
which  the  German  territories  of  Sweden  were  to  be  held  as  neutral. 
But  no  force  could  be  raised  to  enforce  the  neutrality,  and  as 
Charles  XII.  rejected  the  treaty  with  scorn,  it  remained  little  more 
than  a  dead  letter. 

§  10.  While  the  Swedish  territories  were  being  scrambled  for  in 
the  north,  Charles  was  living  at  Bender,  absorbed  in  an  attempt 
to  induce  the  Porte  to  declare  war  against  Russia.  He  could  urge 
obvious  reasons  of  policy.  The  Turks  had  more  reason  than  any 
other  European  state  to  dread  the  growth  of  the  Russian  power, 
which  was  a  constant  magnet  to  their  discontented  Slav  subjects. 
But  since  the  treaty  of  Carlowitz  it  was  difficult  to  persuade  the 
Porte  to  adopt  an  energetic  policy,  and  Peter  was  untiring  in  his 
endeavour  to  prevent  a  rupture.  Charles'  agent,  the  Pole  Ponia- 
towski,  who  had  helped  him  to  escape  from  Pultawa,  was  active  in 
all  the  intrigues  at  Constantinople,  and  was  supported  by  the  French 
envoy,  De'saleurs.  They  succeeded  in  overthrowing  one  vizier  after 
another,  but  the  Czar  was  more  lavish  of  his  bribes  than  they  could 
afford  to  be,  and  it  was  not  till  the  end  of  1710  that  war  was  declared 
against  Russia.  Early  in  the  next  year  a  large  army  was  collected 
under  the  grand  vizier,  Mehemet  Baltadschi.  Peter  wras  not  slow 
to  take  measures  for  repulsing  the  invasion.  Leaving  a  senate  to 
conduct  the  government  in  Moscow,  he  advanced  into  Moldavia, 
where  the  Hospodar  Kantemir  had  led  him  to  expect  a  general 
rising  of  the  population  on  his  behalf.  In  this  act  Peter  imitated 
the  relations  of  Charles  XII.  with  Mazeppa,  and  the  result  was  pre- 
cisely similar.  Kantemir  joined  him  in  person,  but  brought  hardly 
any  followers.  Peter  found  himself  on  the  banks  of  the  Pruth  in  as 
hopeless  a  situation  as  that  of  Charles  at  Pultawa.  He  was  shut  in 
between  the  river,  a  morass,  and  a  vastly  superior  Turkish  army. 
Both  the  Czar  and  his  officers  were  in  dismay,  and  were  in  momen- 
tary expectation  of  annihilation.     From  this  impending  disaster 


a.d.  1710-1714.       TREATY  OF  THE  PRUTH.  279 

Russia  was  saved  by  the  folly  of  the  vizier  and  the  energy  of  a 
woman.  Peter  was  accompanied  by  his  mistress,  Catharine,  origin- 
ally a  peasant-girl  of  Esthonia,  and  destined  to  be  the  Czar's  wife 
and  successor.  She  assembled  a  council  of  officers,  collected  what 
treasure  she  could,  and  with  its  aid  opened  a  negotiation  with  i-iie 
Turkish  leader.  Baltadschi,  probably  thinking  it  better  to 
obtain  solid  advantages,  without  risking  a  battle  with  troops 
maddened  by  despair,  accepted  the  following  terms,  which  are 
known  as  the  treaty  of  1 1  use  h  or  of  the  Pruth  (July  23, 1711).  Peter 
undertook  to  restore  Azo£  to  destroy  all  fortresses  on  Turkish 
territory,  and  to  allow  a  free  passage  to  Charles  XII.  The  loss  of 
A/of  was  a  blow  to  lbs  Gar,  but  it  was  a  very  small  price  to  pay 
for  his  SSCSptf  from  so  great  a  danger.  Charles  XII..  thinking  that 
at  last  he  had  his  ban  a  enemy  in  his  grasp,  arrived  in  the  Turkish 
camp  just  in  time  to  hear  of  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty.  In- 
vented his  rage  in  abuse  of  the  vizier,  whose  dismissal  he  subse- 
quently obtained  from  the  Sultan;  but  he  failed  altogether  to  bring 
aU'ttt  a  renewal  of  the  war.  In  spite  of  this  blow  to  his  hopes,  ho 
clung  to  his  project  with  an  obstinacy  that  verged  on  ma- 
Hints,  entreaties,  commands,  threats,  were  powerless  to  induce  him 
to  <[nit  Turkey,  where  his  entertainment  involved  considerable 
annoyance  and  exj>ense.  At  last  the  Sultan  L'ave  orders  to  his 
officers  to  expel  him  by  force.  With  a  handful  of  servants  he 
uVf  tided  his  house  against  regular  troops,  and  held  it  till  it  was 
ilwve  his  head.  The  Janissaries  were  famed  into  admira- 
tion of  the  ••  Iron-head,*'  as  they  called  him.  He  was  carried  r» 
prisoner  to  Deinotiea,  where  he  feigned  sickness  and  took  to  his 
bed.  At  last  he  was  roused  to  action  by  the  news  that  his  enemies 
were  stripping  him  of  his  German  possessions.  Leaving  Turkey, 
after  a  five  years'  residence,  he  travelled  night  and  day  with  a 
single  companion  through  Hun^iry  and  Germany,  and  entered 
Stralsund  on  the  27th  November,  1714. 

§  11.  Charles  arrived  to  find  Swedish  affairs  in  an  almost  hopeless 
condition.  In  1713  the  Russians  had  taken  Helsingfors  and  re- 
duced Finland.  In  the  next  year  they  occupied  the  islands  of  Aland, 
and  threatened  Stockholm.  Peter  evidently  aimed  at  acquirim;  the 
same  position  as  a  German  prince  that  the  treaty  of  Wesphalia  had 
given  to  Sweden.  He  had  two  nieces,  daughters  of  his  half- 
brother  Iwan.  One  of  them,  Anne,  he  had  married  to  the  duke  of 
Courland,  the  other,  Catharine,  to  the  duke  of  Mecklenburg.  These 
marriages  were  intended  as  preliminaries  to  a  Russian  annexation  of 
these  provinces.  Peter's  ambition  was  rapidly  rousing  the  jealousy 
of  his  allies,  but  at  present  they  were  only  absorbed  in  looking 
after  acquisitions  for  themselves.      In  1712  the  Danes  had  taken 


280  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiv. 

Bremen  and  Verden,  and  prepared  to  invade  Pomerania.  But 
Sweden,  exhausted  as  she  was,  was  not  yet  powerless.  Stenbock, 
the  general  who  had  driven  the  Danes  from  Helsingborg  in  1710, 
now  crossed  to  attack  them  on  the  continent,  and  won  a  complete 
victory  at  Gadebusch  (December,  1712).  Instead  of  turniiv^  to 
attack  the  Saxons  and  Russians  in  Pomerania,  he  was  induced  by 
commercial  jealousy  to  destroy,  with  great  barbarity,  the  nourishing 
port  of  Altona.  Thence  he  turned  to  Holstein,  where  the  minister, 
Count  Gorz,  admitted  him  into  Tonningen.  Meanwhile  the  Danes 
obtained  Russian  and  Saxon  reinforcements,  which  gave  them  the 
superiority.  After  seizing  Kiel,  Gottorp,  and  Schleswig,  they 
forced  Stenbock  to  capitulate  with  his  whole  army  at  Tonningen. 
This  event  destroyed  the  last  chance  of  maintaining  the  southern 
coast  of  the  Baltic  for  Sweden.  Prussia,  where  Frederick  William  I. 
had  succeeded  his  father  in  1713,  at  last  joined  the  anti-Swedish 
alliance,  in  the  hope  of  enforcing  the  old  Hohenzollern  claims  on 
Pomerania.  Hanover,  whose  elector,  George  I.,  had  just  become 
king  of  England,  was  induced  to  take  the  same  side  by  being 
allowed  to  purchase  Bremen  and  Verden  from  Denmark.  Against 
this  invincible  combination  Charles  XII.  carried  on  an  obstinate  but 
hopeless  conflict.  To  make  matters  worse,  discontent  was  rife  in 
his  own  kingdom.  The  oligarchy,  which  had  been  so  ruthlessly 
put  down  by  Charles  XL,  was  beginning  to  raise  its  head  again,  and 
could  maintain  with  plausibility  that  it  was  uncontrolled  despotism 
that  had  brought  such  accumulated  disasters.  Charles'  heroism 
was  unable  to  hold  Stralsund  against  the  overwhelming  force  that 
advanced  to  lay  siege  to  it.  The  capture  of  the  island  of  Riigen  by 
Leopold  of  Anhalt-Dessau  made  the  town  untenable,  and  Charles 
with  great  difficulty  escaped  to  Sweden.  His  departure  was 
followed  by  the  complete  reduction  of  Pomerania.  With  Wismar 
fell  the  last  Swedish  possession  on  German  soil  (April  20,  1716). 

Charles  had  been  absent  from  Sweden  for  sixteen  years,  but  he 
characteristically  refused  to  revisit  Stockholm  till  he  could  do  so  as 
a  conqueror.  He  found  the  nobles  actively  engaged  in  intrigues  to 
recover  their  lost  privileges.  Charles  himself  was  still  unmarried, 
so  that  his  death  would  raise  a  question  as  to  the  succession.  He 
destined  the  crown  for  the  young  duke  of  Holstein,  the  son  of  his 
elder  sister  Hedwig.  But  the  aristocratic  party  had  induced  a 
younger  sister,  Ulrica  Eleanor,  to  marry  the  prince  of  Hesse-Cassel 
without  her  brother's  permission,  and  was  prepared  to  bring  her 
forward  as  a  claimant.  Charles  treated  these  intrigues  with  lofty 
contempt,  and  took  no  steps  to  crush  them.  His  reckless  bravery 
made  him  still  popular  with  the  lower  classes,  in  spite  of  the  evils 
he  had  brought  upon  them,  so  that  his  return  forced  his  enemies  to 


a.d.  1712-1716.         SCHEMES  OF  GORZ.  281 

carry  on  their  plots  in  complete  secrecy.  He  himself  thought  only 
of  continuing  the  war.  For  this  the  first  requisite  was  funds,  and 
in  raising  them  he  found  an  able  instrument  in  count  Gbrz,  who 
deserted  the  service  of  Holstein  for  that  of  Sweden.  Gbrz  was  a 
libertine  in  private  life,  but  was  endowed  with  restless  ambition 
and  great  diplomatic  ability,  and  was  an  adept  in  the  wild  financial 
schemes  that  were  so  common  in  Europe  at  the  time.  He  raised 
money  by  expedients  that  would  now  be  called  fraudulent,  and 
gradually  obtained  a  complete  ascendancy  over  Charles,  who 
appointed  him  chief  minister,  to  the  intense  disgust  of  the  nobles 
and  the  official  class. 

§  12.  Gbrz  conceived  the  happy  idea  of  saving  Sweden  by  taking 
advantage  of  the  manifest  discord  among  her  opponents.  His  plan 
was  to  buy  off  the  most  formidable  of  these  Opponents,  Russia,  and 
to  combine  with  hrr  against  the  rest.  Peter  the  Great  would  be 
satisfied  with  the  acquisition  of  the  provinces  to  the  east  of  the 
Baltic,  Carelia,  Ingria,  Esthonia  and  Livonia.  In  return  for  tin  in 
he  would  allow  Sweden  to  regain  the  German  territories,  and  to 
obtain  compensation  at  the  expense  of  Denmark  and  Hanover. 
Prussia  might  be  compensated  for  the  loss  of  Pomerania  with  a 
portion  of  Poland.  There  was  much  to  recommend  this  to  the 
Czar,  who  readily  fell  in  with  <  iorz's  plans  at  an  interview  at 
AinM. M-dam.  lVt«r  despised  his  old  ally  Augustus,  he  cared 
nothing  for  the  Danes,  and  he  positively  detested  George  L,  who 
had  acquired  Bremen  and  Verden  without  doing  much  for  the 
common  cause,  and  who  had  displayed  a  morbid  antipathy  to  the 
advancing  power  of  Russia.  The  great  obstacle  to  the  success  of 
the  scheme  lay  in  the  naval  \  n  >wer  of  England,  which  had  now  fallen 
to  the  House  of  Hanover.  It  was  here  that  Gbrz's  plans  came 
into  contact  with  those  of  the  Spanish  minister  Alberoni.  Alberoni 
wished  to  deprive  the  French  regent  Orleans  of  the  support  of 
England  by  restoring  the  Stuarts  in  that  country.  Gorz  was 
willing  to  employ  the  forces  of  Sweden  and  Russia  for  the  same 
object. 

Proofs  were  soon  furnished  of  the  changed  relations  of  the 
northern  powers.  In  1716  Charles  XII.  invaded  Norway,  advanced 
to  Christiania,  but  retired  without  having  effected  anything.  This 
showed  that  he  had  ceased  to  have  any  dread  of  Russia.  In  this 
very  year,  Peter  had  arranged  to  co-operate  with  the  Danes  in  an 
invasion  of  Sweden.  But  though  he  sent  40,000  men  for  the 
purpose,  twice  the  number  agreed  upon,  he  refused  to  take  any 
part  in  the  enterprise.  The  Danes  were  convinced  that  but  for  the 
presence  of  an  English  fleet  in  the  Baltic,  these  troops  would  have 
been  employed  against  Copenhagen.  Meanwhile  a  great  blow  had 
14 


282  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiv. 

been  given  to  the  scheme  of  a  Jacobite  restoration  in  England. 
Gyllenborg,  the  Swedish  envoy,  had  been  seized  in  London,  and 
Gorz  himself  was  for  a  short  time  imprisoned  in  Holland.  Their 
papers  disclosed  the  plot,  and  its  discovery  rendered  its  accomplish- 
ment almost  impossible.  Still  Gorz  persevered  in  his  plans.  The 
year  1717  was  spent  in  military  preparations.  In  May,  1718,  Gorz 
and  Gyllenborg  met  two  Russian  plenipotentiaries  in  Losoe,  one  of 
the  Aland  islands.  There  the  heads  of  a  treaty  were  agreed  upon. 
In  return  for  the  cession  of  the  eastern  Baltic  provinces,  Peter  was 
to  assist  Charles  to  recover  the  German  territories  of  Sweden  and  to 
make  further  acquisitions  from  Denmark,  Hanover  and  Poland. 
Leczinski  was  to  be  restored  to  the  Polish  throne.  Sweden  was  to 
be  allowed  to  annex  Norway,  but  only  after  she  had  combined  with 
Russia  to  give  the  crown  of  England  to  James  Stuart.  Suddenly 
news  came  which  put  an  end  to  these  negotiations.  Charles  XII. 
had  again  invaded  Norway  and  laid  siege  to  the  fortress  of 
Friedrichshall.  As  he  was  going  round  the  trenches  he  was  killed 
by  a  bullet,  fired,  according  to  a  rumour  which  has  almost  become 
a  certainty,  not  by  the  enemy,  but  by  a  traitor  in  the  service  of  the 
aristocratic  party. 

§  13.  Charles'  death  was  followed  by  a  complete  revolution  in 
Sweden.  The  rightful  heir,  Frederick  of  Holstein-Gottorp,  a  feeble 
prince,  refused  the  offer  of  General  Ducker  to  proclaim  him  as 
king  before  the  army.  The  council  at  Stockholm  hastened  to  take 
advantage  of  his  incapacity.  Ulrica  Eleanor  was  acknowledged  as 
regent,  but  only  on  condition  that  she  should  immediately  summon 
a  diet  and  ratify  any  changes  that  should  be  made  in  the  constitu- 
tion. Then  the  council  proceeded  to  apprehend  Gorz,  who  was 
hastening  to  obtain  Charles  XII.'s  approval  of  the  preliminaries 
agreed  upon  at  Losoe.  The  projected  treaty  with  Russia  was 
annulled.  The  diet  met  in  February,  1719,  and  speedily  agreed 
upon  the  reforms  that  were  to  be  imposed  on  the  queen.  The 
despotism  which  Charles  XL  had  established  was  swept  away. 
The  crown  was  to  be  no  longer  hereditary  but  elective.  Side  by 
side  with  the  sovereign  was  erected  an  imperial  council  or  senate 
of  twenty-four  members,  under  the  presidency  of  the  five  chief 
ministers.  Without  the  consent  of  the  council,  the  queen,  who 
was  allowed  two  votes,  could  do  nothing,  not  even  appoint  to  civil 
or  military  offices.  The  council  was  to  be  responsible  to  the  diet 
alone,  but  as  the  diet  lost  importance  from  this  time,  it  was 
practically  irresponsible.  Thus  the  government  of  Sweden  ceased 
to  be  a  monarchy  and  became  once  more  a  close  oligarchy.  Still 
further  concessions  were  extorted  from  the  queen  as  the  price  of 
her  husband's  elevation  to  the  throne  in  the  next  year. 


A.P.  1717-1720.      PACIFICATION  OF  THE  NORTH.  283 

The  first  act  of  the  oligarchy  was  one  of  revenge.  Count  Gora 
was  brought  before  a  specially  constituted  tribunal,  and  after  a 
shameful  parody  of  a  trial  was  condemned  and  executed  (March, 
1710).  His  financial  projects  were  abandoned  without  any  regard 
to  public  faith.  But  the  new  government  could  not  be  secure  as 
long  as  the  war  continued.  The  army  was  better  disposed  to  the 
monarchy  than  to  the  nobles,  and  moreover  the  enemies  of  Sweden 
might  at  any  time  gain  an  advantage  by  taking  up  the  claims  of 
the  duke  of  Holstein.  The  council  hastened  to  disband  a  portion 
of  the  army,  already  weakened  by  the  loss  of  7000  men  who  had 
been  frozen  to  death  in  Norway,  and  to  open  negotiations  with  the 
hostile  powers.  Terms  of  peace  were  speedily  arranged  for 
Hanover  by  the  English  minister  Carteret  (November,  1719).  On 
.•■lit  of  a  million  thalers  the  elector  king  obtained  Bremen  and 
Verden.  With  Poland  there  was  no  longer  war,  as  the  republic  in 
171')  had  openly  refused  to  allow  Augustus  to  continue  it.  The 
only  obstacle  to  a  complete  pacification  lay  in  the  position  of 
Stanislaus  Leczinski,  to  whom  Charles  XII.  had  given  a  residence 
in  Xweibriicken,  a  principality  which  had  hitherto  belonged  to  the 
Swedish  kings  as  the  heirs  of  Charles  X .  Xu  eihriicken  now  passed 
to  a  nephew  of  Charles  X.,  the  prince  of  Kleeberg,  who  was  an 
ardent  Protestant  and  already  under  obligations  to  Augustus.  He 
compelled  Stanislaus  to  quit  his  territories,  and  the  unfortunate 
prince  had  to  seek  a  new  place  of  exile  in  Alsace.  This  removed 
all  cause  of  hostility  between  Sweden  and  Poland,  and  Augustus 
promised  to  compensate  his  rival  for  his  confiscated  possessions,  a 
promise  which  was  never  fulfilled.  With  Prussia  Sweden  made  a 
treaty  in  February,  1720.  Frederick  William  I.  obtained  the  part 
of  Pomerania  lying  between  the  Oder  and  the  Peene,  including  the 
towns  of  Stettin  and  Danzig  and  the  islands  of  Usedom  and 
Wollin,  and  agreed  in  return  to  pay  two  million  thalers.  The 
negotiations  with  Denmark  were  more  difficult,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  traditional  jealousy  of  the  two  Scandinavian  powers  was 
modified  at  the  moment  by  their  mutual  antagonism  to  the  duke  of 
Holstein.  But  in  July,  1720,  a  treaty  was  concluded  by  the 
mediation  of  Cacteret.  Frederick  IV.  restored  to  Sweden  the 
German  territories  which  she  had  occupied  in  the  war,  viz., 
Stralsund,  Greifswald  and  the  island  of  Piigen.  Sweden  on  her  part 
resigned  her  exemption  from  the  Sound  dues,  and  allowed  Frederick 
to  annex  Schleswig  to  his  kingdom.  He  was  only  prevented  from 
taking  Holstein  too  by  the  intervention  of  the  emperor  and  the 
German  princes. 

Russia  was  now  the  only  remaining  enemy  of  Sweden.  To 
enforce  compliance  with  his  demands,  Peter  sent  a  fleet  into  the 


284  MODEEN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xiv. 

Baltic  which  inflicted  enormous  damage  on  the  Swedish  coast. 
Still  the  government  held  out  in  the  confident  hope  of  receiving 
assistance  from  England.  But  the  English  parliament  was 
resolutely  hostile  to  any  measures  that  looked  like  a  concession 
to  Hanoverian  interests,  and  against  this  opposition  George  I.'s 
ministers  were  powerless.  At  last  the  Swedes  gave  way,  and  the 
treaty  of  Nystadt  was  signed  on  the  10th  of  September,  1720. 
Sweden  had  to  surrender  Ingria,  Esthonia,  Livonia,  and  the  greater 
part  of  Carelia,  while  Peter  promised  to  restore  Finland,  and  to 
abstain  from  interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Sweden  and 
especially  in  the  question  of  the  succession.  This  destroyed  the 
last  chance  of  the  duke  of  Holstein,  who  was  resident  in  Russia, 
and  who  had  hoped  to  obtain  his  rightful  crown  with  Peter's 
assistance.  The  treaty  of  Nystadt  finally  settled  the  great  question 
of  the  supremacy  in  northern  Europe.  The  position  which  the 
disunion  of  Germany,  and  the  genius  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  had 
won  for  Sweden  was  henceforth  transferred  to  Russia.  The  only 
thing  which  to  some  extent  neutralised  the  results  of  the  transfer 
was  the  as  yet  almost  unnoticed  development  of  Prussia  into  a  state 
of  first-rate  importance. 

§  14.  Peter's  foreign  policy  had  proved  triumphantly  successful  in 
all  points  but  one.  He  had  failed  to  obtain  the  coveted  position  of 
a  German  prince.  His  attempt  to  retain  the  hold  on  Mecklenburg 
which  his  niece's  marriage  had  given  him,  was  foiled  by  the  steady 
resistance  of  the  emperor  Charles  VI.,  and  the  intervention  of 
Hanover  compelled  him  to  withdraw  his  troops  from  the  province. 
After  his  peace  with  Sweden,  Peter  only  undertook  one  more  war, 
that  with  Persia,  which  enabled  him  to  extend  his  territories  to  the 
Caspian.  Throughout  his  active  career  he  had  never  relaxed  his 
reforming  energy.  Nothing  was  too  minute  for  his  attention,  no 
obstacle  so  formidable  as  to  daunt  him.  By  constructing  roads  and 
canals  he  facilitated  intercourse  within  his  vast  dominions;  by 
treaties  with  maritime  powers  he  gave  an  opening  to  the  newly- 
born  Russian  commerce.  The  navy  was  under  his  personal  super- 
vision and  special  patronage.  The  transfer  of  his  residence  from 
Moscow  to  St.  Petersburg  is  significant  of  the  grand  purpose  of  his 
life.  Moscow  remained  the  centre  of  everything  that  was  ancient 
and  traditional  in  Russia.  Through  the  new  capital  was  to  be 
admitted  the  civilisation  of  the  west  which  he  so  ardently  studied 
and  appreciated,  though  he  could  so  imperfectly  imitate  it.  The 
whole  system  of  government  was  remodelled  in  imitation  of  the 
institutions  he  had  seen  abroad.  In  1711  he  abolished  the  ancient 
douma  of  the  boyards,  and  replaced  it  by  a  senate  which  consisted 
of  the  chief  ministers  of  the  Czar.     In  1718  he  suppressed  the 


a.d.  1711-1724.  RUSSIA  UNDER  PETER.  285 

prikuyes  or  commissions,  and  created  ten  "colleges,"  similar  to 
those  which  the  regent  Orleans  had  established  in  France.  A 
special  police  department  was  set  on  foot,  and  its  powers  extended 
by  the  formation  of  an  inquisition,  which  rendered  great  services  to 
despotism,  but  inflicted  equal  misery  upon  the  Russian  people. 
The  whole  provincial  administration  was  reorganised  on  a  regular 
system.  But  thefb  was  one  defect  which  even  Peter  was  unable 
with  the  greatest  efforts  to  remedy.  He  could  appoint  officials  and 
regulate  their  duties,  but  he  could  not  make  them  cease  to  be 
corrupt.  His  special  favourite,  Menschikoff,  whom  he  had  raised 
from  a  humble  position,  was  found  to  be  tainted  with  the  prevalent 
vice,  and  is  said  to  have  received  summary  chastis*  nient  from  the 
Czar's  own  hand. 

Peter's  reign,  like  that  of  many  other  successful  rulers,  was 
marred  by  family  troubles.  His  first  wife,  Kud«>xia,  wlmin  lie 
repudiated  and  divorced,  had  borne  him  a  son,  Alexis,  who  in- 
herited his  mother's  antipathy  to  his  father's  policy  and  person. 
He  became  the  centre  of  the  conservative  opposition  to  reforms  and 
foreigners,  and  the  alienation  was  increased  when  Peter  married  his 
mistress,  Catharine.  In  1712  he  attempted  to  reconcile  his  son 
with  foreign  manners  and  institutions  by  marrying  him  to  a  German 
wife,  Charlotte  of  Brunswick.  But  the  expedient  proved  a  failure ; 
Alexis  ill-treated  his  wife,  who  died  in  171.".,  after  giving  birth  to  a 
son,  afterwards  Czar  as  Peter  II.  In  171»>  Peter  undertook  one  of 
his  journeys  westwards,  and  left  the  regency  to  Alexis,  whom  at 
that  time  he  destined  to  be  his  heir.  At  Copenhagen  Peter  heard 
that  his  son  was  taking  measures  to  reverse  his  whole  policy.  To 
escape  the  threatened  vengeance  of  his  father  he  fled,  first  to 
Vienna,  and  then  to  Naples.  Thither  he  was  tracked  by  the 
emissaries  of  the  Czar,  and  compelled  to  return  to  St.  Petersburg. 
A  commission  was  appointed  to  try  him,  and  torture  was  employed 
to  extort  a  confession  of  conspiracy  against  his  father's  government. 
He  was  condemned  to  death,  but  before  the  sentence  could  be 
executed  he  died  in  prison,  probably  from  the  effects  of  fresh 
tortures,  which  were  applied  to  compel  further  disclosures.  Peter 
had  now  no  male  heir,  except  his  grandson,  of  his  own  name,  and 
he  was  naturally  averse  to  leave  his  crown  to  an  infant.  Accord- 
ingly, in  1722  he  issued  a  ukase,  which  conferred  upon  the  reigning 
Czar  the  right  of  nominating  his  successor  without  any  regard  to 
birth  or  hereditary  right.  This  was  generally  considered  to  imply 
a  determination  to  give  the  succession  to  his  wife  Catharine,  in 
whose  capacity  he  had  unlimited  confidence.  This  was  confirmed 
by  the  fact  that  in  1724  Catharine  was  solemnly  crowned  as 
empress.     In  the  s;une  year  he  gave  great  alarm  to  the  Swedish 


286  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xiv. 

government  by  betrothing  Anne,  his  eldest  daughter  by  his  second 
marriage,  to  the  duke  of  Holstein.  The  expected  nomination  of  a 
successor  was  never  made.  On  the  8th  of  February,  1725,  Peter 
the  Great  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-three.  His  name  will  always  live 
among  those  of  the  heroes  of  history,  as  the  creator  of  the  greatness 
of  modern  Russia. 

§  15.  Peter's  death  was  followed  by  a  confused  period  of  Russian 
history.  The  question  of  the  succession  was  one  rather  of  parties 
than  of  persons.  The  conservative  opponents  of  the  late  reforms, 
headed  by  the  Jalitsynes,  Dolgoroukis  and  other  noble  families,  put 
forward  the  claims  of  the  younger  Peter,  who  was  now  twelve  years 
old.  Menschikoif,  on  the  other  hand,  and  all  the  partisans  of  the 
new  regime,  were  warmly  in  favour  of  the  widow,  Catharine.  The 
preference  of  the  army  decided  the  question  in  her  favour.  During 
her  short  reign  of  two  years,  Peter's  system  of  government  was 
continued,  and  Menschikoff,  from  whose  service  she  had  passed  to 
become  the  Czar's  mistress,  was  all-powerful  in  Russia.  Before 
Catharine's  death,  in  1727,  she  nominated  Peter  II.  as  her  successor, 
and  appointed  a  council  of  regency  during  his  minority,  of  which 
the  chief  members  were  Menschikoff  and  the  duke  of  Holstein.  In 
the  new  reign  Menschikoff,  whose  daughter  was  betrothed  to  the 
young  Czar,  became  more  powerful  than  ever.  He  compelled  the 
duke  of  Holstein  and  his  wife  to  quit  Russia  for  their  duchy,  and 
he  caused  himself  to  be  nominated  Generalissimo.  But  his  arbitrary 
conduct  soon  alienated  Peter,  who  secured  his  liberty  by  dismissing 
and  banishing  his  dictator  and  would-be  father-in-law.  Iwan 
Dolgorouki,  the  favourite  companion  of  Peter  II.,  was  now  supreme. 
Under  his  regime  the  hopes  of  the  old-Russian  party  revived. 
The  Czar  recalled  his  grandmother  Eudoxia  from  the  cloister  to  the 
court,  and  went  so  far  as  to  quit  St.  Petersburg,  to  take  up  his 
residence  in  Moscow.  But  the  danger  of  reaction  was  ended  by  the 
sudden  death  of  Peter  II.,  of  small-pox,  in  1730.  The  male  line  of 
Peter  the  Great  was  now  extinct,  and  the  succession  was  more  open 
than  ever.  Of  Peter's  daughters,  Anne  and  Elizabeth,  the  former 
had  died  in  1728,  leaving  a  son,  afterwards  Peter  III.  There 
were  two  other  female  candidates,  the  daughters  of  Peter's  brother 
Iwan,  Catharine,  duchess  of  Mecklenburg,  and  Anne,  duchess  of 
Courland.  Iwan  Dolgorouki  actually  conceived  the  bold  idea 
of  claiming  the  succession  for  his  sister  Catharine,  on  the  ground 
that  she  had  been  betrothed  though  not  married  to  Peter  II. 
Ultimately  the  party  of  the  nobles,  who  were  now  supreme, 
determined  to  choose  one  of  the  imperial  family,  but  to  depart 
as  far  as  possible  from  the  rules  of  hereditary  succession.  By 
this  means  they  hoped  to  obtain  concessions  which  would  establish 


a.d.  1725-1730.  THE  CZARINA  ANNE.  287 

their  own  power  on  a  firm  basis.  They  therefore  offered  the 
crown  to  Anne  of  Courland,  but  drew  up  a  sort  of  capitulation 
for  her  acceptance,  which  would  have  transformed  Russia  into  an 
oligarchical  republic.  The  crown  was  to  be  elective,  and  the  sover- 
eign was  to  do  nothing  without  consulting  a  high  council,  which 
was  to  consist  of  eight  members  and  to  fill  up  vacancies  by  co- 
optation.  Anne  accepted  the  crown  and  the  conditions  with  which 
the  offer  was  accompanied.  But  no  sooner  had  she  entered  Moscow 
than  she  determined  to  break  her  compact.  The  people,  and 
especially  the  army,  preferred  autocratic  rule  to  that  of  a  clique  of 
nobles.  Secure  of  national  support,  she  boldly  repudiated  the 
capitulation,  and  punished  its  authors  by  exile  and  imprisonment. 
The  system  of  Peter  the  Great  was  restored  in  all  its  entirety,  and 
the  first  attempt  to  impose  constitutional  restrictions  on  a  Russian 
sovereign  ended  in  complete  failure. 


288  MODERN  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
FRANCE  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  LOUIS  XIV. 

§  1.  Situation  of  affairs;  character  of  the  Regent  Orleans.  §  2.  The 
bastards ;  overthrow  of  Louis  XIV.'s  will ;  reactionary  policy.  §  3. 
Financial  affairs  ;  the  chamhre  ardente ;  Law's  schemes  ;  the  Mississippi 
Company.  §  4.  Financial  crash.  §  5.  England  and  Spain.  §  6. 
Elizabeth  of  Parma  and  Alberoni;  revival  of  the  Spanish  power. 
§7.  Dubois;  the  Triple  Alliance;  Spanish  conquest  of  Sardinia  and 
Sicily.  §  8.  The  Quadruple  Alliance  ;  Byng  defeats  the  Spanish  fleet ; 
Alberoni's  alliance  with  Sweden  and  Russia;  conspiracy  of  Cellamare. 
§  9.  Collapse  of  Alberoni's  schemes ;  his  dismissal ;  Spain  makes 
peace.  §  1  ».  Dubois  becomes  a  cardinal ;  alliance  with  Spain  ;  end  of 
the  regency  ;  death  of  Dubois  and  Orleans.  §  11.  Ministry  of  the  duke 
of  Bourbon;  Louis  XV.  marries  Marie  Leczinska  ;  religious  persecu- 
tion ;  Fleury  becomes  chief  minister  ;  his  domestic  policy. 

§  1.  The  death  of  Louis  XIV.  was  an  event  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance to  Europe,  and  much  more  so  to  France.  He  had  established 
a  centralised  monarchy,  which  crushed  all  independent  life  in  the 
capital  and  the  provinces,  and  which  had  obtained  absolute  control 
not  only  over  politics,  but  also  over  religion  and  literature.  The 
government  was  one  vast  machine  which  was  worked  by  the  will  of 
a  single  man  or  of  those  who  could  influence  him.  For  a  time  the 
system  had  been  triumphantly  successful.  France  had  extended  its 
frontiers,  increased  its  resources,  and  raised  itself  almost  to 
supremacy  in  Europe.  But  in  the  later  years  of  the  long  reign 
these  successes  had  been  overshadowed  by  failures.  Religious 
intolerance  had  crushed  domestic  industry,  and  had  raised  a 
powerful  combination  of  foreign  enemies.  In  a  war  of  dynastic 
ambition  France  had  squandered  her  resources  till  the  state  was 
well-nigh  bankrupt,  and  had  lost  that  military  reputation  which 
had  been  the  most  popular  gift  of  the  Bourbon  kings.  The  question 
now  arose  as  to  whether  the  system  of  Louis  XIV.  could  possibly 
survive  him.  It  is  probable  that  he  himself  recognised  the  impossi- 
bility, and  in  fact  he  was  partially  responsible  for  it.  In  his  later 
years  he  had  surrounded  himself  with  docile  followers  of  his  own 
will  in  preference  to  able  ministers,  and  the  result  was  that  he  left 
behind  him  no  statesman  capable  of  carrying  on  his  work.     Even 


a.d.  1715.  THE  REGENT  ORLEANS.  289 

his  own  descendants  had  shown  themselves  by  no  means  enamoured 
of  his  principles  of  government.  His  grandson,  the  duke  of 
Burgundy,  the  pupil  of  Fenelon  and  the  idol  of  popular  hopes,  had 
drawn  up  schemes  of  reform  which  were  directly  antagonistic  to  the 
system  of  the  grand  monarque.  Had  he  lived  to  ascend  the  throne, 
France  would  have  had  an  opportunity  of  testing  the  worth  of  that 
paternal  despotism  which  was  so  popular  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
an<l  which  found  its  ablest  exponents  in  Frederick  the  Great  and 
Joseph  IL  But  his  early  death  had  marred  this  prospect,  and  had 
left  the  succession  to  his  second  son,  Louis  XV.,  a  sickly  infant  of 
five  years  old. 

The  future  of  France  depended  on  the  choice  of  a  regent. 
Custom  rather  than  definite  law  assigned  the  office  to  the  nearest 
prince  of  the  blood  royal,  who  would  be  the  natural  heir  in  case  of 
the  minor's  death.  In  the  present  case  this  was  the  young  king's 
uncle,  Philip  V.  of  Spain.  But  then  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  and  his 
own  renunciation  excluded  him  from  the  succession  in  France,  and 
any  attempt  to  give  him  the  regency  must  have  aroused  a  new 
European  war.  Next  to  him  stood  Philip  duke  of  Orleans  (bom 
1674),  the  second  son  of  Louis  XIV.'s  only  brother  Philip,  and  of 
Elizabeth  Charlotte,  daughter  of  the  elector  palatine.  He  was 
the  most  brilliant  prince  whom  the  house  of  Bourbon  had  produced 
since  Henry  IV.  Not  only  was  he  accomplished  as  a  painter  and  a 
musician,  he  had  studied  philosophy  under  Leibnitz,  and  natural 
science  under  Homberg,  and  his  natural  abilities  enabled  him  to 
master  any  subject  without  exhausting  effort.  As  a  general  he  had 
shown  himself  both  brave  and  competent,  had  gained  the  affection  of 
his  troops,  and  might  have  won  the  laurels  of  a  conqueror  if  he  had 
not  been  hampered  by  his  uncle's  jealousy.  But  all  his  great 
qualities  were  marred  by  still  more  conspicuous  defects.  The  same 
ambition  which  induced  him  to  study  widely  if  not  deeply,  led  him 
also  to  seek  preeminence  in  frivolity  and  vice.  His  natural  inclina- 
tion to  sensual  indulgence  had  been  encouraged  by  a  congenial 
tutor,  the  abbe'  Dubois.  His  mother  used  to  apply  to  him  the  old 
fable  of  the  prince  who  received  every  good  quality  from  his  fairy 
godmothers,  until  one  old  fairy,  indignant  at  not  being  invited, 
added  a  curse  which  rendered  all  the  other  gifts  useless.  At  Louis 
XIV.'s  court  Philip  of  Orleans  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  monster 
of  iniquity.  The  successive  deaths  of  the  royal  princes  had  been 
attributed  by  popular  rumour  to  his  ambition  to  obtain  the  crown 
for  himself,  and  he  had  been  allowed  no  opportunity  to  clear  him- 
self from  the  suspicion.  This  was  the  man  who  was  destined  to 
govern  France  for  the  next  eight  years,  and  to  leave  a  permanent 
impress  on  his  country's  history. 
14* 


290  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xv. 

§  2.  It  was  natural  that  Louis  XIV.  should  regard  the  prospect 
with  misgiving,  and  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  should  suggest 
measures  to  avert  it.  A  will  was  drawn  up  with  the  intention  of 
ensuring  the  permanence  of  the  existing  system.  For  this  purpose 
Louis  had  no  one  to  rely  upon  but  his  illegitimate  children  by 
Madame  de  Montespan,  the  duke  of  Maine  and  the  count  of 
Toulouse.  Though  they  had  been  born  in  the  lifetime  of  M.  de 
Montespan  and  acknowledged  by  him,  the  king  had  not  scrupled 
to  give  them,  first  the  name  of  Bourbon,  then  a  rank  immediately 
after  the  royal  family,  and  finally,  in  1714,  the  right  of  eventual 
succession  to  the  throne  itself.  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  had 
risen  to  influence  as  the  governess  of  the  two  bastards,  spared  no 
pains  to  secure  their  advancement.  The  royal  will  entrusted  the 
government  during  the  minority  to  a  council  of  fifteen,  including 
Maine,  Toulouse,  Villeroy,  Tallard,  etc.  Of  this  council  the  duke 
of  Orleans  was  to  be  president,  so  that  the  only  power  allowed  him 
was  that  of  giving  a  casting-vote  in  case  of  an  equal  division.  The 
guardianship  of  the  young  king's  person  was  entrusted  to  the 
duke  of  Maine,  who  was  also  to  have  the  command  of  the  royal 
guards. 

This  arrangement  had  too  many  inherent  defects  to  be  lasting. 
A  council  of  fifteen  was  obviously  too  large  a  body  to  govern  a 
country  like  France,  which  was  now  habituated  to  despotic  rule. 
This  would  have  been  the  case  even  if  there  had  been  tolerable 
unanimity  among  its  members,  but  there  were  certain  to  be  endless 
quarrels  between  the  dukes  of  Orleans  and  Maine.  The  former 
determined  from  the  first  to  get  rid  of  the  will  and  to  obtain  the 
power  which  he  considered  to  belong  to  him  by  right.  He  had  on 
his  side  all  the  classes  who  were  discontented  with  the  late  regime ; 
the  nobles  who  wished  to  recover  some  of  their  former  power,  and 
who  were  disgusted  by  the  elevation  of  the  bastards ;  the  members 
of  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  which  had  been  reduced  to  powerless 
insignificance  by  the  late  king;  the  Jansenists,  who  saw  an 
opportunity  of  escaping  from  their  Jesuit  persecutors.  The  duke 
of  Orleans  roused  himself  for  a  moment  from  his  inglorious  dissipa- 
tions, and  spared  no  pains  to  ensure  the  success  of  his  scheme. 
The  instrument  which  he  intended  to  employ  was  the  Parliament 
of  Paris,  which  seventy  years  ago  had  revoked  the  will  of  Louis  XIII., 
and  was  eager  to  seize  a  new  chance  of  enforcing  its  claim  to 
political  power.  On  the  2nd  of  September,  1715,  the  Parliament 
held  a  formal  session,  at  which  the  princes  of  the  blood  royal  and 
the  peers  of  France  were  present.  Without  any  difficulty  the  duke 
of  Orleans  obtained  the  ratification  of  his  wishes.  He  was  appointed 
regent  with  full  powers  of  granting  offices  and  disposing  of  the 


a.u  1715.        FRANCE   UNDER  THE   REGENCY.  291 

revenue.  The  command  of  the  household  troops  was  taken  away 
from  the  duke  of  Maine,  although  he  was  allowed  to  remain 
guardian  of  the  young  king. 

Thus  the  system  of  personal  government  was  retained  in  France, 
but  in  the  hands  of  Philip  of  Orleans  instead  of  Louis  XIV.  The 
regent  was  practically  pledged  to  a  policy  of  reaction,  in  order  to 
gratify  his  supporters  among  the  nobles  and  the  Parliament.  He 
was  guided  to  a  great  extent  by  the  schemes  that  had  been  drawn 
up  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy  and  by  the  advice  of  St.  Simon,  whose 
memoirs  give  us  the  most  vivid  if  not  the  most  trustworthy  picture 
of  the  history  of  this  period.  A  council  of  regency  was  appointed, 
with  the  duke  of  Bourbon,  the  representative  of  the  legitimate 
princes,  as  its  president,  but  including  amongst  its  members  the 
duke  of  Maine  and  the  count  of  Toulouse.  Then  followed  the 
distinct  departure  from  the  late  regime.  Instead  of  entrusting 
the  various  departments  to  ministers,  acting  in  direct  subordina- 
tion to  the  crown,  six  councils  of  ten  members  each  were  created, 
for  war,  the  navy,  commerce,  finance,  home  and  foreign  affairs.  A 
seventh  council,  of  conscience,  to  regulate  ecclesiastical  matters,  had 
been  created  by  the  late  king,  but  it  was  now  employed  for  wholly 
different  objects.  The  presidency  was  given  to  cardinal  Noailles, 
the  representative  of  the  opposition  to  the  Jesuits  and  the  bull 
Unigenitm.  Pere  le  Tellier  was  banished,  and  the  Jansenists 
flocked  back  to  Paris.  Literature  became  once  more  independent. 
Fenelon's  Telemaquc  was  published  and  Voltaire  began  to  write. 
The  regent  even  meditated  a  restoration  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  but 
was  dissuaded  from  making  so  violent  a  change.  In  all  points  the 
old  repressive  government  was  given  up  to  make  way  for  a  milder 
and  more  constitutional  system.  The  Parliament  of  Paris  was 
allowed  to  resume  the  right  which  it  had  lost  of  making 
remonstrances  before  registering  the  royal  edicts. 

The  change  was  so  complete  as  to  amount  to  a  revolution.  If  it 
had  proved  successful  and  permanent  it  would  have  made  the 
most  material  difference  to  the  history  of  France.  Hut  it  failed 
lamentably,  and  the  causes  of  its  failure  are  not  far  to  seek.  The 
institutions  were  good  enough,  but  there  was  a  woful  lack  of. 
capacity  and  honesty  in  the  men  who  were  to  work  them.  The 
nobles,  who  had  a  majority  of  places  in  the  councils,  were  wholly 
untrained  to  the  work  of  administration,  and  were  jealous  of  their 
colleagues,  the  lawyers,  who  assessed  the  requisite  training  and 
intelligence.  Above  all  the  regent  himself  was  no  duke  of 
Burgundy ;  he  had  carried  through  the  reforms  not  for  their  own 
sake,  but  merely  to  secure  his  personal  power.  Once  he  had 
obtained  this  object,  he  returned  to  the  pursuit  of  his  own  selfish 


292  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xv. 

pleasures.  He  surrounded  himself  with  worthless  associates  whom 
he  cynically  called  his  roues,  because  they  deserved  to  be  broken 
on  the  wheel.  His  orgies  at  the  Palais  Royal  were  a  disgrace  not 
only  to  his  country,  but  to  his  age.  No  prosperity  could  be 
enjoyed  by  France  under  the  rule  of  so  vicious  a  profligate.  Thanks 
to  Dubois,  the  government  was  carried  on  not  without  ability  and 
with  some  amount  of  success.  But  there  was  one  department,  that 
of  finance,  in  which  reform  was  urgently  needed,  but  where  it  could 
only  be  effected  by  conspicuous  ability  and  honesty.  It  was  here 
that  the  regency  found  its  greatest  difficulty,  and  met  with  its 
most  unqualified  failure. 

§  3.  The  war  of  the  Spanish  succession  had  exhausted  the  re- 
sources of  France.  The  annual  expenses  amounted  to  243  millions  of 
francs,  while  the  revenue  was  only  186  millions,  and  that  had  been 
anticipated  for  two  years  to  come.  There  was  an  immense  floating 
debt  consisting  of  government  paper,  which  had  sunk  to  a  third  of 
its  nominal  value.  There  was  evidently  a  difficult  task  before 
the  council  of  finance,  which  the  regent  appointed  under  the 
presidency  of  the  duke  of  Noailles.  St.  Simon,  imbued  with  aris- 
tocratic contempt  and  hatred  for  financiers  and  men  of  business, 
proposed  to  ruin  the  state  creditors  by  summoning  the  States 
General  and  declaring  a  national  bankruptcy.  This  expedient  was 
rejected,  but  the  measures  which  the  government  adopted  were 
scarcely  less  revolutionary  or  more  inconsistent  with  the  lawful 
rights  of  property.  An  extraordinary  tribunal,  known  as  the 
chambre  ardente,  was  erected  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  the 
financiers,  and  to  confiscate  what  it  pleased  the  government  to  call 
their  ill-gotten  gains.  Informers  were  to  be  rewarded  with  a  share 
of  the  spoils.  For  a  year  the  work  of  judicial  robbery  was  carried  on 
with  rigorous  severity  and  amidst  popular  applause.  But  it  was 
soon  discovered  that  the  nation  profited  little  from  the  persecution. 
The  confiscated  wealth  passed  not  into  the  treasury,  but  into  the 
pockets  of  the  regent  and  his  associates,  who  also  found  a  new  mode 
of  acquiring  riches  in  selling  their  protection  to  the  terrified 
millionaires.  Finally,  in  1717,  the  authority  of  the  tribunal  was 
revoked  by  an  edict,  which  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  that  corruption 
was  too  wide-spread  to  be  investigated  or  punished.  The  financial 
difficulty  was  as  great  as  ever,  and  Noailles  and  his  council  had 
failed  to  meet  it. 

The  regent  was  now  induced  to  listen  to  the  advice  of  a  congenial 
spirit,  John  Law,  the  son  of  an  Edinburgh  goldsmith,  who  had 
pursued  his  financial  speculations  at  the  gaming-tables  of  Europe. 
He  was  a  fanatical  believer  in  the  power  of  credit,  which  was  just 
beginning  to  play  a  new  and  unprecedented  part  in  commercial 


a.d.  1715-1717.      FINANCIAL  SCHEMES  OF  LAW.  293 

transactions.  In  his  opinion  it  was  credit  which  had  enabled 
England  and  Holland  to  bear  the  expenses  of  the  recent  war  so 
much  more  easily  than  France  had  done.  His  scheme  was  to  form 
a  bank  which  should  have  at  its  back  all  the  resources  of  the  state, 
as  security  for  the  issue  of  paper-money.  As  further  security  he 
intended  gradually  to  get  the  whole  commerce  of  the  country  under 
the  control  of  the  central  bank.  Thus  an  almost  unlimited  amount 
of  paper  could  be  put  into  circulation,  which  would  parJwm  Jill  the 
functions  of  specie,  indefinitely  multiply  the  national  wealth,  give  a 
new  impulse  to  manufactures  and  trade,  and  enable  the  government 
to  pay  off  the  debt  without  effort  or  sacrifice.  The  scheme 
had  a  political  as  well  as  a  financial  significance.  If  successfully 
carried  out,  it  would  give  the  monarchy  a  power  far  greater  and 
more  centralised  than  Louis  XIV.  had  ever  dreamed  of  obtaining. 
At  the  same  time  the  issue  of  paper  money  would  enable  the 
government  to  re-purchase  the  offices  which  had  been  sold  to 
individuals,  and  thus  to  recover  absolute  control  over  the  magis- 
tracy. It  was  this  aspect  of  the  scheme  winch  led  Montesquieu 
to  call  Law  the  greatest  supporter  of  despotism  that  ever  lived,  and 
it  was  this  which  raised  against  him  the  opposition  of  the  Parliament 
and  other  institutions  whose  independence  was  threatened. 

The  gigantic  proportions  of  the  scheme  fascinated  the  mind  at 
the  regent.  But  it  was  based  upon  a  fundamental  error,  which 
is  easily  to  be  discerned  by  the  light  of  mtdcrn  political  economy. 
In  those  days  money  was  regarded  not  so  much  as  an  instrument 
for  effecting  the  exchange  of  wealth,  but  as  wealth  itself.  If 
this  was  erroneous  in  the  case  of  specie,  it  was  still  more 
erroneous  in  that  of  paper-money.  This  was  what  Law  failed 
to  perceive.  To  him  every  increase  of  the  circulating  medium, 
and  such  an  increase  con  Id  certainly  be  effected  by  his  plan,  implied 
a  direct  increase  of  wealth.  The  nation  was  destined  to  suffer  for 
the  erroneous  opinions  which  he  shared  with  almost  all  his  con- 
temporaries. 

Law's  proposals  had  at  first  been  rejected  by  the  influence  of 
N <<a i lies,  but  he  was  allowed  in  1710  t<»  found  an  independent 
bank,  which  proved  a  great  success.  In  the  next  year  it  was  raised 
to  be  a  government  institution.  Law  was  now  enabled  to  develope 
his  scheme  without  hindrance.  He  formed  the  great  Mississippi 
Company,  to  which  the  regent  granted  the  recently  discovered 
territory  of  Louisiana,  and  the  capital  was  named  New  Orleans  in 
his  honour.  The  company  soon  displayed  extraordinaiy  activity. 
It  assumed- the  management  of  the  tobacco  monoply,  and  advanced 
1200  millions  to  the  government  at  three  per  cent,  to  redeem  debts 
which  had  been  contracted  at  a  much  higher  rate  of  interest.     The 


294  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xv. 

shares  were  greedily  sought  after  and  rapidily  rose  to  four  times 
their  original  value.  A  perfect  mania  for  stock-jobbing  set  in, 
which  can  only  be  paralleled  from  the  history  of  the  contemporary 
South  Sea  Company  in  England.  The  Rue  Quincampoix,  where 
the  company  took  up  its  headquarters,  was  thronged  with  eager 
and  excited  speculators.  Meanwhile  all  sorts  of  paper-money,  bank 
notes  and  company's  bonds,  were  circulated  in  profusion  and  readily 
taken  up,  although  many  of  the  cooler  speculators,  including  Law 
himself,  were  not  slow  to  realise  their  paper  in  the  purchase  of  landed 
estates.  In  spite  of  this  success  the  scheme  met  with  vehement  oppo- 
sition in  the  Parliament  of  Paris  and  elsewhere,  which  the  regent  put 
down  with  a  firm  hand.  Noailles,  who  refused  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  Law,  was  dismissed  and  replaced  by  D'Argenson.  The 
seals  were  taken  aw7ay  from  the  chancellor  D'Aguesseau  and  were  also 
transferred  to  D'Argenson.  The  regent  did  not  scruple  to  depart 
altogether  from  the  engagements  which  he  had  made  to  secure  his 
power.  The  Parliament  was  deprived  of  its  right  of  remonstrance,  the 
administrative  councils  were  suppressed,  to  the  great  disappoint- 
ment of  the  nobles,  the  bastards  of  the  late  king  were  degraded  from 
the  royal  rank  to  which  he  had  raised  them,  and  the  personal 
guardianship  of  the  young  king  was  taken  from  the  duke  of  Maine 
and  given  to  the  duke  of  Bourbon.  Finally,  Law  became  a  Roman 
Catholic,  and  this  removed  the  obstacle  to  his  appointment  as 
financial  minister. 

§  4.  In  1720  came  the  inevitable  crash.  There  had  undoubtedly 
been  an  increase  of  wealth  in  France,  because  speculation  had  given 
.come  impulse  to  commerce.  But  it  was  nothing  in  comparison  with 
the  enormous  increase  in  the  circulating  currency.  The  result  was 
soon  visible.  Whenever  the  medium  for  circulating  commodities  in- 
creases out  of  proportion  to  the  commodities  which  it  has  to  circulate, 
the  result  is  that  each  commodity  commands  a  larger  part  of  the 
medium,  that  is,  its  price  increases.  This  was  the  first  effect  of  Law's 
employment  of  credit.  Prices  rose  all  round  without  any  benefit 
to  either  consumer  or  producer.  This,  if  not  advantageous,  was 
not  in  itself  harmful.  But  matters  became  worse  when  the  paper- 
money  began  to  drive  specie  out  of  circulation.  Those  who 
possessed  gold  and  silver  either  hoarded  it  or  sent  it  out  of  the 
country.  It  was  in  vain  that  edicts  were  issued  imposing  a  penalty 
on  hoarding  and  endeavouring  to  maintain  the  paper  at  a  fictitious 
value.  They  served  only  to  shake  the  confidence  of  the  public, 
upon' which  the  whole  stability  of  the  scheme  rested.  Everybody 
who  held  paper  hastened  to  realise,  and  there  were  no  sufficient 
funds  to  meet  the  demand.  Shares  fell  at  once  and  a  panic  set  in 
which  involved  both  bank  and  company  in  a  common  ruin.     The 


a.d.  171&-1720.        FINANCIAL  COLLAPSE.  295 

regent  published  an  absurd  edict  which  reduced  the  value  of  the 
company's  paper  by  half,  and  fixed  the  shares  at  their  original  price 
of  500  livres.  He  had  to  withdraw  the  edict  after  three  days,  but 
the  popular  indignation  was  so  great  that  it  is  marvellous  how  the 
government  managed  to  survive  the  crisis.  There  was  no  one  in 
Prance  to  play  the  part  which  Walpole  played  in  England,  when 
the  South  Sea  bubble  burst.  In  fact  it  is  stated  that  the  regent 
and  his  associates  were  partially  responsible  for  the  extent  of  the 
disaster.  Careless  what  means  they  employed  to  acquire  wealth, 
they  had  issued  paper-money  from  the  bank  of  their  own  accord, 
beyond  even  the  very  extreme  limits  prescribed  by  Law.  The 
bank  had  to  cease  ]»yment,  and  thus  the  national  bankruptcy 
which  St.  Simon  had  so  cynically  advocated,  was  brought  about 
without  intention.  Law  had  to  escape  for  his  life  and  he  < 
with  him  but  a  scanty  remnant  of  the  enormous  fortune  which  be 
had  amassed.  He  died  in  poverty  at  Venice  in  1729,  still  preserv- 
ing an  unshaken  belief  in  the  principles  of  his  system. 

The  disaster  seemed  for  the  moment  to  have  ruined  France,  but 
it  proved  ultimately  to  be  less  serious  than  could  hava  been  antici- 
pated.  The  losses  had  fallen  rather  on  individuals  than  on  the 
nation  as  a  whole.  Credit  was  shaken,  but  the  national  wealth  was 
undiminished.  The  winding  up  of  affairs  was  entrusted  t<>  the 
brothers  Paris,  the  ablest  financiers  of  the  old  school.  The  bank 
was  abolished,  but  the  Mississippi  Company  continued  to  exist  as  a 
trading  corporation.  Ruinous  as  the  excitement  had  been,  it  had 
yet  given  a  real  and  lasting  impulse  to  commercial  and  colonial 
activity.  And,  what  was  of  more  immediate  moment  to  the 
government,  the  state  emerged  from  the  crisis  with  a  substantially 
diminished  debt. 

§  5.  The  duke  of  Orleans  was  more  successful  if  not  more 
disinterested  in  the  management  of  foreign  affairs  than  in  that  of 
finance.  In  both  he  acted,  not  on  his  own  initiative,  but  on  the 
advice  of  an  adventurer,  in  the  one  case  of  Law,  in  the  other  of  the 
abbe*  Dubois.  At  the  time  of  his  accession  there  were  two  powers 
with  which  France  was  brought  into  the  closest  relations,  and  with 
which  it  was  necessary  to  be  on  terms  either  of  alliance  or  hostility 
England  and  Spain. 

England  had  been  the  most  determined  and  formidable  opponent 
of  Louis  XIV.  In  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession  she  had  ruined 
the  prestige  of  the  French  arms.  At  the  very  time  of  his  death  the 
late  king  was  engaged  in  furthering  a  rebellion,  which  aimed  at  the 
expulsion  of  the  new  Hanoverian  dynasty.  The  regent  had  already 
opened  a  connexion  with  George  I.,  but  he  did  not  venture  to 
depart  all  at  once  from  the  traditions  of  French  policy.      The 


296  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xv. 

pretender  was  allowed  to  cross  France  without  hindrance,  and  to 
embark  at  Dunkirk  for  the  coast  of  Scotland.  On  the  suppression 
of  the  revolt  (1716),  no  opposition  was  made  to  his  return,  and  he 
took  up  his  residence  at  Avignon.  The  presence  of  the  Stuarts 
within  the  French  borders  was  a  constant  menace  to  the  English, 
who  also  clamoured  against  the  rising  fortifications  of  Mardyck, 
which  threatened  to  be  a  second  Dunkirk.  Moreover  the  position 
of  the  regent  depended  altogether  on  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht.  That  treaty  had  been  the  work  of  the  Tories,  and  was 
extremely  distasteful  to  the  Whig  ministry,  which  had  come  into 
power  with  the  accession  of  George  I. 

Spain  was  ruled  by  Philip  V.  who,  after  Louis  XV.,  was  the 
head  of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  Although  he  was  thus  the  natural 
ally  of  France,  he  was  equally  the  bitter  enemy  of  the  duke  of 
Orleans.  Weak,  hypochondriacal,  bigoted,  the  slave  of  his  wife, 
his  character  was  diametrically  opposed  to  that  of  the  regent,  whom 
he  always  regarded  as  the  murderer  of  his  brothers  and  nephew,  and 
as  the  supplanter  of  himself.  For  in  spite  of  his  solemn  renuncia- 
tions and  the  guarantee  of  the  European  powers,  Philip  V.  clung 
obstinately  to  his  claim  to  the  French  crown.  In  what  was  regarded 
as  the  probable  event  of  Louis  XV.'s  death,  he  was  determined  to 
enforce  his  claim,  even  if  he  had  to  abdicate  the  throne  of 
Spain.  He  had  one  other  guiding  passion,  bitter  enmity  to  the 
emperor  Charles  VI.,  who  still  retained  the  title  of  king  of  Spain, 
and  who  had  robbed  that  monarchy  of  its  fairest  provinces  in  Italy. 
These  provinces  Philip  was  determined  to  regain  at  all  costs,  and  in 
this  he  was  encouraged  by  the  two  people  who  had  supreme  in- 
fluence over  him,  his  wife,  and  his  minister. 

§  6.  In  1714  Philip  V.'s  first  wife,  Maria  Louisa  of  Savoy,  had  died. 
Her  favourite,  the  princess  Orsini,  who  had  governed  Spain  through 
her,  was  anxious  to  perpetuate  her  influence  by  finding  a  submissive 
successor  for  her  late  mistress.  While  she  was  hesitating  Alberoni, 
who  was  acting  as  representative  of  Parma  at  Madrid,  suggested 
Elizabeth  Farnese,  niece  of  the  duke  of  Parma.  He  painted  her 
character  in  accordance,  not  with  truth,  but  with  the  wishes  of  the 
princess,  and  the  match  was  arranged.  The  first  act  of  the  new 
queen  was  to  dismiss  the  princess  Orsini  with  brutality,  and  the 
exiled  favourite  had  to  retire  to  France.  Elizabeth  of  Parma,  in 
spite  of  the  retirement  in  which  she  had  been  brought  up,  soon 
developed  unbridled  ambition  and  an  aptitude  for  intrigue.  As 
Philip's  children  by  his  first  wife  would  exclude  her  own  sons  from 
the  .Spanish  crown,  she  was  anxious  to  obtain  for  the  latter  the 
reversion  of  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Tuscany  to  which  she  had 
had  an  eventual  claim.     It  was  with  this  end  in  view  that  she 


a.d.  1714-1716.  ALBERONL  297 

encouraged  her  husband's  designs  in  Italy,  while  her  own  ambition 
made  her  eager  to  see  him  on  the  French  throne. 

Klizabeth's  influence  over  her  husband  secured  pre-eminence  to 
her  own  countryman,  Alberoni,  who  had  contributed  so  essentially 
to  bring  about  her  marriage.  Alberoni  was  the  son  of  a  gardener  in 
Piacenza,  where  he  was  born  in  L664.  By  his  own  ability  and 
industry  he  had  raised  himself  from  obscurity,  and  he  sought  in 
the  church  the  only  career  that  was  open  to  talent  without  birth. 
He  acquired  the  favour  of  Vendome,  by  a  skilful  combination  of  the 
functions  of  a  buffoon  and  a  cook,  had  accompanied  that  commander 
to  Spain,  and  remained  there  after  the  death  of  his  patron.  Though 
nominally  only  agent  for  the  court  of  Parma,  he  became  in  reality 
prime  minister  of  Spain.  In  this  position  he  conceived  an  ardent 
a  tit  •<  tion  for  the  country  of  his  adoption,  and  determined  to  raise  it 
from  depression  to  the  commanding  position  which  it  had  once 
occupied  in  Kurope.  He  spared  no  pains  to  develop  the  internal 
resources  which  had  been  so  long  neglected.  Commerce  and 
industry  of  all  kinds  revived  under  his  patronage ;  the  army  was 
reorganised,  and  the  revenue  increased.  But  his  chief  attention 
was  given  to  the  navy.  It  was  on  the  sea  that  Spain  had  risen  to 
greatness,  and  it  was  by  the  sea  that  Alberoni  sought  to  revive  it 
fn  'in  tor|>or.  Foreigners  who  had  known  Spain  during  the  succession 
war  were  astounded  at  the  strides  which  the  country  had  made 
under  the  new  administration.  Alberoni  himself  is  said  to  have 
assured  Philip,  that  with  five  years  of  peace  he  would  make  him 
the  most  powerful  sovereign  in  Europe.  But  these  years  of  peace 
he  was  not  destined  to  have.  While  devoted  to  Spain,  he  was  not 
nil  of  the  interest  of  his  native  Italy,  which  he  was  anxious 
to  free  from  the  hated  domination  of  Austria.  This  was  to  be  the 
ultimate  employment  of  the  revived  power  of  Spain,  and  it  was 
this  whiefa  made  Alberoni  agree  cordially  with  Philip's  detestation  of 
Charles  VL  At  the  same  time  his  own  position  as  a  foreigner  who 
was  detested  by  the  Spanish  nobles  made  him  completely  de- 
pendent on  his  master's  favours,  and  he  was  thus  compelled  to  fall  in 
with  the  designs  upon  the  French  crown  and  the  hostility  to  the 
regent  Orleans.  It  was  necessary  for  Spain  to  have  allies,  and 
her  most  natural  and  most  efficient  ally  was  England.  To  England 
Spain  could  offer  two  bribes,  the  prompt  fulfilment  of  the  com- 
mercial stipulations  of  the  Utrecht  treaty,  and  the  severance  of 
French  and  Spanish  policy  which  had  been  the  essential  object 
of  the  late  war.  Alberoni  did  all  in  his  power  to  purchase  at  this 
price  the  adherence  of  England  to  the  interests  of  Spain. 

§  7.  The  attitude  assumed  by  Philip  V.  and  Alberoni  really  left 
the  regent  little  choice  as  to  the  policy  which  he  should  pursue. 


298  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xv. 

But  it  is  doubtful  whether  of  his  own  accord  he  would  have  acted 
with  such  firmness  and  decision,  but  for  the  influence  of  his  adviser 
and  former  tutor,  Dubois.  Dubois  was  a  native  of  southern  France, 
of  distinguished  talents  but  detestable  character.  Appointed  as 
tutor  to  the  young  Philip  when  duke  of  Chartres,  he  had  gained  a 
fatal  influence  by  at  once  cultivating  his  intellect  and  encouraging 
his  inclination  to  vicious  pleasures  in  which  he  himself  indulged. 
When  Philip  became  regent,  Dubois  was  appointed  a  councillor, 
and  at  once  assumed  the  chief  direction  of  foreign  affairs,  in  which 
he  displayed  the  greatest  skill  and  dexterity.  His  policy,  as  was 
natural,  was  dictated  rather  by  the  interests  of  the  house  of  Orleans 
than  by  those  of  France.  He  conceived  the  bold  idea  of  departing 
altogether  from  the  traditions  of  l.ouis  XIV.  and  forming  a  close 
alliance  between  France  and  England.  The  link  was  to  be  the 
common  interests  of  the  two  families  of  Orleans  and  Hanover. 
Both  were  threatened  by  rivals,  the  one  by  the  Stuarts,  the  other 
by  the  king  of  Spain  on  the  one  hand  and  the  legitimised  princes 
on  the  other.  Each  could  secure  the  other  against  its  enemies. 
This  alliance  was  destined  to  prove  fatal  to  the  magnificent  schemes 
of  Alberoni. 

In  July,  1 716,  Dubois  visited  Holland  on  a  pretence  of  purchasing 
books,  and  there  had  an  interview  with  George  I.  and  his  minister 
Stanhope,  who  were  on  their  way  to  Hanover.  The  terms  of  a 
convention  was  speedily  arranged.  France  undertook  to  destroy 
the  fortifications  of  Mardyck,  to  compel  the  pretender  to  depart 
from  Avignon,  and  to  afford  him  no  further  countenance  or  assis- 
tance. Both  powers  undertook  to  guarantee  the  execution  of 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  especially  of  the  articles  which  secured  the 
Protestant  succession  in  England  and  the  exclusion  of  the  Spanish 
king  from  the  throne  of  France.  In  January,  1717,  the  treaty  was 
accepted  by  Holland,  and  has  since  been  known  as  the  Triple 
Alliance. 

It  marks  a  complete  revolution  in  European  politics.  French 
historians  are  never  tired  of  reviling  a  treaty  which,  according  to 
them  made  France  the  slave  of  England,  much  as  Charles  II.  had 
been  dependent  upon  Louis  XIV.  forty  years  before.  They  have 
certainly  a  formal  ground  of  complaint.  George  I.  was  allowed  to 
retain  the  title  of  King  of  France,  while  Louis  XV.  had  to 
content  himself  with  the  designation  of  Most  Christian  King.  It 
was  stated,  and  not  improbably  with  truth,  that  Dubois  received  a 
pension  from  the  Hanoverian  court. 

Not  content  with  his  alliance  with  England,  Dubois  also  com- 
menced a  project  which  involved  a  departure  from  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht.      George  I.,  as  elector  of  Hanover,  was  bound  to  the 


A.D.  1716-1718.      THE  QUADRUPLE  ALLIANCE.  299 

Hapaburg  interests,  and  had  recently  concerted  an  arrangement 
with  Charles  VI.,  by  which  the  latter  was  to  obtain  Sicily,  which 
the  treaty  had  given  to  Savoy,  and  to  compensate  the  duke  by  the 
cession  of  Sardinia.  Dubois  induced  the  regent  to  approve  of  this 
arrangement,  and  France  and  England  endeavoured  to  obtain  the 
consent  of  Spain  by  offering  to  guarantee  the  claim  of  Don  Carlos, 
the  elder  son  of  Philip  and  Elizabeth,  to  the  duchies  of  Parma  and 
Tuscany.  But  the  negotiation  proved  fruitless.  Alberoni  had 
just  extorted  the  cardinal's  hat  from  the  pope,  and  was  resolute  in 
his  opposition  to  a  proposal  which  would  strengthen  the  power  of 
the  emperor  in  Italy.  He  was  still  anxious  to  avoid  a  war  until 
the  warlike  prejarations  which  he  was  conducting  with  boundless 
energy  were  completed.  But  his  hand  was  forced  by  an  unexpected 
event.  The  grand  inquisitor  of  Spain,  as  he  was  returning  from 
Rome,  was  arrested  in  Lombardy  as  a  rebellious  subject  of  Charles  III. 
of  Spain.  This  insult  roused  the  bitter  indignation  of  Philip  V., 
who  resolved  on  an  immediate  rupture.  Alberoni's  remonstrances 
were  unavailing,  and  all  he  could  do  was  to  postpone  an  attack 
upon  Naples  or  Sicily  to  an  invasion  of  Sardinia.  In  August,  1717, 
a  Spanish  army  landed  in  Sardinia,  was  favourably  received  by  the 
inhabitants,  and  in  little  more  than  two  months  made  itself  master 
of  the  island. 

The  conquest  of  Sardinia  roused  the  greatest  enthusiasm  in  Spain, 
so  long  unaccustomed  to  military  successes.  Alberoni  alone  refused 
to  be  carried  away  by  the  general  triumph.  But  it  was  too  late 
for  him  to  turn  back,  and  he  was  forced  to  hurry  on  the  prej)ara- 
tions  for  the  attack  upon  Sicily,  which  was  to  be  made  in  the  next 
year.  His  energy  seemed  to  galvanise  the  inert  mass  with  new  life. 
Forgotten  industries  were  revived,  ships  were  built  and  fitted 
out,  and  troops  were  raised  even  in  the  discontented  provinces  of 
Aragon  and  Catalonia.  In  July,  1718,  the  fleet  sailed  from 
Barcelona  to  Palermo.  Victor  Amadeus  of  Savoy  had  character- 
istically refused  to  commit  himself  to  either  side.  Cooscioui  that, 
whichever  won,  he  could  not  retain  Sicily,  he  withdrew  most  of 
his  troops  from  the  island,  so  that  no  effective  resistance  was  made 
to  the  Spanish  occupation. 

§  8.  Meanwhile  the  emperor  had  appealed  to  the  members  of  the 
Triple  Alliance  to  assist  him  in  repelling  so  unprovoked  an  attack 
and  to  uphold  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  A  conference  was  opened  in 
London  at  which  France  and  the  maritime  powers  concerted 
measures  to  force  peace  upon  Spain.  1  ubois  was  again  the  moving 
spirit  of  the  negotiations,  which  ended  in  the  drawing  up  of  a 
treaty  in  August,  1718.  By  this  the  emperor  was  to  renounce  all 
claims  upon  Spain  and  the  Indies,  while  Philip  made  a  similar 


300  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xv. 

renunciation  of  the  Spanish  provinces  which  had  passed  to  Austria. 
Savoy  was  to  give  Sicily  to  the  emperor  in  exchange  for  Sardinia ; 
the  succession  to  Parma  and  Tuscany  was  to  be  secured  to  the 
children  of  Philip's  second  marriage.  The  treaty  was  at  once 
signed  by  the  imperial  representative,  and  thus  became  known  as 
the  Quadruple  Alliance.  No  pains  were  spared  to  induce  Spain  to 
accept  the  proffered  terms.  The  English  ministers  went  so  far  as 
to  risk  their  popularity  by  offering  to  restore  Gibraltar.  But 
Philip  and  Alberoni,  probably  trusting  that  the  emperor's  allies 
would  content  themselves  with  protests,  were  obstinate  in  refusing 
to  negotiate  on  these  terms.  Their  hopes  were  doomed  to  dis- 
appointment. Already  an  English  fleet  under  admiral  Byng  had 
been  sent  into  the  Mediterranean.  It  is  impossible  to  acquit 
England  of  the  desire  to  crush  the  maritime  power  of  Spain,  which 
had  once  been  so  formidable  and  which  was  so  unexpectedly  revived. 
On  the  11th  of  August,  Byng  attacked  the  Spanish  fleet  off  Cape 
Passaro  and  completely  destroyed  it.  This  was  a  decisive  triumph 
for  the  Quadruple  Alliance.  Dubois,  its  chief  author,  was  rewarded 
with  the  portfolio  of  foreign  affairs,  the  council  which  had  hitherto 
directed  them  having  been  dissolved. 

Alberoni  was  now  driven  in  despair  to  form  those  projects  which 
are  usually  associated  with  his  name,  and  which  have  created  the 
unjust  impression  that  his  policy  was  chimerical  and  unsound.  He 
must  meet  coalition  by  coalition.  With  regard  to  Austria  his  hopes 
had  been  disappointed.  The  attempts  to  raise  a  new  rebellion  in 
Hungary  had  failed,  and  the  Turks,  who  had  hitherto  occupied  the 
emperor's  attention  and  arms,  had  just  concluded  the  treaty  of 
Passarowitz.  But  the  governments  of  England  and  France  were 
both  threatened  by  formidable  enemies,  to  whom  the  Spanish 
minister  now  turned.  He  invited  the  Pretender  to  Spain,  prepared 
a  new  expedition  on  his  behalf,  and  concerted  with  count  Gorz  a 
grand  scheme  by  which  Sweden  and  Russia  were  to  be  reconciled, 
and  were  to  combine  in  supporting  the  Jacobites  against  the 
Hanoverian  dynasty.  At  the  same  time,  through  the  Spanish 
envoy  Cellamare,  he  opened  a  connection  with  the  malcontent 
opponents  of  the  regency  in  France.  A  conspiracy  was  arranged, 
of  which  the  duchess  of  Maine  and  Cardinal  Polignac  were  the 
centre,  to  depose  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  to  give  the  regency 
to  Philip  V.,  who  promised  as  his  first  act  to  summons  the  States 
General. 

§  9.  All  these  projects  failed  one  after  the  other.  Charles  XII. 
was  killed  before  Friedrichshall,  and  the  plan  of  a  northern  coalition 
against  England  came  to  nothing  with  the  execution  of  Gorz.  The 
Spanish  fleet  which  was  to  carry  the  pretender  to  the  English 


a.d.  1718-1720.  FALL  OF  ALBERONI.  301 

coast  was  destroyed  by  a  storm  in  the  bay  of  Biscay.  The  con- 
spiracy of  Cellamare  was  no  secret  to  Dubois,  who  only  waited  a 
favourable  opportunity  to  crush  it.  The  ambassador  himself,  the 
duke  and  duchess  of  Maine,  and  a  number  of  others  were  arrested 
and  thrown  into  prison.  An  attempted  rising  in  Brittany  was 
suppressed  before  Alberoni  had  time  to  send  the  promised  assistance. 
Dubois  now  induced  the  regent  to  declare  war  against  Spain,  and  a 
French  army  under  Berwick  crossed  the  Pyrenees  (April,  1719). 
The  Spanish  army  being  engaged  in  Sicily,  the  only  opponents  of 
the  invaders  were  worn  out  veterans  and  raw  recruits.  An  English 
squadron  under  Stanhope  gratified  the  national  love  of  a  maritime 
monopoly  by  burning  along  the  coast  the  vessels  and  docks  which 
it  had  been  the  pride  of  Alberoni  to  create.  The  enqieror,  freed 
from  the  Turkish  war,  was  able  to  send  an  army  int.*  Sicily,  and 
the  Spaniards  after  a  heroic  defence  of  Messina  had  to  evacuate  the 
island.  It  was  impossible  for  Spain  to  continue  the  war,  but  the 
allies  were  determined  not  to  make  peace  until  they  had  procured 
the  dismissal  of  the  minister  whom  they  unjustly  accused  <>f  having 
broken  it.  Philip  V.  was  dexterously  Influenced  by,  the  production 
of  some  letters,  in  which  Alberoni  had  spoken  ooDtemptttcmdy  of 
his  master's  ability.  On  the  5th  of  Decern Wt,  1719,  Alberoni 
received  orders  to  quit  the  capital  and  the  kingdom.  Even  in  his 
exile  he  was  pursued  by  the  bitter  hostility  of  the  sovereign  whom 
he  had  served  too  well.  It  was  not  till  the  death  of  Clement  X I . 
that  he  ventured  to  visit  Rome,  where  he  s]*»nt  the  greater  part  of 
his  remaining  days,  and  where  he  died  in  175?,  at  the  age  of  87. 
On  bil  withdrawal,  Spain  sank  back  into  the  lethargy  from  which 
it  had  been  roused  by  the  genius  and  enterprise  of  a  single  man. 
In  February,  1720,  Philip  V.  accepted  the  terms  of  the  Quadruple 
Alliance.  Charles  VI.  obtained  Sicily,  and  Victor  Amadous  had  t<» 
put  up  with  Sardinia,  which  his  family  has  ever  since  retained. 

§  10.  With  the  close  of  the  Spanish  war,  and  the  ruin  of  Law's 
financial  system,  the  regency  of  Orleans  loses  its  importance  in 
European  history.  Dubois  was  now  all-powerful,  but  he  was 
anxi.  ms  to  secure  his  position,  by  obtaining  a  rank  which  corresponded 
to  it.  This  could  only  be  done  by  inducing  the  pope  to  grant  him 
a  cardinal's  hat.  The  intervention  of  Kngland  easily  persuaded  the 
regent  to  appoint  him  archbishop  of  Cambray.  But  with  Rome 
there  were  two  difficulties  to  be  overcome ;  the  notorious  character 
of  the  aspirant  to  the  purple,  which  might  possibly  be  overlooked, 
and  the  favour  which  the  regency  had  shown  to  the  Jansenists. 
This  latter  obstacle  was  a  serious  one,  but  Dubois  determined  to 
surmount  it.  Turning  his  attention  to  religious  matters,  he 
obtained  such  an  interpretation  of  the  bull  Unigenittts,  that  even 


302  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xv. 

its  great  opponent,  the  cardinal  Noailles,  was  induced  to  accept  it. 
Thus  the  schism  in  the  Gallican  church  was  healed.  Still 
Clement  XI.  remained  inexorable,  but  his  successor,  Inno- 
cent XIII.,  proved  more  complacent,  and  in  1721  Dubois  was  raised 
to  the  cardinalate.  He  now  assumed  a  seat  in  the  council  of 
regency  immediately  after  the  princes  of  royal  blood,  and  before 
long  was  made  chief  minister  of  France. 

What  he  had  gained  by  this  dexterous  change  in  internal  politics 
he  was  prepared  to  confirm  by  a  change  in  foreign  relations.  Spain, 
being  no  longer  formidable  to  the  regent,  might  now  be  won  over 
to  his  side.  A  double  marriage  was  arranged,  by  which  Louis  XV. 
was  betrothed  to  the  infant  daughter  of  Philip  V.,  while  the 
daughter  of  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  married  to  the  prince  of 
Asturias.  To  conciliate  the  prejudices  of  Philip,  the  court  was 
restored  from  Paris  to  Versailles.  It  says  much  for  Dubois' 
ingenuity  that  this  Spanish  alliance  was  contracted  without  at  all 
interrupting  the  cordiality  between  France  aud  England. 

In  February,  1725,  Louis  XV.  obtained  his  legal  majority  at  the 
age  of  thirteen,  and  the  regency  came  to  an  end.  But  all  precau- 
tions had  been  taken  to  prevent  a  change  of  government.  Villeroy, 
the  preceptor  of  the  young  king  and  a  devoted  adherent  of  the 
system  of  Louis  XIV.,  had  been  driven  from  court,  and  Dubois 
remained  all-powerful  minister.  But  he  was  not  destined  to  enjoy 
his  power  long.  His  constitution  was  worn  out  by  debauches,  and 
he  died  suddenly  from  the  effects  of  a  slight  accident  (August  10, 
1723).  His  place  as  minister  was  taken  by  the  duke  of  Orleans, 
but  he  too  was  carried  off  four  months  later  by  a  stroke  of  apoplexy 
(December  7). 

§  11.  On  the  death  of  Orleans,  the  chief  influence  over  the  young 
king  was  exercised  by  his  preceptor,  the  abbe  Fleury.  He  might 
have  seized  the  reins  of  power  at  once,  but  his  habitual  caution 
restrained  him.  He  persuaded  the  king  to  appoint  as  chief  minister 
the  duke  of  Bourbon,  who,  after  the  young  duke  of  Orleans,  was  the 
nearest  prince  of  the  blood-royal.  Bourbon,  who  is  usually  known 
as  Monsieur  le  Due,  was  a  grandson  of  the  great  Conde,  but  wholly 
unworthy  of  the  descent.  He  possessed  neither  ability  nor  character, 
and  was  the  slave  of  his  mistress,  the  marquise  de  Prie.  The 
guiding  motive  of  his  policy  was  to  secure  the  influence  of  the 
house  of  Conde  at  the  expense  of  his  relatives  of  Orleans.  With 
this  object  in  view,  the  recently  arranged  marriage  for  the  king  was 
revoked  and  the  infanta  sent  back  to  Spain,  on  the  pretext  that  she 
was  too  young  for  a  king  that  had  no  heir.  A  new  bride  was  found  for 
Louis  in  Marie  Leczinska,  daughter  of  Stanislaus  ex-king  of  Poland, 
who  was  now  living  in  retirement  at  Weissemburg  in  Alsace.    The 


a.d.  1721-1730.  BOURBON  AND  FLEURY.  303 

comparative  obscurity  of  her  origin  made  it  probable  that  she  would 
remain  grateful  to  those  who  had  raised  her  to  power.  But  the 
duke  discovered  that  he  gained  little  by  the  move.  His  domestic 
policy  made  him  hated,  while  there  was  nothing  about  him  to 
inspire  respect.  He  persecuted  the  Protestants  with  revolting 
cruelty.  He  imposed  a  tax  upon  land  and  extorted  it  from  the 
privileged  classes,  the  nobles  and  clergy.  All  the  malcontents 
turned  to  Fleury,  who  had  just  been  made  a  cardinal,  and  who  now 
determined  to  graspr  the  authority  which  he  had  always  coveted. 
In  June,  1726,  the  duke  and  his  ministers  received  orders  to  leave 
the  court.  The  king  announced  his  intention  of  ruling  in  person, 
but  this  was  only  intended  as  a  flimsy  disguise  for  the  supremacy 
of  his  preceptor. 

Fleury,  who  was  sixty-three  years  old,  was  laborious,  economical, 
disinterested,  a  very  favourable  contrast  to  the  recent  rulers  of 
France.  But  his  age  and  his  natural  temperament  made  him 
averse  to  activity  of  any  kind,  and  his  administration  is  a  period  of 
lethargy  with  no  particularly  notable  features.  In  domestic  affairs 
he  returned  to  a  great  extent  to  the  system  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  thus 
reversed  the  superficial  reaction  that  had  set  in  under  the  regency 
of  Orleans.  The  finances  were  set  in  order,  the  expenses  reduced 
by  rigid  economy,  and  public  credit  recovered  from  the  shock  which 
it  had  received.  The  only  dispute  which  arose  in  France  during 
his  ministry  was  connected  with  religion.  Fleury  was  a  devoted 
adherent  of  the  Jesuits,  who  regained  their  former  supremacy.  The 
persecution  of  the  Jansenists  was  resumed,  and  in  1730  the  king 
held  a  bed  of  justice  to  compel  the  Parliament  of  Paris  to  register 
the  bull  Unigenitus.  The  members  protested  against  this  com- 
pulsion, and  when  they  were  answered  by  an  edict  forbidding  them 
to  meddle  with  politics,  they  abdicated  their  functions.  The 
government  sent  them  into  exile,  and  for  a  time  there  was  no 
supreme  court  of  justice.  At  last  they  were  recalled,  but  the 
squabble  lingered  on  for  several  years.  In  foreign  politics  Fleury 
was  pre-eminently  a  peace  minister.  He  took  affairs  as  they  came 
and  made  no  attempt  to  direct  their  course.  Yet  it  is  as  a  foreign 
minister  that  he  has  acquired  such  fame  as  attaches  to  him,  but 
the  record  of  his  activity  is  to  be  sought  not  in  the  history  of 
France,  but  in  that  of  the  states  with  which  he  was  brought  into 
contact. 


304  MODERN  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  REIGN  OP  THE  EMPEROR  CHARLES  VI 

§  1.  Charles  VI.'s  attachment  to  Spain.  §  2.  War  between  Venice  and 
the  Poi'te;  Austria  joins  Venice;  victories  of  Eugene;  peace  of 
Passarowitz.  §  3.  Charles  VI.  and  Spain ;  congress  of  Cambray. 
§  4.  Succession  to  the  Hapsburg  territories;  the  Pragmatic  Sanction. 
§5.  The  Netherlanls;  formation  of  the  Ostend  Company ;  irritation 
of  England  and  Holland.  §  6.  Philip  V.'s  abdication  and  return; 
Ripperda  and  his  schemes.  §  7.  Allunce  of  Vienna ;  League  of 
Hanover  ;  Prussia  gained  over  to  Austria.  §  8.  Disgrace  of  Ripperda  ; 
siege  of  Gibraltar  ;  general  war  averted.  §  9.  Congress  of  Soissons  ; 
treaty  of  Seville  ;  second  ti-eaty  of  Vienna  ;  Don  Carlos  obtains  Parma 
and  Piacenza.  §  10.  The  European  powers  and  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction ;  succession  question  in  Poland ;  election  of  Stanislaus 
Leczinski ;  his  fall ;  accession  of  Augustus  III.  §  11.  France  allied 
with  Spain  and  Sardinia  by  the  league  of  Turin ;  campaigns  of  1733, 
1734-  and  1735;  treaty  of  peace;  Lorraine  under  Stanislaus  Leczinski. 
§  12.  Death  of  Eugene;  Bartenstein.  §  13.  Austria  involved  in  the 
Russo-Turkish  war;  ill-success  of  the  Austrian  troops;  treaty  of 
Belgrad.  §14.  Relations  with  Prussia;  secret  treaty  with  France; 
death  of  Charles  VI. 

§  1.  The  conclusion  of  the  treaties  of  Utrecht  and  Rastadt  destroyed 
Charles  VI.'s  last  chance  of  making  good  his  claim  to  the  Spanish 
crown.  It  was  with  undisguised  reluctance  that  he  recognised  this. 
He  had  conceived  the  greatest  affection  for  Spain,  and  especially 
for  Catalonia,  the  province  which  had  shown  such  signal  and  such 
ill-requited  devotion  to  his  cause.  This  feeling  led  him  to  shower 
favours  upon  the  Spaniards  who  had  accompanied  him  on  his  return 
to  Vienna.  He  went  so  far  as  to  form  a  separate  ministerial  de- 
partment, called  the  Spanish  Council,  in  which  Spanish  and  not 
German  was  the  official  language.  As  he  had  never  acknowledged 
Philip  V.  nor  made  peace  with  Spain,  it  was  probable  that  he  would 
seize  the  first  opportunity  that  might  offer  to  re-assert  his  claims, 
in  spite  of  the  expressed  will  of  Europe.  The  result  was  the 
formation  of  a  German  party  at  court,  which  counterbalanced  the 
influence  of  the  Spaniards,  and  which  was  unwilling  to  allow  the 
interests  of  Austria  to  be  sacrificed  for  the  acquisition  of  a  distant 


a.d.  1714-1716.  TURKISH  WAB.  305 

kingdom  in  the  west.  At  its  head  stood  the  greatest  general  of  his 
age,  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy.  It  was  perhaps  fortunate  for  this 
party  that  events  occurred  in  eastern  Europe  which  at  a  critical 
time  diverted  Charles'  attention  from  his  ambitious  and  impossible 
dreams. 

§  2.  For  ten  years  after  the  treaty  of  Carlowitz  the  Turks  had 
remained  sullenly  acquiescent  in  the  losses  which  they  had  sus- 
tained. The  urgent  representations  of  Louis  XIV.  and  of  the 
Hungarian  rebel  ltagocsky  had  failed  to  induce  them  to  embark 
in  a  new  war  with  the  empire.  But  the  residence  at  Bender  of 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  though  it  had  availed  little  for  his  own 
interests,  succeeded  at  least  in  reviving  the  military  activity  of  the 
Porte.  By  the  treaty  of  the  Pruth  the  Russian  conquest  of  Azof 
had  been  recovered.  This  success  encouraged  the  hope  of  repairing 
the  other  losses  that  had  been  incurred  in  the  former  war.  There 
lutes  which  had  aggrandised  themselves  at  Turkish 
expense,  Austria  and  Venice.  Of  these  the  republic  was  far  the  less 
formidable  and  was  naturally  chosen  as  the  first  object  of  attack. 
A  pretext  was  found  in  the  protection  which  Venice  had  given  to 
some  Montenegrin  fugitives,  and  in  December,  1714,  the  Porte 
declared  war.  Venice  was  entirely  unprepared,  and  moreover  had 
failed  to  acquire  popularity  amongst  her  Greek  subjects.  In  1715 
the  grand  vizier,  Ali  Cumurgi,  landed  in  the  Morea,  and  by  the  end 
of  the  year  was  master  of  the  whole  peninsula.  Sailing  thence  he 
captured  Suda  and  Spinalonga,  the  two  last  fortresses  that  Venice 
had  been  allowed  to  retain  in  Crete. 

The  republic  naturally  appealed  to  her  old  ally,  Austria,  whioh 
had  guaranteed  her  possessions  by  the  treaty  of  Carlowitz.  The 
advice  of  Eugene  decided  the  Viennese  government  to  renew  the 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  and  to  call  jpon  the  Porte  to  observe 
its  treaty  obligations.  As  the  Turk  refused  to  give  any  satisfac- 
ti  .hi.  war  was  inevitable.  The  intervention  of  Austria  saved  Venice 
from  ruin.  The  grand  vizier  and  the  main  body  of  the  Turkish 
army  had  to  be  employed  in  Hungary.  Still  a  considerable  army 
and  fleet  was  Kent  to  attack  Corfu.  The  Venetian  troops  were 
commanded  by  count  Schulenburg,  who  had  won  a  great  reputation 
in  the  northern  war,  and  whose  services  had  been  procured  for  the 
republic  by  Eugene.  A  heroic  defence  ended  successfully,  and  in 
August,  1710,  the  Turks  were  compelled  to  raise  the  siege.  "It 
was  the  last  glorious  military  exploit  in  the  annals  of  the  republic, 
and  it  was  achieved  by  a  German  mercenary  soldier." 

Meanwhile  the  vizier,  with  an  army  of  150,000  men,  had  laid 
siege  to  Peterwardein,  the  most  important  of  the  Austrian  border- 
fortresses  in  Hungary.  Underneath  the  walls  Eugene  forced  on 
15 


306  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvi. 

a  battle  which  lasted  five  hours  and  ended  in  the  vizier's  death 
and  the  complete  victory  of  the  Christians  (August  5,  1716). 
Eugene  followed  up  his  success  by  besieging  Temesvar,  the  last  of 
the  Ottoman  possessions  in  Hungary,  which  had  to  surrender  after  a 
stubborn  defence  of  two  months.  The  winter  was  occupied  in 
fruitless  attempts  at  mediation  on  the  part  of  the  maritime  powers. 
In  1717  Eugene  recommenced  the  campaign  with  a  large  army, 
including  volunteers  whom  his  reputation  attracted  from  all  parts 
of  Europe.  His  object  was  the  reduction  of  the  famous  fortress  of 
Belgrad,  which  had  been  for  a  century  and  a  half  the  strongest 
bulwark  of  the  Turkish  power  on  the  Danube.  The  new  vizier,  Chilil 
Pasha,  advanced  to  its  relief,  and  on  the  16th  of  August,  Eugene 
fought  the  battle  of  Belgrad,  the  most  glorious  of  all  his  victories. 
At  one  moment  the  day  seemed  lost,  but  his  consummate  generalship 
averted  the  disaster,  the  Turkish  army  was  scattered  to  the  winds, 
and  only  a  small  remnant  escaped  with  the  vizier  to  Nissa.  On 
the  next  day  the  garrison  surrendered  Belgrad.  Eugene  now 
occupied  Orsowa,  and  led  his  troops  into  winter  quarters  at  Semlin. 
The  Porte  was  compelled  by  these  disasters  to  seek  for  peace  and 
to  accept  the  proffered  mediation  of  England  and  Holland.  A 
conference  was  opened  in  the  Servian  village  of  Passarowitz.  The 
difficulty  of  the  negotiations  lay  in  the  conflicting  interests  of  the 
two  allies.  Austria  was  content  with  the  status  quo,  but  Venice 
wished  to  recover  the  Morea  which  it  was  unable  to  reconquer.  The 
emperor  was  at  first  inclined  to  insist  upon  extreme  demands  which 
might  have  compelled  a  prolongation  of  the  war.  But  the  Spanish 
occupation  of  Sardinia  and  the  threatened  attack  upon  Sicily  com- 
pelled him  to  be  moderate,  and  in  July,  1718,  the  treaty  of  Passarowitz 
was  signed.  Austria  retained  all  its  conquests,  thus  completing  its 
possession  of  Hungary  by  acquiring  the  Banat  of  Temesvar,  and 
adding  to  it  Belgrad  and  a  strip  of  Servia.  The  Turks  on  their 
side  kept  the  Morea,  while  Venice  was  confirmed  in  its  possession  of 
Corfu  and  Santa  Maura  together  with  the  conquests  which  it  had 
made  in  1717  in  Albania  and  Dalmatia.  The  Porte  engaged  to 
render  no  assistance  to  the  Hungarian  leader  Francis  Ragocsky, 
whom  the  Sultan  had  recently  invited  to  Turkey,  and  who  now 
received  a  residence  in  Asia  Minor,  where  he  remained  till  his  death, 
in  1736.  The  treaty  of  Passarowitz  is  an  object  of  legitimate 
satisfaction  to  the  Austrian  historians,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether 
their  country's  interests  might  not  have  been  better  served  by  the 
complete  reduction  of  European  Turkey,  even  if  it  had  involved  the 
loss  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia. 

§  3.  The  peace  with  the  Turks  set  the  emperor  free  to  cope  with 
the  ambitious  schemes  of  Alberoni,  which  have  been  described  in  the 


a.d.  1716-1724.       THE  PRAGMATIC  SANCTION.  307 

last  chaper.  With  the  help  of  the  Quadruple  Alliance,  he  was  able 
to  overthrow  the  formidable  minister,  to  recover  Sicily,  and  to  add 
that  island  to  his  territories  by  handing  over  Sardinia  to  the  duke  of 
Savoy.  There  were  still  several  unsettled  disputes  between  Spain 
and  Austria.  Charles  VI.  had  not  laid  down  the  title  of  king  of 
Spain,  and  he  claimed  the  grandmastership  of  the  order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece  as  the  direct  descendant  of  its  founders,  the  dukes  of 
Burgundy.  These  and  other  points  were  referred  to  a  congress 
which  was  to  meet  at  Cambray  under  the  mediation  of  England 
and  France.  But  it  was  soon  evident  that  a  decision  would  not  be 
arrived  at  by  the  ordinary  methods  of  European  diplomacy.  The 
mediating  powers  were  hardly  sincere  in  their  efforts ;  and  Kngland 
especially  was  concerned  more  in  advancing  its  commercial  interests 
and  justifying  its  retention  of  (iihraltar,  than  in  anything  else. 
Two  years  were  wasted  in  disputes  about  precedence  and  etiquette, 
and  it  was  not  till  1724  that  the  congress  of  Cambray  began  its 
work,  and  even  then  it  devoted  itself  to  other  matters  than  the 
reconciliation  of  Austria  and  Spain. 

§  4.  The  treaty  of  Passarowitz  and  the  accession  of  Spain  to  the 
Quadruple  Alliance  mark  the  zenith  of  Charles  VI.'s  power.  For  a 
whole  generation,  ever  since  1683,  Austria  had  been  absorbed  in 
almost  incessant  wars  in  which,  thanks  principally  to  Prince 
Eugene,  it  had  reaped  a  full  share  of  military  glory.  But  from  this 
time  a  period  of  decline  sets  in.  Military  activity  is  superseded  by 
diplomacy,  always  confused  and  often  wearisome.  There  is  one 
central  point  round  whieh  it  is  j>ossil>le  to  group  t he  ever  changing 
relations  of  Europe,  viz.,  the  constant  effort  of  Charles  to  procure  the 
(  oiitirmation  of  his  favourite  Pragmatic  Sanction. 

'1  he  succession  to  the  Hapsburg  territories  had  always  been  a 
source  of  dispute.  Rudolf,  the  founder  of  the  house  in  the  13th 
century,  had  declared  his  possessions  indivisible.  But  his  descend- 
ants had  departed  from  this  wise  rule,  and  had  resorted  to  the 
practice  of  subdivision.  Even  after  the  various  provinces  had  been 
re-united  under  Maximilian  I.,  they  had  been  again  divided 
among  the  children  of  Ferdinand  I.  Matters  had  been  rendered 
worse  by  the  fact  that  Hungary  always,  and  Bohemia  at  times, 
claimed  the  right  of  electing  their  king.  Successive  rulers  had 
found  it  necessary  to  settle  the  succession  during  their  lifetime. 
The  latest  arrangement  of  the  kind  had  been  made  in  1703  by 
Leopold  I.,  when  he  and  his  elder  son  Joseph  renounced  their 
claims  on  the  Spanish  crown  in  favour  of  the  archduke  Charles. 
This  was  accompanied  by  a  pactum  mutuce  successionis,  by  which 
Joseph  and  Leopold  were  to  inherit  Spain  if  Charles  died  childless, 
and  the  succession  in  Austria  was  thus  settled :  (1)  Joseph  and 


308  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvi. 

his  male  heirs ;  (2)  Charles  and  his  male  heirs ;  (3)  Joseph's 
daughters ;  and  their  descendants;  (4)  Charles'  daughters. 

In  1711  Joseph  I.  died  leaving  two  daughters,  Maria  Amelia  and 
Maria  Josepha,  and  the  Austrian  territories  fell  to  Charles  VI. 
From  the  first  he  seems  to  have  turned  his  attention  to  the 
succession  question,  and  in  1713  he  brought  before  the  council  a 
document,  which  is  known  as  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  It  contained 
three  articles :  (1)  The  Austrian  states  are  one  and  indivisible ; 
(2)  Males  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg  are  to  succeed  in  order  of 
primogeniture  ;  (3)  In  default  of  male  heirs,  the  succession  is  to  go 
first  to  the  daughters  of  Charles  VI.,  then  to  those  of  Joseph  I.,  and 
lastly  to  those  of  Leopold  I.  It  was  this  last  article  which  was  at 
comp!ete  variance  with  the  agreement  of  1703.  But  the  council 
had  no  right  of  remonstrance,  and  the  decree  was  accepted,  though 
as  yet  it  was  not  made  public. 

In  1713  Charles  VI.,  who  had  married  the  beautiful  Elizabeth 
Christina  of  Brunswick,  was  still  childless.  It  was  not  till  1716 
that  a  son,  Leopold,  was  born,  whose  life  would  have  removed  all 
difficulties,  but  he  died  in  a  few  months.  In  1717  the  empress 
gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  the  famous  Maria  Theresa,  and  in  the 
next  year  to  another  daughter.  By  1720  the  prospect  of  male 
descendants  had  become  so  distant  as  to  be  almost  hopeless,  and 
now  Charles  produced  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  and  set  himself  to 
obtain  its  confirmation  from  the  estates  of  the  subject  provinces. 
One  after  another  they  were  induced  to  give  their  consent  with 
more  or  less  readiness;  first  Austria  and  Silesia  in  1720,  then 
Hungary  and  Transylvania,  and  lastly  Bohemia  and  the  Nether- 
lands. In  1724  a  grand  assembly  was  held  at  Vienna,  to  which  all 
the  provinces  sent  deputies,  and  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  was  formally 
proclaimed  as  an  irrevocable  law.  The  daughters  of  Joseph  I.  were 
compelled  on  their  marriage  to  renounce  all  claims  to  the  succession, 
and  their  husbands  had  to  accept  the  renunciation.  From  this 
time  Charles  made  it  the  grand  and  almost  the  sole  object  of  his 
foreign  policy  to  induce  all  the  powers  of  Europe  to  guarantee  the 
succession  of  his  eldest  daughter,  Maria  Theresa.  It  was  in  vain 
that  his  ministers  lamented  the  sacrifice  of  Austrian  interests,  and 
that  Eugene  maintained  that  the  succession  would  be  better 
guaranteed  by  an  efficient  army  and  a  well-filled  treasury  than  by 
any  number  of  hollow  and  interested  promises. 

§  5.  Besides  the  settlement  of  the  succession,  there  was  one  other 
matter  in  which  Charles  VI.  took  a  great  personal  interest.  In 
point  of  territories  he  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  princes  in 
Europe.  He  had  inherited  Austria,  Styria,  Carinthia,  Silesia, 
Bohemia  with  Moravia,  Hungary  and  Transylvania,  Tyrol  and  the 


a.d.  1720-1724.  THE  OSTEND  COMPANY.  309 

Breisgau.  To  them  he  had  added,  by  the  treaty  of  Rastadt, 
Naples,  Milan,  and  the  Netherlands;  by  the  treaty  of  Passarowitz, 
Temesvar,  Belgrade  and  northern  Servia ;  and  by  the  Quadruple 
Alliance,  Sicily.  But  there  was  one  great  defect  in  his  power  which 
had  always  hampered  the  Austrian  Hapsburgs.  The  revenue  only 
amounted  to  30  millions  of  gulden,  a  sum  entirely  disproportionate 
to  the  extent  of  his  territories  and  the  number  of  his  subjects.  To 
increase  his  revenue  was  naturally  an  object  that  lay  very  close  to 
the  emperor's  heart.  Not  unnaturally  he  turned  for  this  purpose 
to  his  recent  acquisition,  the  Netherlands,  which  had  once  enjoyed 
the  most  flourishing  commerce  in  the  world,  and  which  had  been 
the  chief  source  of  wealth  to  the  Spanish  Hajisburgs.  But  since 
the  war  of  independence  the  prosperity  of  the  Netherlands  had 
immensely  declined.  Dutch  jealousy  had  insisted,  in  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia,  on  the  closing  of  the  Scheldt,  and  the  trade  of  Antwerp 
had  passed  to  Amsterdam.  Charles  VI.  determined  to  revive 
Flemish  commerce  as  a  means  of  at  once  filling  his  own  coffers  and 
conciliating  his  subjects,  who  had  substantial  grounds  for  complaint 
in  the  way  they  had  been  transferred  to  Austria  without  any 
pretence  of  consulting  their  wishes,  and  in  the  barrier-treaty  which 
had  handed  over  their  chief  fortresses  to  the  hated  Dutch. 

Prince  Eugene  had  been  appointed  governor  of  the  Netherlands 
in  1716,  and  although  the  Turkish  war  and  the  necessity  of  making 
head  against  the  Spanish  party  at  Vienna  prevented  him  from 
fulfilling  his  duties  in  person,  he  was  anxious  to  do  what  he  could 
for  the  province  which  had  been  entrusted  to  him.  He  therefore 
seconded  the  emperor's  wishes,  though  he  tried  to  restrain  him  from 
measures  which  would  excite  the  jealousy  of  England  and  Holland. 
The  re-opening  of  the  Scheldt  was  too  extreme  a  measure  to  be 
ventured  upon,  but  there  was  an  alternative  port  to  Antwerp  in 
Ostend.  The  merchants  of  Ostend  were  encouraged  to  undertake  a 
trade  with  India  on  their  own  account,  and  in  1717  several  ships 
made  the  voyage  with  great  profit.  But  the  Dutch  were  on  the 
alert  to  preserve  their  monopoly,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  use  force 
against  the  rival  traders.  Charles  was  indignant  at  the  insult,  but 
did  not  venture  to  risk  a  rupture  as  the  complaints  of  Holland  were 
reiterated  by  England.  He  determined  however  to  carry  out  his 
schemes  in  defiance  of  the  maritime  powers.  In  1722  he  founded 
an  East  Indian  Company  at  Ostend  under  direct  imperial  patronaje. 
Its  capital  was  fixed  at  six  million  gulden  in  6000  shares  of  1000 
gulden  each.  Foreigners  were  allowed  to  purchase  shares  but  were 
excluded  from  the  meetings  of  shareholders.  The  company  was  to 
have  an  independent  administration,  and  was  authorised  to  carry 
the  imperial  arms  and  flag.    In  return  for  these  concessions  it  wai 


310  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xvl 

to  pay  six  per  cent  on  its  profits  to  the  imperial  treasury.  The 
company  was  speedily  formed,  and  in  a  few  months  the  shares  had 
all  been  taken  up. 

Before  the  treaty  of  Westphalia,  European  wars  and  diplomacy 
had  mainly  been  directed  by  religious  differences.  But  from  that 
time  to  the  French  Revolution  religion  was  superseded  by  com- 
mercial rivalry.  This  was  one  of  the  results  of  the  so-called 
"mercantile  system."  International  trade  was  regarded  in  those 
days  not  as  a  bargain  which  was  profitable  to  both  parties  concerned, 
but  as  a  contest  in  which  one  gained  and  the  other  lost.  Hence 
the  frequent  war  of  tariffs  and  repressive  duties  which  often  did 
much  more  harm  to  the  resources  of  both  states  than  open  hostilities 
could  have  done.  It  was  commercial  rivalry  which  had  caused  the 
English  wars  against  Holland  under  Cromwell  and  Charles  II. ;  it 
was  the  measures  taken  against  a  tariff  of  Colbert's  that  induced 
Louis  XIV.  to  make  war  on  the  Dutch  in  1672 ;  and  commercial 
interests  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession. 
So  now  the  formation  of  the  Ostend  Company  put  an  end  for  a  time 
to  the  long  alliance  between  Austria  and  England  which  had  been 
formed  in  opposition  to  the  House  of  Bourbon,  and  which  had  been 
confirmed  by  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Hanover  to  the  Kr.glish 
throne.  England  was  determined  to  suppress  the  company  at  all 
costs,  and  Charles  VI.  was  resolute  to  defend  it.  The  anger  raised 
by  the  English  pretensions  to  a  commercial  monopoly  naturally 
brought  Austria  closer  to  Spain,  which  had  many  similar  grounds 
for  complaint,  and  thus  facilitated  the  conclusion  of  an  agreement 
which  the  congress  of  Cambray  had  hitherto  found  it  impossible  to 
effect. 

§  6.  In  spite  of  the  disasters  which  led  to  the  fall  of  Alberoni, 
Philip  V.  of  Spain  and  his  wife  Elizabeth  of  Parma  still  clung  to 
their  schemes  of  obtaining  an  Italian  principality  for  their  sons,  and 
of  securing  the  eventual  succession  to  the  throne  of  France.  In  1724 
Europe  was  astounded  by  the  news  that  Philip  had  abdicated  in 
favour  of  his  eldest  son  Don  Luis,  and  had  gone  into  retirement  at 
St.  Ildefonso.  The  real  motive  lay,  not  in  weariness  of  the  world, 
but  in  a  desire  to  remove  all  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  accession 
in  France,  where  Louis  XV.  was  expected  to  die  before  long.  But 
the  move  was  not  successful,  Louis  XV.  lived,  and  the  queen 
soon  wearied  of  her  retirement.  Luckily  for  her,  Luis  died  eight 
months  after  his  accession.  To  the  surprise  of  the  world,  and  not 
altogether  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  subjects,  Philip  V.  left  his 
retreat  to  resume  the  crown  which  he  had  laid  down  of  his  own 
accord. 

At  this  time  the  chief  influence  over  the  queen  was  exercised  by 


A.D.  1724-1725.  RIPPEBDA.  311 

another  of  those  foreign  adventurers  who  at  this  time  found  in 
Spain  a  ready  market  for  their  talents.  Ripperda  was  a  native  of 
Groningen,  who  rose  to  prominence  in  the  service  of  Holland,  and 
after  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  was  sent  as  Dutch  minister  to  Madrid. 
Foreseeing  the  possibility  of  advancement  in  Spain  he  resigned  his 
office,  became  a  naturalised  Spaniard,  and  rendered  considerable 
service  to  Alberoni  in  matters  of  trade  and  finance,  of  which  he 
had  a  real  knowledge.  Having  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the 
minister,  Ripperda  had  to  leave  Spain,  for  a  time.  In  Germany  he 
came  into  contact  with  prince  Eugene,  who  gave  him  a  pension,  and 
it  is  possible  that  his  later  conduct  was  dictated  to  him  from 
Vienna.  On  the  fall  of  Alberoni  he  returned  to  Spain  and  won  the 
favour  of  the  king  by  changing  his  religion,  and  of  the  queen  by  the 
readiness  with  which  he  fell  in  with  her  favourite  plans.  The 
one  creditable  motive  which  can  be  assigned  to  him  was  the  desire 
to  restore  the  commercial  prosperity  of  Spain  by  annihilating  the 
maritime  power  of  England.  He  persuaded  the  queen  that  the  best 
chance  not  only  of  acquiring  a  principality  in  Italy  for  Don  Carlos, 
but  also  of  regaining  Gibraltar,  lay  in  breaking  altogether  with  Eng- 
land and  France  and  in  a  close  alliance  with  the  emperor.  Accord- 
ingly, at  the  end  of  1724  he  was  sent  to  Vienna,  which  he  entered 
incognito  as  Baron  Pfafleuburg,  and  held  secret  conferences  with 
the  minister  Sinzendorf. 

§  7.  While  he  was  in  Vienna  a  great  impulse  was  given  to  the 
negotiations  by  the  sudden  dismissal  of  the  Spanish  infanta  from 
France  and  the  marriage  of  Ixmis  XV.  to  Marie  Leczinska.  This 
insult  caused  the  bitterest  indignation  in  the  minds  of  Philip  and 
Elizabeth,  and  disposed  them  to  use  any  possible  means  of  obtain- 
ing revenge.  The  emperor  being  at  this  time  at  enmity  with 
England  on  account  of  the  Ostend  Company,  and  being  also  anxious 
to  obtain  from  Spain  the  confirmation  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction, 
Ripperda  had  little  difficulty  in  arranging  terms,  and  the  work 
which  the  congress  of  Cambray  had  found  impossible  was  completed 
in  a  few  days.  On  the  30th  of  April,  1725,  the  alliance  of  Vienna 
was  concluded.  Charles  VI.  renounced  his  claim  to  the  Spanish 
crown,  while  Philip  made  a  similar  renunciation  of  Naples,  Sicily, 
Milan,  and  the  Netherlands.  The  succession  to  the  duchies  of 
Parma  and  Tuscany  was  promised  to  Don  Carlos,  the  eldest  son  of 
Philip  and  Elizabeth.  Spain  undertook  to  guarantee  the  Prag- 
matic Sanction,  and  the  emperor  pledged  himself  to  use  his  influence 
with  Kngland  to  obtain  the  cession  of  Gibraltar  and  Minorca.  On 
the  1st  of  May  a  commercial  treaty  was'drawn  up,  by  which  Philip 
sanctioned  the  Ostend  Company  and  opened  the  Spanish  ports  to  it, 
and,  to  conciliate  the  empire, -he  promised  to  transfer  to  the  Germans 


312  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xtl 

the  commercial  privileges  in  Spain  which  had  hitherto  been  enjoyed 
by  England  and  Holland.  Besides  these  two  public  treaties  there 
was  a  third,  which  was  to  be  kept  perfectly  secret,  and  the  con- 
ditions of  which  were  only  made  known  precisely  by  the  revelations 
of  Ripperda.  By  this  the  emperor  pledged  himself  to  aid  Spain, 
if  necessary  by  force,  to  recover  Gibraltar,  and  in  the  event  of 
George  I.  proving  obstinate,  to  assist  the  Jacobites  in  deposing  the 
Hanoverian  dynasty.  There  was  also  an  arrangement,  although  it 
was  doubtful  how  far  the  emperor  committed  himself  to  it,  that 
Maria  Theresa  and  one  of  her  sisters  should  be  married  to  two  of 
the  sons  of  Philip  V.  This  close  alliance  with  Spain  was  made  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  advice  of  Eugene,  who  was  anxious  to 
avoid  so  complete  and  open  a  breach  with  England. 

So  sudden  a  reconciliation  between  such  old  enemies  as  the 
Hapsburgs  and  the  Spanish  Bourbons  naturally  caused  great 
excitement  in  Europe,  but  need  not  have  inspired  alarm  if  the  last 
treaty  had  been  kept  sufficiently  secret.  But  the  indiscreet  vanity 
of  Ripperda  led  him  to  boast  of  the  great  results  which  he  had 
achieved,  and  the  English  and  French  envoys  were  soon  able  to 
transmit  sufficiently  accurate  information  to  their  respective  govern- 
ments. The  English  ministers  were  thrown  into  consternation  by 
the  news,  and  France  was  also  threatened,  though  less  directly,  and 
moreover  was  unable  to  allow  the  possible  union  of  Austria  and 
Spain  by  the  marriage  of  Maria  Theresa  and  Philip's  son.  Accord- 
ingly the  two  powers  formed  the  opposition  league  of  Hanover  in 
September,  1725.  Frederick  William  of  Prussia  also  joined  the 
league,  though  not  immediately  interested,  partly  because  he  had 
several  grounds  of  quarrel  with  the  emperor,  and  partly  in  the 
hope  of  obtaining  Jiilich  and  Berg  from  the  Palatine  house  of 
Neuburg.  Europe  was  divided  into  two  hostile  leagues,  each  of 
which  endeavoured  to  obtain  as  many  allies  as  possible.  Jealousy 
of  the  Ostend  Company  induced  Holland,  and  the  prospect  ot 
English  subsidies  induced  Denmark  and  Sweden  to  join  the  league 
of  Hanover.  The  emperor,  on  his  side,  gained  over  several  of  the 
south  Gennan  princes  and  also  Catharine  I.  of  Russia,  who  had 
succeeded  to  Peter  the  Great's  dislike  of  Hanover.  A  still  greater 
success  was  the  separation  of  Prussia  from  the  side  of  his  enemies 
by  the  treaty  of  Wusterhausen  (Oct.  1726). 

§  8.  Meanwhile  Ripperda,  the  author  of  all  this  turmoil,  had  fallen 
into  disgrace.  On  his  return  to  Madrid  he  was  received  with  the 
greatest  honours,  raised  to  the  rank  of  duke,  and  appointed  minister 
of  foreign  affairs.  This  sudden  advancement  seems  to  have  turned 
his  head.  Hitherto  he  had  shown  real  ability  for  business, 
henceforth  he  was  conspicuous   only  for  vanity   and  overweening 


ad.  1725-1726.  RIPPERDA'S  FALL.  313 

presumption.  He  openly  threatened  to  drive  the  kings  of  England 
and  Prussia  from  their  thrones.  It  soon  became  evident  that  he  had 
deceived  others  as  well  as  himself.  The  arrival  at  Madrid  of  an 
Austrian  envoy,  Konigsegg,  convinced  the  queen  that  little  had 
really  been  gained  by  the  treaty  of  Vienna.  Instead  of  bringing 
troops,  the  envoy  only  demanded  money,  which  Kipperda  had 
boastfully  promised,  but  of  which  Spain  had  but  a  scanty  supply. 
To  raise  supplies  he  resorted  to  extortion,  debasement  of  the 
coinage,  and  other  extreme  measures,  which  increased  his  already 
great  unpopularity  among  the  native  Spaniards.  The  emperor  also 
showed  no  great  readiness  to  conclude  the  projected  marriage  of  the 
archduchess,  and  excused  himself  on  the  ground  that  it  excited 
great  discontent  among  the  German  princes.  The  queen  was  the 
last  to  give  up  her  belief  in  the  minister  who  had  promised  her  so 
much.  At  last,  however,  Hipperda  received  a  notice  of  dismissal 
from  office  in  May,  1726.  In  childish  terror  he  sought  refuge  in 
the  house  of  the  English  minister  Stanhope,  to  whom  he  disclosed 
all  the  secrets  of  the  cabinet.  Knraged  at  this  conduct  Philip 
imprisoned  him  in  the  castle  of  Segovia,  but  after  fifteen  months 
he  made  his  escape  to  England,  and  thence  to  Morocco,  where  he 
entered  the  service  of  the  emperor,  became  a  Mohammedan,  and 
died  in  1737.  He  has  naturally  been  compared  with  Alberoni, 
whom  he  rivalled  in  ability,  especially  for  domestic  government, 
but  to  whom  he  was  infinitely  inferior  in  the  essentials  of  character 
and  conduct. 

Ripperda's  policy  was  continued  by  his  successor,  Don  Joseph 
Patino,  who  adhered  to  the  Austrian  alliance  and  dispatched  i 
fleet  to  lay  siege  to  Gibraltar.  A  general  European  war  seemed 
to  be  inevitable.  Charles  VI.  set  himself  to  increase  his  array  arid 
to  form  the  rudiments  of  a  navy.  France  collected  troops  on  the 
Spanish  frontiers.  The  English  parliament  was  roused  by  the 
projected  intervention  in  favour  of  the  Jacobites  and  by  the  pros- 
pect of  losing  Gibraltar  to  vote  lavish  subsidies.  The  army  was 
strengthened,  and  a  fleet  sent  to  attack  the  Spanish  galleons  at  Porto 
Bello. 

In  spite  of  all  these  warlike  preparations  the  war  came  to  nothing. 
The  chief  causes  of  this  were  :  (1)  the  pacific  tendencies  of  Walpole 
in  England  and  of  Fleury  in  France ;  and  (2)  the  growing  coolness 
between  the  emperor  and  Spain.  The  alliance  of  Vienna  was 
essentially  unnatural  and  could  not  last.  It  would  have  been 
impossible  to  marry  Maria  Theresa  to  a  Spanish  prince,  even  if 
she  had  not  been  destined  for  Francis  Joseph  of  Lorraine.  Moreover, 
the  prospect  of  the  erection  of  a  Spanish  duchy  in  the  centre  of  Italy 
was  extremely  distasteful  to  the  emperor.  Other  causes  combined 
15* 


314  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xvt 

to  incline  Charles  to  peace.  The  king  of  Prussia,  though  he  had 
deserted  the  Hanoverian  alliance,  was  not  really  anxious  to  support 
the  emperor,  and  maintained  an  obstinate  neutrality.  And  the 
death  of  Catharine  of  Russia  deprived  the  league  of  Vienna  of  its 
one  powerful  supporter.  Accordingly,  in  May,  1727,  while  the  siege 
of  Gibraltar  was  proceeding,  Charles  threw  over  his  obligations  to 
Spain  and  signed  the  preliminaries  of  a  peace  with  England,  France 
and  Holland.  The  Ostend  Company  was  to  be  suspended  for  seven 
years,  and  all  other  questions  were  referred  to  a  European  Congress 
at  Aachen,  which  was  afterwards,  for  the  convenience  of  Fleury, 
transferred  to  Soissons.  Spain  hesitated  for  some  time  to  accept 
this  arrangement,  and  was  encouraged  in  the  delay  by  the  d>  ath  of 
George  I.  But  when  it  was  seen  that  George  II.'s  accession  made 
no  difference  in  the  attitude  of  England,  and  that  Walpole's  |>ower 
was  unshaken,  Philip  was  unable  to  hold  out  any  longer,  and  in 
March,  1728,  signed  the  convention  of  the  Pardo. 

§  9.  The  congress  met  at  Soissons,  but  proved  as  ineffective  and 
useless  as  the  previous  assembly  at  Cambray.  The  emperor, 
anxious  to  gain  the  assent  of  England  and  France  to  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction,  severed  himself  altogether  from  Spain  and  made  no  pre- 
tence of  supporting  her  demand  for  Gibraltar.  Philip  V.  was 
now  almost  imbecile  and  his  wife  was  practically  absolute.  The 
attitude  of  Charles  VI.  induced  her  to  give  up  all  hopes  of  obtaining 
her  ends  with  the  help  of  Austria.  The  birth  of  a  son  to  Louis  XV. 
in  1729,  destroyed  all  prospect  of  the  Spanish  Bourbons  acquiring 
the  French  crown,  and  made  her  more  anxious  than  ever  to  obtain 
an  Italian  principality  for  her  son.  For  this  purpose  she  determined 
to  throw  herself  into  the  arms  of  France  and  England,  and  in 
November,  1729,  she  accepted  the  treaty  of  Seville.  Spain,  England 
and  France  concluded  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  which 
was  immediately  afterwards  joined  by  Holland.  No  mention  was 
made  of  Gibraltar  and  Minorca,  which  were  virtually  resigned  by 
Spain.  The  commercial  privileges  accorded  by  the  treaty  of  Vienna 
to  the  Ostend  Company  and  the  emperor's  subjects  were  revoked. 
Don  Carlos  was  to  succeed  to  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Tuscany, 
and  to  secure  his  rights  those  provinces  were  to  be  occupied  by 
6000  Spanish  troops. 

The  news  of  the  treaty  of  Seville  excited  the  greatest  indigna- 
tion in  the  mind  of  Charles  VL,  who  saw  himself  completely 
duped.  He  collected  an  army  of  30,000  men  in  Italy  to  oppose 
the  threatened  occupation  of  the  Italian  duchies,  and  when  the 
old  duke  of  Parma  died  in  January,  1731,  he  seized  upon  his 
territory  as  a  fief  of  the  empire.  Elizabeth  called  upon  her  allies 
to  enforce  the  treaty,  but  neither  France  nor  England  was  willing 


k.v.  1727-1732.  TREATY  OF  VIENNA.  315 

to  make  war.  But  there  was  one  bribe  which  could  overcome  the 
emperor's  opposition.  Walpole  determined  to  act  independently  of 
France,  and  opened  a  separate  negotiation  with  the  Austrian 
government.  In  March,  1731,  the  second  treaty  of  Vienna  was 
concluded.  On  condition  that  England  should  guarantee  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  Charles  agreed  to  dissolve  the  Ostend 
Company  and  to  confirm  the  treaty  of  Seville.  In  1732,  Don 
Carlos  and  the  Spanish  troops  were  conveyed  to  Italy  in  English 
ships,  and  took  possession  of  Parma  and  Piacenza  with  the 
emperor's  sanction.  At  the  same  time  the  aged  duke  of  Tuscany 
acknowledged  the  Spanish  prince  as  his  heir.  Thus  the  long  and 
tedious  series  of  disputes  and  agreements  came  to  an  end,  and 
Europe  seemed  likely  to  enjoy  peace  for  a  time. 

§  10.  The  temporary  settlement  of  Italian  affairs  enabled  Charles 
VI.  to  turn  his  whole  attention  once  more  to  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction.  The  first  European  power  to  undertake  its  guarantee  had 
been  Spain  in  1725.  Russia  had  followed  in  1726,  and  now  in  1731 
England  and  Holland  were  pledged  to  the  same  effect.  France 
whs  resolute  in  its  refusal  to  agree  to  the  emperor's  scheme,  and 
even  intrigued  in  the  other  European  courts  to  obtain  its  rejection. 
It  was  of  especial  importance  to  Charles  to  gain  over  the  German 
princes,  of  whom  only  one,  the  king  of  Prussia,  had  as  yet  given  his 
consent,  on  condition  that  his  claims  upon  Jiilich  and  Berg  should 
be  acknowledged.  In  January,  1732,  a  diet  met  at  Ratlsbon,  and 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction  was  formally  accepted  by  all  its  members 
except  the  three  electors  of  Saxony,  Bavaria,  and  the  Palatinate. 
The  two  former  had  themselves  some  claims  on  the  Austrian 
succession  and  hoped  to  obtain  at  least  a  share  on  Charles'  death. 
The  elector  palatine  was  alienated  by  the  prospect  of  Prussia 
acquiring  Jiilich  and  Berg. 

As  Augustus  of  Saxony  was  determined  in  his  refusals  to 
recognise  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  the  emperor  on  his  side  opposed 
the  elector's  favourite  scheme  of  making  the  Polish  crown  heredi- 
tary in  his  family  by  procuring  the  succession  of  his  son,  another 
Augustus.  The  other  prominent  candidate  was  the  deposed 
Stanislaus  Leczinski,  the  former  prote'ge"  of  Charles  XIL,  who  had 
recently  regained  importance  as  the  father-in-law  of  Louis  XV. 
The  prospect  of  the  establishment  of  French  influence  in  Poland 
was  very  distasteful  to  the  northern  powers,  who  were  already 
looking  forward  to  a  partition  of  that  kingdom.  Accordingly  a 
treaty  was  projected  between  Austria,  Russia  and  Prussia,  by 
which  they  agreed  to  exclude  both  the  Saxon  claimant  and  Leczinski, 
and  to  give  the  Polish  crown  to  Emanuel  prince  of  Portugal.  But 
before  the  treaty  was  signed,  Augustus  of  Saxony  and  Poland  died 


316  '       MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xtl 

in  February,  1733.  The  vacancy  in  this  remote,  and  on  account  of 
its  constitution  powerless,  kingdom  was  destined  to  involve  Europe 
in  an  almost  universal  war. 

In  Poland  there  was  a  strong  feeling  that  the  foreign  rulers  had 
brought  nothing  but  disasters  on  the  country,  and  that  a  native 
should  be  elected.  This  was  much  in  favour  of  Leczinski,  but  he 
had  little  chance  of  being  chosen  unless  France  would  espouse  hi8 
cause.  Fleury  was  as  usual  averse  to  war,  and  protested  against 
the  idea  of  ruining  France  for  the  sake  of  the  king's  father-in-law. 
He  was  not  very  well  disposed  to  Marie  Leczinska,  whose  marriage 
had  been  the  work  of  the  duke  of  Bourbon,  and  besides  Louis  XV. 
was  not  devotedly  attached  to  his  wife.  But  the  same  qualities 
which  inclined  Fleury  to  a  policy  of  peace  rendered  him  incapable 
of  resisting  the  pressure  of  the  strong  war  party  in  France.  This 
was  composed  partly  of  the  surviving  veterans  of  Louis  XIV.'s 
reign,  such  as  Villars  and  Berwick,  and  partly  of  the  young 
courtiers  who  had  never  seen  a  war  and  were  anxious  for  the 
opportunity  of  distinguishing  themselves.  Their  representations 
forced  the  king  and  minister  to  promise  assistance  to  Stanislaus, 
who  made  his  way  in  disguise  to  Warsaw  and  was  there  elected 
king  by  a  majority  of  the  Polish  nobles. 

This  event  caused  great  excitement  in  northern  Europe.  Russia 
was  determined  not  to  tolerate  the  restoration  in  Poland  of  a  king 
whom  Peter  the  Great  had  expelled.  The  empress  Anne,  who  had 
recently  freed  herself  from  the  aristocratic  restrictions  imposed  at 
her  accession,  made  an  alliance  with  the  young  Augustus  of  Saxony 
and  sent  an  army  to  support  him.  The  emperor  was  induced  to 
take  the  same  side  when  Augustus  undertook  to  guarantee  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction.  Austrian  troops  were  massed  in  Silesia  on 
the  Polish  frontier,  but  were  never  employed,  as  the  Russians  and 
Saxons  were  quite  able  to  do  the  work  by  themselves.  Leczinski 
was  driven  from  Warsaw  and  took  refuge  in  Danzig,  where  he 
impatiently  waited  for  the  promised  succour  from  France.  But 
Fleury,  though  he  had  committed  himself  to  the  war,  was  not 
prepared  to  pursue  it  with  energy.  He  feared  lest  the  despatch  of 
a  French  fleet  to  the  Baltic  might  oifend  the  susceptibilities  of 
England,  and  moreover  he  saw  an  easier  way  of  benefiting  France 
in  the  south  than  in  the  north  of  Europe.  Only  16,000  men  came 
to  the  assistance  of  Stanislaus,  and  in  spite  of  the  heroism  which 
they  displayed,  they  were  unable  to  force  an  entrance  into  Danzig. 
The  result  of  this  disappointment  was  that  Danzig  had  to  surrender 
to  the  Russians,  and  the  Poles  had  nothing  left  but  to  acknowledge 
Augustus  III.  as  king.  Stanislaus  escaped  into  Prussia,  where  he 
was  hospitably  received  by  Frederick  William,  who  had  remained 


A.D.  1733.       WAR   OF  THE  POLISH  SUCCESSION.  317 

neutral  during  the  war,  and  who  refused  to  crive  up  the  fugitive  on 
the  demand  of  the  emperor. 

§  11.  It  would  have  been  well  for  Charles  VI.  if  he  had  imitated 
the  prudent  policy  of  Prussia  and  not  committed  himself  to  either  side. 
The  accession  of  Augustus  was  effected  without  his  intervention, 
which  brought  him  no  advantage  beyond  the  Saxon  confirmation  of 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  while  on  the  other  hand  it  involved  him 
in  a  disastrous  war  with  France.  It  is  probable  that  he  was  misled 
by  excessive  confidence  in  the  pacific  tendencies  of  Fleury,  but  never- 
theless, his  conduct  in  the  Polish  succession  is  the  most  con- 
spicuous illustration  of  the  evils  that  were  brought  upon  Austria 
by  Charles'  insane  desire  to  have  his  daughter's  succession 
universally  guaranteed. 

Fleury  had  displayed  no  very  keen  desire  to  maintain  Stanislaus 
Leczinski  on  the  Polish  throne,  but  he  showed  great  ingenuity 
in  using  the  pretext  for  war  to  obtain  other  ends.  Italy  was  to  be 
freed  from  the  Hapsburg  supremacy,  and  instead  of  being  united  to 
any  single  great  power  was  to  be  divided  into  small  principalities, 
which  would  serve  the  purposes  of  France.  At  the  same  time  there 
was  a  possibility  of  obtaining  a  direct  advantage  to  France  in  the 
direction  of  Lorraine,  an  imperial  fief  which  was  almost  surrounded 
by  French  territories  and  had  often  been  occupied  by  French 
arms,  but  had  as  yet  escaped  annexation.  The  province  was  of 
greater  importance  than  ever  at  the  present  moment,  because  the 
duke  Francis  was  betrothed  to  Maria  Theresa,  and  her  accession 
in  Austria  would  bring  the  Hapsburg  power  inconveniently  nettf  *» 
the  French  frontier. 

For  these  purposes  Fleury  sought  and  obtained  the  alliance  of 
Spain  and  Sardinia.  Elizabeth  of  Spain  was  far  from  being  satisfied 
with  what*  she  had  gained  by  the  treaty  of  Vienna.  It  was  true 
that  Don  Carlos  was  established  in  Parma  and  had  been  recognised 
as  heir  to  the  duke  of  Tuscany.  But  the  emperor  had  taken  no 
pains  to  disguise  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  arrangement,  and  had 
protested  against  the  homage  done  by  the  Tuscan  estates  as  being 
null  without  the  imperial  consent.  The  queen  readily  grasped  at 
the  opportunity  of  increasing  the  power  of  her  family  in  Italy  by 
renewing  the  alliance  between  the  two  branches  of  the  house  of 
Bourbon.  Savoy  and  Sardinia  were  ruled  by  Charles  Emanuel, 
who  had  come  to  the  throne  on  the  abdication  of  his  father  Victor 
Amadeus.  Charles  Emanuel  inherited  that  eager  desire  for 
territorial  aggrandisement  which  had  characterised  all  his  pre- 
decessors. They  had  aimed,  it  was  said,  at  eating  up  Lombardy 
leaf  by  leaf  like  an  artichoke ;  he  wished  to  swallow  it  at  once. 
In  September  and  October,  1733,  the  league  of  Turin  was  concluded 


318  MODEKN  EUKOPE.  Chap.  xvi. 

"between  France,  Spain,  and  Sardinia.  Don  Carlos  was  to  renounce 
Parma  and  the  succession  to  Tuscany  in  favour  of  his  younger 
brother  Don  Philip,  and  was  to  acquire  Naples  and  Sicily  as  a 
kingdom  for  himself.  Both  the  kingdom  and  the  duchies  were  to 
revert  to  Spain  in  case  of  the  male  line  of  their  rulers  becoming 
extinct.  The  king  of  Sardinia  was  to  annex  the  Milanese  to 
Piedmont,  and  thus  to  form  a  kingdom  of  Lombardy.  When  the 
conquest  was  completed,  Savoy  was  to  be  handed  over  to  France. 

No  time  was  lost  in  commencing  hostilities.  Two  French 
armies  were  collected.  One  under  Berwick  entered  Lorraine, 
while  the  other  under  the  aged  Villars  crossed  the  Alps  to  assist 
Charles  Emanuel.  Before  the  end  of  the  year  Lorraine  had  been 
overrun,  and  great  part  of  the  Milanese,  including  the  capital,  had 
been  lost  to  the  emperor.  Charles  VI.  was  entirely  unprepared  for 
this  sudden  attack,  which  his  own  imprudence  had  brought  upon 
himself.  He  made  urgent  appeals  for  assistance  to  England,  but 
Walpole  resolutely  refused  to  take  part  in  the  war.  Then  he 
turned  to  Germany,  where  the  diet  voted  supplies,  but  the  resolu- 
tion lost  much  of  its  importance  through  the  open  opposition  of 
the  three  Wittelsbach  electors  of  Bavaria,  Cologne  and  the 
Palatinate.  Worst  of  all,  the  great  Austrian  general,  Eugene,  was 
old  and  worn  out,  and  there  was  no  successor  to  take  his  place. 

The  military  operations  of  1734  arc  devoid  of  interest  and 
importance  except  as  regards  their  results.  On  the  Bhine  Eugene 
undertook  the  command  of  a  large  imperial  army  to  oppose  Berwick, 
who  had  broken  through  the  lines  of  Ettlingen.  But  Eugene 
displayed  none  of  his  old  genius  or  energy,  and  was  unable  to 
prevent  the  French  from  capturing  Philipsburg,  although  Berwick 
was  killed  during  the  siege.  In  northern  Italy  Villars  had  planned  a 
triumphant  campaign  with  the  aid  of  Sardinia  and  Spain.  But  he 
was  foiled  by  the  conduct  of  his  allies.  Charles  Emanuel  refused 
to  take  part  in  operations  in  the  open  field  and  contented  himself 
with  a  war  of  sieges.  Don  Carlos,  intent  on  his  enterprise  in  the 
south,  had  no  particular  interest  in  the  aggrandisement  of  Sardinia. 
Villars  resigned  his  command  in  disgust,  and  on  his  way  back  to 
France  died  at  Turin  (17  June,  1734),  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  the 
last  of  the  great  generals  of  Louis  XIV.  The  result  of  the  campaign 
was  that  the  Austrian  general,  Mercy,  though  defeated  near  Parma, 
was  able  to  keep  the  strong  fortress  of  Mantua  and  thus  to  maintain 
his  hold  upon  eastern  Lombardy.  More  decisive  results  were  achieved 
in  the  south.  Don  Carlos  entered  Naples  with  a  small  army  and 
was  welcomed  by  the  inhabitants,  who  disliked  the  German  govern- 
ment, and  who  preferred  to  be  ruled  by  a  resident  king  rather  than 
by  a  viceroy.     The  imperial  forces   had  been  diminished  for  the 


ad.  1734-1737.         CONCLUSION  OF  PEACE.  319 

protection  of  the  Milanese,  and  the  remaining  troops  were  crushed 
by  the  Spaniards  at  Bitonto. 

In  1735  the  Spanish  troops  crossed  into  Sicily  and  reduced  the 
island  without  any  difficulty.  In  Lombardy  Konigsegg,  who  had 
succeeded  Mercy,  had  to  retire  beyond  the  Adige.  On  the  Rhine 
Eugene  was  again  in  command  and  was  reinforced  by  auxiliaries 
from  Russia.  But  nothing  of  any  importance  took  place,  and  the 
chief  powers,  France  and  Austria,  were  absorbed  not  so  much  in 
the  war  as  in  negotiations.  Walpole  had  offered  to  mediate,  and 
Fleury,  in  constant  fear  lest  England  should  desert  her  neutrality, 
was  eager  for  peace.  Charles  VI.  was  naturally  inclined  the  same 
way,  partly  by  his  losses  in  the  war,  partly  by  the  desire  to  <iain  a 
new  confirmation  for  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  and  partly  by  the 
danger  of  a  new  Turkish  war.  On  the  3rd  of  October,  1735,  the 
preliminaries  of  a  treaty  between  France  and  Austria  were  signed 
at  Vienna.  Stanislaus  Leczinski  renounced  the  Polish  crown  in 
favour  of  Augustus  of  Saxony,  but  was  allowed  to  retain  the  title 
of  king  for  his  lifetime.  As  compensation  he  was  to  receive  the 
duchy  of  Lorraine,  which  on  his  death  was  to  pass  into  the  hands 
of  France.  Francis  of  Lorraine,  the  destined  son-in-law  of 
Charles  VI.,  was  to  receive  Tuscany  on  the  death  of  the  last 
grand-duke  of  the  house  of  Medici.  Don  Carlos  was  to  be  recognised 
as  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  his  former  duchy  of  Parma  and 
Piacenza  being  handed  over  to  the  emperor.  All  other  conquests 
made  by  the  allies,  including  Lombardy,  were  to  be  restored,  with 
tho  exception  of  Novara  and  Tortona,  which  were  to  be  given  to 
the  king  of  Sardinia. 

It  is  evident  that  Fleury  had  given  up  the  design  of  freeing  Italy 
from  the  Hapsburgs.  Not  only  did  the  emperor  recover  Lombardy, 
but  he  added  to  it  Parma  and  Piacenza,  and  his  son-in-law  in  1737 
obtained  Tuscany.  '1  hus  by  resigning  the  distant  provinces  in  the 
south,  he  gained  a  compact  territory  in  northern  and  central  Italy. 
The  great  advantage  to  France,  which  has  given  Fleury  a  dis- 
tinguished place  among  French  ministers,  was  the  arrangement 
about  Lorraine.  Stanislaus  took  possession  of  the  duchy  in  1737, 
aud  at  last  obtained  an  opportunity  for  displaying  his  really 
eminent  qualities  as  a  ruler.  After  a  beneficent  administration  of 
twenty-nine  years  he  died  in  1766,  and  Lorraine  was  absorbed  in 
France.  It  had  been  so  long  practically  separated  from  Germany, 
that  its  loss,  though  resented,  was  not  much  felt,  while  it  was  of 
considerable  importance  to  the  French  as  rounding  off  their  frontiers. 
It  was  the  last  of  the  great  accessions  of  territory  which  the 
country  owed  to  its  Bourbon  rulers.  Elizabeth  of  Spain  was 
bitterly  discontented  at  the  proposed  terms,  and  especially  at  the 


320  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvi. 

loss  of  Parma  and  Tuscany.  But  she  was  powerless  to  continue  the 
war  by  herself,  though  she  succeeded  in  postponing  the  conclusion 
of  the  definitive  treaty  till  1738.  In  this  France  undertook  in  the 
most  explicit  terms  possible  to  guarantee  the  Pragmatic  Sanction. 

§  12.  Austria  had  suffered  serious  losses  of  prestige  if  not  of  power 
in  the  war  of  the  Polish  succession;  but  she  was  destined  to 
undergo  still  greater  humiliations  in  the  succeeding  years.  On  the 
21st  of  April,  1736,  Prince  Eugene  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-two. 
His  career  is  coincident  with  what  is  on  the  whole  the  most 
glorious  period  of  Austrian  history,  since  Charles  V.  had  little 
direct  connection  with  Austria.  His  claim  to  the  affectionate  and 
admiring  recollection  of  the  country  which  he  served  is  to  be 
measured  by  the  collapse  which  followed  his  death.  The  mobt 
powerful  man  in  Vienna  was  now  Johann  Christopher  von 
Bartenstein.  He  was  the  son  of  a  professor  in  Munich  and  had 
received  his  education  at  Paris.  He  came  to  Vienna  in  1714, 
became  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  entered  the  service  of  the  govern- 
ment. Though  he  never  held  any  higher  office  than  that  of 
secretary  to  the  cabinet,  and  was  despised  by  contemporaries  for 
his  plebeian  origin,  he  obtained  complete  supremacy  over  Charles  VI., 
who  placed  unlimited  confidence  in  his  honesty  and  his  devotion 
to  the  Hapsburg  interests.  Unfortunately  these  were  his  only 
recommendations.  Bartenstein  was  before  everything  a  jurist, 
with  all  a  jurist's  love  for  pettifogging  details,  and  filled  with  an 
unbounded  belief  in  the  cumbrous  and  obsolete  constitution  of  tho 
Holy  Roman  Empire.  He  had  not  the  slightest  pretensions  to 
statesmanship,  no  insight  into  character,  no  powers  of  administra- 
tion. What  he  excelled  in  was  the  drawing  up  of  protocols  and 
engagements  with  foreign  powers.  It  was  his  influence  to  a  preat 
extent  that  induced  the  emperor  to  attach  such  exaggerated 
importance  to  the  reiterated  guarantees  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction. 

§  13.  One  of  the  most  humiliating  episodes  of  Austrian  history  is 
the  Turkish  war  of  1737-9,  in  which  Charles  was  involved  by  his 
alliance  with  Russia.  That  country  had  never  ceased  to  desire  the 
re-acquisition  of  Azof,  the  conquest  of  which  had  been  the  first 
achievement  of  Peter  the  Great,  but  which  he  had  lost  again  by  his 
disastrous  campaign  on  the  Pruth  in  1711.  The  Czarina  Anne  after 
the  settlement  of  the  Polish  question  seized  the  opportunity  to 
declare  war  in  1736  against  the  Porte,  which  was  at  this  time 
engaged  in  a  contest  with  Persia.  One  army  under  Munnich 
entered  the  Crimea,  broke  through  the  lines  of  Perekop,  and  overran 
the  peninsula,  while  another  under  Lascy  recovered  Azof. 

By  the  treaty  with  Catharine  I.,  in  1726,  Russia  and  Austria  had 
pledged  themselves  to  send  30,000  auxiliaries  to  each  other  in  case 


A.D.  1736-1739.       AUSTRO-TURKISH  WAR.  321 

either  were  involved  in  war  with  the  Turks.  This  agreement  had 
been  confirmed  in  1735  as  the  price  of  a  Russian  contingent  to 
help  Eugene  on  the  Rhine.  Anne  now  called  upon  the  emperor 
to  fulfil  his  engagement.  If  he  had  been  content  with  sending  the 
30,000  men  no  great  harm  would  have  been  done.  But  the  Russian 
successes  of  1736  had  created  the  impression  that  recent  losses 
might  be  compensated  by  a  war  of  conquest,  and  Charles  and  his 
advisers  determined  to  commit  Austria  to  the  war,  not  as  an 
auxiliary  but  as  a  principal.  The  command  was  entrusted  t<» 
Seckendorf,  whom  Eugene  had  pointed  out  as  his  successor,  but 
who  laboured  under  the  disadvantage  of  being  a  Protestant.  On 
his  arrival  at  the  Hungarian  fronti*  Off  found  everything 

in  the  mosfr  deplorable  condition,  the  troops  were  ill  mpptied,  the 
fortresses  had  been  neglected,  the  garrisons  were  iiisuliiik-nt.  He 
wished  to  resign,  but  was  induced  to  go  on  with  the  campaign. 
He  succeeded  in  taking  Nissa,  the  chief  fortress  which  remained 
to  the  Turks  in  Servia.  But  two  months  afterwards  the  vizier 
arrived  with  overwhelming  forces,  forced  the  Austrians  to  retire,  and 
recovered  Nissa,  so  that  the  campaign  ended  without  anything 
having  been  effected.  The  Jesuits  maintained  that  no  victory  could 
be  gained  against  the  infidels  as  long  as  a  heretic  was  allow 
command.  Seckendorf  was  not  only  recalled  but  even  thrown  into 
prison.  His  successor  in  1738,  Konigsegg,  succeeded  in  forcing 
the  Turks  to  raise  the  siege  of  Orsowa.  But  his  success  was  only 
temporary,  he  was  driven  back  to  the  walls  of  Belgrad.  Orsowa  and 
several  other  fortresses  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The 
government  at  Vienna  could  think  of  no  other  resource  than  to 
treat  failure  as  a  crime  and  punish  it  by  disgrace.  Konigsegg 
was  replaced  by  count  Wallis,  who  proved  even  less  successful  than 
his  predecessors.  In  the  battle  of  Crocyka  (July,  1739),  the  Turks 
won  a  complete  victory  and  now  threatened  Belgrad,  the  greatest  of 
Eugene's  conquests.  These  continued  disasters  impelled  the 
emperor  to  desire  peace. 

If  the  military  operations  had  been  sufficiently  discreditable  and 
iJl-managed,  the  subsequent  negotiations  were  still  more  so.  Charles 
began  by  sending  Wallis  full  powers  to  treat  with  the  grand  vizier. 
He  had  already  commenced  negotiations  and  had  recognised  the 
necessity  of  surrendering  Belgrad,  when  Neipperg,  a  hostile  officer, 
arrived  with  independent  powers  from  the  emperor.  Neipperg  was 
imprisoned  by  the  vizier  for  maintaining  that  he  had  no  authority 
to  grant  the  cession  of  Belgrad  which  had  already  been  arranged 
by  Wallis.  However,  he  was  released  on  the  intercession  of  the 
French  envoy,  Villeneuve,  who  now  undertook  to  mediate  between 
the  two  powers.     On  the  1st  of  September  the  treaty  of  Belgrad  was 


322  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chip.  xvi. 

drawn  up,  perhaps  the  most  humiliating  treaty  that  Austria  ever 
concluded.  Belgrad  and  Orsowa  were  surrendered,  together  with 
all  the  territories  acquired  by  the  treaty  of  Passarowitz,  with  the 
exception  of  Temesvar.  Meanwhile  the  Russians,  though  they 
had  won  no  great  successes,  had  at  any  rate  held  their  own.  But 
the  secession  of  Austria  compelled  the  termination  of  the  war,  and 
on  the  18th  of  September  peace  was  also  arranged  between  Russia 
and  the  Porte.  All  the  Russian  conquests  were  restored  except 
Azof,  and  its  fortifications  were  to  be  dismantled  and  the  district 
laid  waste.  The  Czarina  had  to  promise  not  to  maintain  a  single 
vessel  on  the  Black  Sea  or  on  the  sea  of  Azof,  and  to  conduct  all 
commerce  with  Turkey  by  Turkish  vessels.  Thus  the  sole  gain 
of  Russia  from  a  war  that  had  cost  much  treasure  and  more  lives 
was  the  acquisition  of  a  barren  strip  of  useless  land. 

§  14.  The  treaty  of  Belgrad  was  mainly  the  work  of  Villeneuve, 
who  considered  that  he  had  rendered  a  service  to  France  in  exalting 
Turkey  at  the  expense  of  Austria.  Charles  VI.  felt  the  disgrace 
keenly  and  it  threw  a  gloom  over  his  remaining  days.  His  govern- 
ment was  imprudent  and  incapable  to  the  last.  There  was  one 
power,  Prussia,  whom  it  was  his  most  obvious  policy  to  conciliate. 
Frederick  William  had  been  the  first  German  prince  to  guarantee 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  he  was  the  best  able  to  fulfil  his  promise, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  had  the  greatest  temptations  to  break  it. 
A  weak  and  divided  Austria  would  at  once  give  Prussia  the 
supremacy  in  Germany.  In  spite  of  these  considerations  Charles  did 
not  scruple  to  alienate  this  prince  without  any  particular  motive.  In 
1728,  he  had  promised  the  king  to  secure  his  succession  to  the  duchy 
of  Berg.  In  January,  1739,  a  secret  treaty  was  made  at  Versailles 
between  France  and  Austria,  by  which,  on  the  death  of  the  elector 
palatine,  provisional  possession  for  two  years  of  Jiilich  and  Berg  was 
to  be  given  to  Karl  Theodore  of  Sulzbach.  This  was  intended  to 
exclude  the  Prussian  claims.  As  the  elector  survived  Charles  VI. 
the  question  did  not  arise  during  his  lifetime,  but  it  illustrates  the 
reckless  imprudence  with  which  he  threw  obstacles  in  the  way  even 
of  his  own  most  cherished  schemes.  On  the  26th  of  October,  1740, 
Charles  VI.  died.  He  left  a  disjointed,  ill-governed,  and  exhausted 
collection  of  territories  to  his  daughter  Maria  Theresa,  whose 
succession  was  not  one  whit  the  more  secure  for  the  numerous  and 
solemn  engagements  that  had  been  entered  into  by  the  powers  of 
Europe. 


CHAPTER  XVIL 
PRUSSIA  BEFORE   THE  ACCESSION  OF  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT. 

§  1.  History  of  the  House  of  Hohenzollern;  acquisitions  of  territory 
§  2.  The  Great  Elector ;  his  foreign  policy ;  claims  upon  Silesia ; 
treachery  of  the  Austrian  Government.  §  3.  Domestic  policy  of  the 
Great  Elector.  §  4.  Frederick  I. ;  he  acquires  the  title  of  king  of  Prussia. 
§  5.  Frederick  William  I.  *  his  army  ;  his  civil  administration ;  his 
foreign    policy;    relations    with    Austria.      §    u\  The    royal    family; 

tarici    William's  quarrel   with    his  son.     §  7.  Attitude  of  Pi 
in  the  war  of  the  Polish  Succession  ;  gradual  alienation  from  Austria; 
death  of  Frederick  William  I. 

§  1.  The  mark  of  Brandenburg  had  been  formed  in  the  tenth  century 
on  the  northern  frontier  <>t*  dermany,  for  the  combined  purposes  of 
defence  and  aggression  against  the  Slavonic  tribe  of  Wends.  In 
the  hands  of  the  Ascanier  margraves  it  became  a  powerful  princi- 
pality and  one  of  the  four  secular  electorates  of  the  empire.  At 
the  Council  of  Constance  in  1415,  Brandenburg  was  given  by  the 
emperor  Sigismund  to  Frederick  of  Hohenzollern,  and  was  thus 
united  to  the  considerable  territories  which  the  Hohenzollerns  already 
possessed  in  Franconia.  Subsequently  the  family  split  into  several 
branches,  the  elder  line  keeping  the  electorate,  while  the  younger 
took  the  Franconian  territories,  which  were  known  as  the  prim  i- 
pality  of  Culmbach,  and  were  afterwards  divided  into  Anspach 
and  Baireuth.  In  1G03  and  1618  these  younger  lines  died  out,  and 
their  possessions  fell  to  the  reigning  elector.  But  during  their 
existence  they  had  made  acquisitions  and  founded  claims  which  are 
of  great  importance.  In  1524  George  of  Anspach  had  acquired  by 
purchase  the  principality  of  Jagerndorf  in  Silesia.  And  in  the 
next  year  his  younger  brother  Albert,  the  grand  master  of  the 
Teutonic  Order,  abandoned  his  ecclesiastical  dignity  and  obtained 
the  duchy  of  Prussia  under  the  suzerainty  of  the  king  of  Poland. 
Albert's  son,  another  Albert  (1568-1618)  married  Maria  Eleanora, 
eldest  daughter  and  heiress  of  William  duke  of  Cleve  and  Jiilich. 
The  marriage  produced  only  daughters,  but  of  these  the  eldest 
was  married  to  John  Sigismund,  elector  of  Brandenburg. 


324  MODEEN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvii. 

Joachim  Frederick,  who  was  elector  from  1598  to  1608,  did  not 
keep  the  Culmbach  territories  when  they  fell  in  to  him  in  1603,  but 
granted  them  out  again  to  his  brothers  Joachim  Ernest  and  Christian, 
thus  founding  two  new  lines  of  Anspach  and  Baireuth.  Jagemdorf 
he  gave  to  his  second  son  John  George,  from  whom  it  was  confiscated 
in  1623  by  the  emperor  Ferdinand  II.  The  electorate  passed  to 
Joachim  Frederick's  eldest  son,  John  Sigismund  (1608-1619),  who 
succeeded  in  1618  to  the  duchy  of  Prussia  which  was  still  under 
Polish  suzerainty.  John  Sigismund  plays  an  important  part  in 
history.  In  1609  the  duchies  of  Cleve  and  Jiilich  becoming  vacant  by 
the  death  of  duke  William,  he  at  once  claimed  them  as  the  husband 
of  the  lawful  heiress.  He  was  opposed  however  by  the  palatine 
house  of  Neuburg,  which  had  a  rival  claim  through  marriage  with 
a  daughter  of  William  of  Cleve.  This  dispute,  which  nearly  kindled 
a  great  religious  war  in  Europe,  remained  unsettled  for  many  years, 
both  the  claimants  keeping  a  firm  hold  of  part  on  the  inheritance. 
To  emphasise  his  opposition  to  the  Neuburg  family  who  had  gone 
over  to  Catholicism,  John  Sigismund  became  a  Calvinist.  Hence- 
forth Calvinism  is  the  court  religion  of  the  Hohenzollern  princes, 
although  the  bulk  of  their  subjects  were  and  remained  Lutherans. 

§  2.  In  the  Thirty  Years'  war  George  William  of  Brandenburg 
(1619-1640),  as  has  been  seen,  played  a  very  sorry  part,  and  the 
only  result  of  his  attempted  neutrality  was  that  his  territories 
suffered  more  than  those  of  many  princes  who  took  an  open  and 
honourable  side.  But  a  new  epoch  opened  for  the  house  of  Hohen- 
zollern with  the  accession  of  his  son  Frederick  William,  the  Great 
Elector  and  the  real  creator  of  the  Prussian  monarchy.  His  first 
task  was  to  redeem  the  disasters  of  the  late  rule.  Departing 
altogether  from  his  father's  policy,  he  succeeded  in  ridding  his 
territories  of  foreign  troops,  and  in  the  peace  of  Westphalia  he 
emerged  from  the  war  with  considerable  acquisitions,  Lower  Pom- 
erania  and  the  secularised  bishoprics  of  Halberstadt,  Minden  and 
Magdeburg.  This  success  was  continued  throughout  his  reign.  By 
his  dexterous  conduct  in  the  northern  war  (1655-1660)  which  was 
kindled  by  Charles  X.  of  Sweden,  he  achieved  his  greatest  triumph, 
and  freed  Prussia  for  ever  from  the  suzerainty  of  the  Polish  crown. 
In  1666  he  concluded  a  final  treaty  of  partition  with  the  Neuburg 
family,  by  which  they  were  to  have  Jiilich  and  Berg,  while  he  kept 
Cleve,  Ravensberg,  and  Mark.  On  the  extinction  of  either  family 
the  territories  were  to  pass  to  the  other,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
collateral  claims.  This  arrangement  becomes  of  considerable 
importance  later  on.  When  Louis  XIV.  provoked  a  war  by  his 
attack  upon  Holland  in  1672,  the  Great  Elector,  always  a  keen 
supporter  of  Protestantism,  joined  the  league  against  France.     To 


a.d.  1598-1686.  RISE  OF  PRUSSIA.  325 

draw  him  away  from  the  Rhine,  Louis  induced  the  Swedes  to 
invade  Brandenburg.  Frederick  William  had  an  old  quarrel  to  fight 
out  with  Sweden.  Hurrying  northwards  by  forced  marches,  he  not 
only  repulsed  the  invaders  and  defeated  them  at  Fehrbellin  (June, 
1675),  but  even  drove  them  away  from  Upper  Pomerania,  which  had 
been  given  to  Sweden  by  the  treaty  of  Westphalia  in  spite  of 
the  1 1«  •hciizollern  claims.  This  great  acquisition,  which  would  have 
given  Brandenburg  the  desired  opening  to  the  Baltic,  it  was  found 
impossible  to  keep.  Louis  XIV.  insisted  that  the  Swedes  should 
not  suffer  for  their  alliance  with  him,  and  to  the  elector's  great 
disgust  he  had  to  restore  his  Pomeranian  conquests  in  1079.  To 
compensate  himself  in  some  measure  for  this  loss,  Frederick  William 
now  demanded  that  the  emperor  Leopold  should  satisfy  his  claims 
in  Silesia,  which  require  some  explanation.  In  the  first  place  there 
was  the  duchy  of  Jagemdorf  which  had  been  confiscated  by 
Ferdinand  II.  in  16J3,  a  high-handed  action  which  had  been 
constantly  protested  against  by  the  Hohcnzollerns.  There  were 
also  other  claims.  In  1537  the  elector  Joachim  II.  had  concluded 
an  h'rboerbruderung,  or  treaty  of  mutual  inheritance,  with  the  dukes 
of  Liegnitz.  By  this  the  dukes  of  Liegnitz  were  to  obtain  a  part 
of  the  Brandenburg  territories  if  the  electoral  line  became  extinct, 
while  on  the  other  hand,  if  they  themselves  died  out,  their  Silesian 
possessions,  Liegnitz,  Wohlau  and  Brieg,  were  to  pass  to  the  Hohen- 
zollerns.  Ferdinand  I.,  Charles  V.'s  brother,  maintained  that  the 
dukes  of  Liegnitz  had  no  right  to  make  such  a  treaty  without 
his  consent  as  king  of  Bohemia,  and  compelled  them  to  revoke  it. 
But  the  house  of  Brandenburg  had  always  refused  to  recognise  this 
revocation,  and  maintained  that  the  treaty  was  perfectly  valid. 
In  1675  the  last  duke  of  Liegnitz  died,  and  the  emperor  Leopold 
at  once  took  possession  of  his  territories.  At  the  moment  Frederick 
William  was  occupied  with  the  Pomeranian  war,  but  as  soon  as  that 
was  concluded  he  demanded  that  the  treaty  should  be  executed  and 
that  he  should  also  be  put  in  possession  of  Jagemdorf.  At  first  the 
court  of  Vienna  was  obstinate  in  its  refusal.  But  the  threatening 
attitude  of  Louis  XIV.  both  in  political  and  religious  matters,  as 
illustrated  in  the  reunions  and  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
compelled  a  reconciliation  between  the  two  chief  German  powers, 
and  a  compromise  was  arranged  in  1 686.  By  this  Frederick  William 
renounced  his  claims  to  Jagemdorf  and  Liegnitz,  in  return  for  which 
the  emperor  ceded  to  him  the  circle  of  Schwiebus  in  Silesia  and 
guaranteed  the  Hohenzollera  succession  in  East  Friesland.  But 
even  this  concession  was  a  mere  sham.  At  the  very  moment  of 
concluding  this  treaty  the  Austrian  ambassador  made  a  secret 
agreement  with  the   elector's   son  and   successor,  by    which    the 


326  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvn. 

latter  pledged  himself  to  restore  Schwiebus   immediately  on  his 
accession. 

§  3.  The  domestic  policy  of  the  Great  Elector  was  even  more  im- 
portant than  his  foreign  relations.  He  succeeded,  not  to  a  single 
united  state,  but  to  a  number  of  provinces,  separated  from  each  other 
geographically  as  well  as  by  laws  and  customs,  and  having  little  in 
common  with  each  other  except  their  German  name  and  language 
and  subjection  to  the  same  ruler.  A  Prussian  could  hold  no  office 
in  Brandenburg,  nor  a  Bradenburger  in  Cleve:  each  province 
excluded  all  but  native  troops.  In  Brandenburg  the  soldiers  had 
to  take  an  oath  to  the  emperor  as  well  as  to  the  margrave,  and  in 
Prussia  the  estates  could  at  first  appeal  to  the  king  of  Poland,  and 
even  when  that  connexion  was  broken  off  they  were  more  than  once 
inclined  to  restore  it.  In  each  province  there  were  recognised 
assemblies  of  estates,  intent  only  on  provincial  objects,  and  on 
maintaining  their  independence  by  checking  the  central  power. 
The  elector's  revenue  came  partly  from  his  own  domains  and  partly 
from  taxes  which  were  granted  by  the  provincial  assemblies.  The 
internal  condition  of  the  country  was  discouraging.  The  peasantry 
were  crushed  in  serfdom  to  the  nobles  and  the  fields  had  been  laid 
waste  during  the  war.  Owing  to  the  same  causes,  trade  and 
manufactures  had  perished  in  the  towns,  and  the  schools  and 
universities  were  deserted.  There  was  perhaps  more  than  one  way 
in  which  material  prosperity  might  be  restored  and  some  amount  of 
unity  given  to- the  jarring  interests  of  classes  and  provinces.  But 
there  was  one  way  which  was  undoubtedly  quicker  and  surer  than 
any  other,  and  which  could  alone  commend  itself  to  a  ruler  in  the 
17th  century.  This  was  the  establishment  of  a  strong  central 
power,  which  should  govern  not  for  its  own  sake  but  for  the  general 
good,  and  this,  the  foundation  of  a  paternal  despotism  in  the  best 
and  only  true  sense,  was  the  object  which  Frederick  William  set 
before  himself.  He  had  no  sympathy  with  constitutional  govern- 
ment, and  it  is  certain  that  the  time  and  the  circumstances  were 
unsuited  for  it. 

His  first  act  was  the  formation  of  a  standing  army,  which  gained 
him  respect  abroad  and.  made  him  irresistible  at  home.  For  its 
support  he  induced  the  towns,  not  without  difficulty,  to  grant  him  a 
permanent  excise,  which  was  a  valuable  addition  to  his  revenue. 
The  estates  or  Landstande,  the  strongholds  of  provincialism, 
gradually  lost  most  of  their  powers.  The  nobles  were  deprived  of 
their  political  independence,  though  allowed  to  retain  their  mastery 
over  the  peasants,  and  were  induced  to  look  for  honour  and  promotion 
in  the  service  of  the  elector.  Thus  wras  created  an  absolute  *  rule 
which   represented  and  formed  the  unity  of  the  state,  and   this 


a.d.  1688-1713.      THE  PRUSSIAN   KINGDOM.  327 

power  was  uniformly  exercised,  not  for  selfish  objects,  but  for  the 
real  welfare  of  the  subjects.  Agriculture  and  commerce  were 
fostered  in  every  way  and  speedily  recovered  from  the  ravages  of 
the  war.  Marshes  were  drained,  and  under  the  elector  s  own 
supervision  a  canal,  which  bears  his  name,  was  cut  between  the 
Elbe  and  the  Oder.  To  repair  the  losses  in  population  foreigners 
were  encouraged  to  settle  in  the  country,  and  the  revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  brought  nearly  20,000  industrious  Huguenots 
into  the  elector's  territories. 

§  4.  Frederick  William's  successor,  Frederick  I.  (1688-1713)  is 
noteworthy  chiefly  because  he  obtained  the  title  of  king  of  Prussia. 
This  was  conferred  upon  him  in  1700  by  the  emperor  Leopold, 
who  was  anxious  to  obtain  allies  for  the  approaching  war  of  the 
Spanish  succession.  Before  this  Frederick  had  had  to  keep  his 
promise  about  restoring  Schwiebus,  but  he  protested  that  he  had 
been  deceived  in  the  matter,  and  that  therefore  the  renunciation 
of  the  Silesian  territories  was  invalid  and  null.  In  domestic 
government  the  king  departed  from  the  traditions  of  his  predecessor. 
Anxiety  to  support  his  new  dignity  led  liim  to  maintain  a  magni- 
ficent and  expensive  court,  and  this  produced  confusion  and  km 
in  the  finances.  Prussian  troops  played  a  distinguished  part 
in  the  great  war,  but  without  much  advantage  to  their  own 
country.  In  one  way  perhaps  Frederick's  reign  was  productive  of 
good.  It  brought  Prussia  more  into  contact  with  Europe  and 
contemporary  civilisation  than  at  any  previous  period.  The  king 
himself,  and  still  more  his  wife  Sophia  Charlotte,  the  sister  of 
George  I.  of  England,  were  disposed  to  encourage  learning  and 
literature.  The  university  of  Halle  was  founded,  and  LdibnltS 
and  other  distinguished  men  were  well  received  at  the  Prussian 
court. 

§  5.  The  work  of  the  Gre8t  Elector  was  carried  on  ami  to  some 
extent  completed  by  his  grandson,  Frederick  William  I.,  whose 
eccentricities,  which  almost  amounted  to  madness,  have  won  for 
him  a  name  in  history  which  he  really  deserved  on  other  grounds. 
His  first  act  on  his  accession  was  to  dismiss  the  numerous  court 
official!*  of  his  lather  and  to  establish  the  strictest  economy  both 
in  his  own  household  and  in  the  public  administration.  His  chief 
attention  throughout  his  reign  was  given  to  military  affairs,  to 
the  formation  and  training  of  a  large  standing  army.  Rejecting 
the  schemes  of  a  militia  cr  of  compulsory  service  for  all,  he 
arranged  that  each  district  should  furnish  a  certain  quota  of 
soldiers,  who  were  to  be  enlisted  by  force  if  necessary.  Artisans, 
tradespeople,  and  citizens  generally,  were  exempted.  In  this  way 
rather  more  than  half  of  the  army  was  raised.    The   rest  was 


328  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xvii. 

supplied  by  voluntary    enlistment,    which   was   carried    on   with 
great  vigour   in   every    part    of  Europe.      At    his   accession    the 
numbers  of  the  army  were  38,459,  in  the  year  of  his  death  they 
were  83,436.     Among    these    troops   the    most    careful   discipline 
was  maintained.      The  articles  of  war  which  had  been  drawn  up 
by  the    Great  Elector  were  re-issued,  but  the   punishments  were 
made  more  severe.     The  system  of  drill,  which  became  the  model 
for  Europe,  was  due  chiefly  to  Leopold  of  Anhalt-Dessau,  the  in- 
ventor of  the  iron  ramrod.     Before  this  time,  in  Prussia,  as  in  all 
other  countries,  the  chief  officers  had  the  appointment  to  inferior 
places.      Frederick  William  reserved  all  appointments  whatever  to 
himself,  and   was   careful    to   make  them  depend  on  merit  alone. 
Every  regiment  was  inspected  at   least  once  a   year  by  the  king 
in  person,  and  an  officer's  chance  of  promotion  depended  very  much 
on  the  impression  which  his  men  made.     The  king  himself  had  a 
special    regiment    of    guards    at   Potsdam,     which    it    was    his 
mania  to  fill  with  the  tallest  men  possible.     The  absurd  lengths 
to  which  he  carried  this  fad  not  only  brought  considerable  ridicule 
upon  him,  but  involved  him  in  expenses  which  he  would  never 
have   sanctioned  for  any  other   object,  and  also  gave  rise  to  un- 
pleasant quarrels  with  foreign  states,  whose  territories  were  often 
treated  with  scant  respect  by  zealous  Prussian  recruiting-sergeants. 
With  regard  to  the  army,  Frederick  William  merely  improved 
and  developed  the  old  established  levies  of  the  feudal  times.    The 
officers  were  in  almost  all  cases  nobles,  while  the  common  soldiers 
were  their  natural  subjects,  the  peasants.     But  his  civil  adminis- 
tration was  wholly  alien  to  feudalism.     The  officials  were  mostly 
chosen  from  the  burgher  class  and  acted  solely  as  the  instruments 
of  the  crown.     In  1722  the  system  was  fully  drawn  up  and  put 
into  working  the  next  year.      The  old  administrative  colleges  were 
abolished  and  their    place  taken  by  a  single  "  general  directory." 
This  was  appointed  to  superintend    every  conceivable   branch  of 
the  administration.     It  had  subordinate  chambers  in  the  provinces, 
and  the  councils  of  each  circle,  which  consisted  chiefly  of  nobles, 
were   placed  under  its   control.     Thus  a  centralised   government 
was  established  such  as  no  country  in  Europe  had  yet  experienced. 
No  detail  was   too   insignificant  for  the  king's  paternal  care  and 
attention.      He  compelled  people  to  build  houses  both  in   Berlin 
and  Potsdam,  where  many  of  the  streets  owe  their  origin  to  him. 
In  order  to   encourage   domestic  manufactures  he  imposed  severe 
penalties  on  all  who  wore  or  used  foreign  productions,  and  this, 
unlike  most  sumptuary  laws,  was  successful.     The  clothing  of  the 
army  provided  a  stable  market  for  the  Prussian  wool,  which  had 
hitherto  been   made  up   in  England.     To  agriculture   the  king 


a.d.  1713-1720.       FREDERICK  WILLIAM  L  329 

paid  special  attention.  By  improving  the  management  of  the 
royal  domains  he  obtained  a  great  increase  of  revenue,  and  his 
economic  habits  enabled  him  always  to  have  a  reserve  fund  at 
his  command.  In  the  last  reign  a  famine  had  desolated  Lithuania, 
he  re-peopled  it  with  foreign  emigrants.  The  Lutheran  peasants 
<  >f  Salzburg,  being  persecuted  by  their  bishop,  were  offered  a  refuge 
by  the  Prussian  king,  and  more  than  17,000  of  them  were  trans- 
ferred at  his  expense  to  their  new  home.  In  religious  matters 
Frederick  William  was  tolerant  of  every  form  of  belief  except  Roman 
Catholicism  and  scepticism.  He  himself  attended  the  Calvinist 
service  in  the  morning  and  the  Lutheran  in  the  afternoon.  In  fact, 
though  he  remained  nominally  a  Calvinist,  he  had  the  greatest 
repugnance  to  the  fundamental  tenet  of  predestination.  For  learning 
he  displayed  a  contempt  Which  is  to  be  explained  by  a  conscious- 
ness of  his  own  deficiency  in  that  respect.  The  scientific  society 
which  had  been  founded  by  his  father,  received  from  him  as  president 
one  Gundling,  a  man  of  considerable  attainments  but  worthless 
character,  whose  recommendation  to  the  king  was  his  admirable 
qualities  as  a  court  buffoon  and  laughing-stock.  On  the  whole, 
while  it  is  as  difficult  to  admire  Frederick  William's  administration 
as  his  character,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  Prussia  owes  to 
him  no  inconsiderable  debt. 

In  foreign  politics  Frederick  William  plays  a  much  less  distin- 
guished jKirt  than  either  of  his  two  immediate  predecessors.  It 
has  often  been  said  that  he  was  so  attached  to  his  machine-like 
troops  that  he  was  unwilling  to  expose  them  on  the  battle-field. 
But  the  real  explanation  Is  thai  he  had  absolutely  no  capacity 
for  foreign  affairs,  and  that  he  was  perfectly  conscious  of  it. 
His  great  anxiety  was  to  make  Prussia  perfectly  independent, 
and  he  was  afraid  of  risking  this  independence  by  engaging  in 
Euro|«an  complications,  in  which  more  capable  and  designing 
powers  might  use  him  as  a  tool.  The  Great  Elector  had  made  it 
a  cardinal  point  of  his  policy  to  take  part  in  all  great  affairs,  so 
as  to  make  the  influence  of  Prussia  felt  and  respected.  His 
grandson  pursued  an  exactly  opposite  plan,  and  in  all  negotiations 
tried  to  avoid  committing  himself  to  definite  obligations.  There 
was  only  one  war  in  which  he  took  part  as  a  principal,  that 
against  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden.  This  gave  him  his  one  great 
territorial  acquisition,  the  town  of  Stettin  and  the  adjacent  district, 
which  opened  the  Baltic  to  Brandenburg.  Before  this  the  treaty 
of  Utrecht  had  handed  over  Spanish  Gelderland  to  Prussia. 

After  the  conclusion  of  his  treaty  with  Sweden  in  1720,  Frederick 
William  adopted  a  neutral  policy,  and  his  troops  were  never 
employed  again  except  as  auxiliaries.  We  can  trace  several  motives 
16 


330  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvii. 

which  helped  to  direct  his  actions.  He  was  anxious  to  maintain 
the  balance  of  power,  as  the  best  security  of  Prussian  independence. 
At  the  same  time  he  inherited  the  old  Hohenzollern  loyalty  to 
the  empire,  and  was  eager  to  perform  his  obligations  as  a  German 
prince.  If  the  Austrian  government  had  acted  with  any  prudence 
or  foresight,  Prussia  might  have  been  made  a  devoted  ally  instead 
of  becoming  an  enemy  and  a  rival.  One  of  the  most  important 
points  in  Frederick  William's  reign  was  his  gradual  and  involuntary 
estrangement  from  the  emperor.  His  peaceful  tendencies  never 
made  him  lose  sight  of  that  territorial  aggrandisement  which  had 
hitherto  been  so  conspicuous  a  feature  of  Prussian  history.  The 
question  about  Jiilich  and  Berg  was  rapidly  coming  to  a  head. 
The  last  male  of  the  house  of  Neuburg  was  the  elector  palatine, 
Charles  Philip,  and  on  his  death  the  two  duchies  were  to  fall  to 
Brandenburg  by  the  treaty  of  1666.  But  the  elector  palatine  was 
anxious  to  break  the  treaty  and  to  leave  his  territories  undivided 
to  the  collateral  branch  of  Sulzbach.  Frederick  William  spared  no 
pains  to  obtain  guarantees  for  what  he  considered  his  unquestion- 
able rights.  But  the  legal  question  was  complicated  by  religious 
differences.  Diisseldorf,  the  capital  of  Jiilich,  was  regarded  as  a 
border  fortress  of  Roman  Catholicism,  and  the  Catholic  powers 
were  averse  to  allowing  it  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  most 
powerful  Protestant  prince  in  Germany.  This  explains  the  reluc- 
tance of  the  emperor  to  comply  with  the  king  of  Prussia's  wishes 
on  this  subject. 

In  1725  came  the  first  great  crisis  in  European  relations,  caused 
by  the  activity  of  Ripperda  and  the  alliance  of  Vienna  between 
Spain  and  Austria.  In  a  personal  interview  with  George  I.  and 
Townshend,  Frederick  William  was  convinced  that  the  balance  of 
power  was  in  danger,  and  the  promise  that  England  would  support 
his  claims  on  Jiilich  and  Berg  induced  him  to  conclude  the  treaty  of 
Hanover  with  France  and  England.  But  no  sooner  had  he  taken 
this  decisive  step  than  he  repented  of  it.  He  felt  that  if  war  arose 
his  territories  would  be  the  first  to  suffer.  He  saw  that  the 
maritime  powers  aimed  chiefly  at  the  suppression  of  the  Ostend 
Company  and  of  Spanish  commerce,  matters  in  which  he  had 
no  interest  whatever.  The  characteristic  doubt  arose  in  his  mind, 
whether  England,  presuming  on  family  connexions,  was  not  using 
him  as  an  instrument  for  its  own  designs.  While  he  was 
thus  hesitating,  matters  were  decided  by  the  arrival  of  an 
Austrian  envoy,  Count  Seckendorf,  with  whom  he  had  an  old  ac- 
quaintance. Seckendorf,  who  had  been  sent  for  that  express 
purpose,  succeeded  in  detaching  the  king  from  the  league  of  Hanover. 
By   the  treaty  of  Wusterhausen  (Oct.   12,  1726),   the  emperor 


a.d.  1725-1730.     PRUSSIAN  FOREIGN  POLICY.  331 

pledged  himself  to  do  what  he  could  to  induce  the  elector  palatine 
to  recognise  the  Prussian  claims  to  Julich  and  Berg,  and  Frederick 
William  accepted  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  and  promised  to  assist 
Charles  VI.  if  his  German  territories  were  attacked.  If  Prussia 
could  have  been  induced  to  throw  itself  altogether  on  the  Austrian 
side,  the  emperor  would  probably  have  prosecuted  the  war.  But  as 
this  was  impossible,  Charles  VI.  had  to  content  himself  wit h  what 
he  had  gained,  and  in  1727  he  threw  over  Spain,  and  signed  a  pre- 
liminary treaty  with  the  allies.  Meanwhile  Seckendorf  continued 
his  activity  at  Berlin,  and  in  December,  1728,  a  secret  treaty  was 
arranged  which  was  a  more  definite  confirmation  of  the  terms  of 
Wusterhau>en.  Frederick  William  promised  10,000  men  for  the 
defence  of  the  emperor's  German  territories,  and  again  guaranteed  the 
Pragmatic  StJiction,  stipulating  only  that  the  archduchess  must 
marry  a  German  and  not  a  Spaniard  or  any  other  foreigner.  For  the 
next  few  years  the  policy  of  Prussia  was  really  dictated  from  Vienna. 
The  king's  most  trusted  minister,  Grumbkow,  was  in  receipt  of  an 
Austrian  pension,  and  he  and  Seckendoif  played  into  each  other's 
hands.  To  such  an  extent  was  the  intrigue  carried,  that  they  gained 
over  the  Prussian  minister  in  London  and  induced  him  to  send  garbled 
reports,  so  as  to  increase  the  king's  alienation  from  England. 

§  6.  These  years  are  the  darkest  period  of  Frederick  William's 
reign.  His  Austrian  connexion  and  the  influence  of  Grumbkow  and 
Seckendorf  involved  him  in  tpiarrels  with  his  own  family  which 
became  the  chhf  subject  of  contemporary  gossip,  and  have  there! ion 
become  most  conspicuous  in  later  records.  Frederick  William  was 
closely  connected  with  the  house  of  Hanover.  His  mother  was  a 
sister  and  his  wife  a  daughter  of  George  I.,  and  the  latter,  Sophia 
Dorothea,  was  extremely  anxious  to  continue  the  connexion  by 
marrying  her  eldest  daughter  to  George  II.'s  son,  Frederick  Prince 
of  Wales,  and  her  own  eldest  son,  the  crown  prince  Frederick,  to 
the  English  princess  Amelia.  This  double  marriage  was  at  first 
acceptable  to  Frederick  William,  and  negotiations  went  on  about  it 
for  a  long  time. 

But  the  close  alliance  with  Austria  involved  a  separation  from 
England,  especially  after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  Seville  in 
1729.  There  were  also  other  grounds  of  quarrel,  in  the  measures 
taken  by  Hanover  to  put  a  stop  to  Prussian  enlistments,  in  the  dis- 
putes about  the  property  left  by  George  I.'s  wife,  and  the  dis- 
satisfaction expressed  in  Hanover  at  the  Prussian  claims  to  succeed 
in  East  F'riesland.  It  was  just  at  an  unfortunate  juncture  that  Sir 
Charles  Hotham  arrived  in  Berlin  with  formal  proposals  about  the 
double  marriage  (1730).  Frederick  William  was  willing  enough  to 
marry  his  daughter  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  but  he  was  determined 


332  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvii. 

not  to  allow  family  alliances  to  influence  his  policy,  and  therefore 
refused  to  make  any  agreement  about  the  marriage  of  the  crown 
prince.  The  English  government,  whose  object  was  naturally  to 
secure  the  alliance  of  Prussia,  would  not  agree  to  one  marriage 
without  the  other.  As  a  last  resource  Hotham  disclosed  the  relations 
between  Grumbkow  and  the  envoy  in  London,  Keichenbach,  which 
had  been  recently  discovered.  But  this  step  had  a  wholly  unexpected 
result.  Instead  of  resenting  Grumbkow's  treachery,  the  king  fell 
into  a  violent  rage  at  the  interference  of  a  foreign  government 
between  himself  and  his  ministers.  Hotham  was  dismissed  with 
insult,  and  though  apology  was  made  for  this,  the  negotiation  was 
altogether  broken  off. 

This  was  a  great  blow  to  Sophia  Dorothea,  a  woman  of  scarcely 
inferior  obstinacy  to  her  husband.  She  clung  resolutely  to  the 
hope  of  the  English  alliance,  and  induced  both  her  son  and  daughter 
to  promise  that  they  would  never  make  other  marriages  than  those 
which  had  been  proposed.  Frederick  William,  a  despot  to  the  core, 
was  thrown  into  an  ungovernable  fury  by  this  opposition  in  his  own 
family.  He  had  already  grounds  of  displeasure  with  his  eldest  son, 
who  had  developed  a  character  and  habits  very  different  from  his 
father's,  and  who  preferred  effeminate  pursuits  like  literature  and 
music  to  drilling  and  hunting.  The  king  did  not  hesitate  to  vent 
his  rage  in  acts  of  brutal  ferocity  and  violence.  Not  only  Frederick 
but  also  Wilhelmina  could  hardly  venture  into  their  father's 
presence  without  the  certainty  of  blows  and  insults.  On  one  occasion 
Frederick  William  took  his  son  with  him  to  a  great  review  held  at 
Muhlberg  by  Augustus  of  Saxony  and  Poland,  and  there  publicly 
flogged  him  and  taunted  him  with  cowardice  for  his  submission. 
This  last  indignity  was  too  much  for  the  high  spirited  prince,  who 
determined  to  escape  from  a  life  that  was  no  longer  tolerable.  His 
plans  were  concerted  with  a  favourite  companion,  Lieutenant  von 
Katte.  Advantage  was  to  be  taken  of  the  king's  journey  into  Upper 
Germany  to  escape  from  the  Rhine  country  into  Holland.  Every- 
thing was  prepared  to  make  the  attempt  from  Steinfurt,  near 
Mannheim,  but  the  project  was  discovered  by  the  vigilance  of  those 
who  had  been  appointed  to  watch  the  prince.  Frederick  William 
was  almost  driven  out  of  his  mind  by  this  last  instance  of  insubordin- 
ation. He  was  convinced  that  his  son  was  concerned  in  a  secret 
plot  against  his  crown  and  possibly  his  life,  and  he  determined  to 
have  him  tried  as  an  officer  guilty  of  desertion.  Frederick  was  sent 
back  into  Prussia  and  closely  imprisoned  in  the  fortress  of  Ciistrin. 

His  accomplice,  Von  Katte,  was  also  arrested  and  condemned  to 
perpetual  imprisonment.  But  the  king,  enraged  at  the  clemency 
of  the  sentence,  ordered  that  he  should  be  executed  before  hi-  son's 


a.d.  1730-1734.         THE  CROWN   PRINCE.  333 

windows.  Meanwhile  the  court-martial  which  sat  on  the  crown- 
prince  sentenced  him  to  death  for  desertion.  Great  fears  were 
entertained  that  the  king  might  play  the  part  of  Brutus,  and 
numerous  princes,  including  the  emperor  himself,  intervened  on 
behalf  of  the  prince.  At  last  he  was  induced  to  relent,  but  it 
was  a  year  before  he  would  see  his  son  again,  and  even  after  a 
partial  reconciliation  had  been  effected,  it  lequired  a  great  deal  of 
self-control  and  no  small  amount  of  hypocrisy  on  Frederick's  part 
to  avoid  an  outbreak  of  the  quarrel.  All  prospect  of  the  English 
alliance  was  of  course  at  an  end,  especially  as  the  king  suspected  the 
English  minister  of  encouraging  insubordination  in  his  family.  In 
spite  of  the  anger  of  the  queen,  Wilhelmina  was  married  to  a  junior 
Hohenzollern,  Frederick  of  Baireuth,  while  a  wife  was  found  for  the 
crows  prince  in  Elizabeth  Charlotte  of  Brunswick-Be  vi  in,  who  was  a 
niece  of  Charles  VL's  wife.  This  marriage,  which  strengthened  the 
connexion  between  Austria  and  Prussia,  was  settled  in  1732  and 
solemnised  in  the  next  year.  The  crown  prince  now  obtain*  <1  a 
separate  establishment  at  Kheinsberg,  where  he  was  able  to  carry 
out  his  own  scheme  of  life  without  coming  into  collision  with  the 
iron  will  of  his  father. 

§  7.  In  1733  the  death  of  Augustus  II.  kindled  the  war  of  the  Polish 
succession,  which  was  of  great  importance  t<»  the  history  of  Prussia, 
especially  as  it  broke  off  the  close  alliance  that  had  existed  for  the 
last  eight  years  with  Austria.  Frederick  William  had  considerable 
interest  in  the  Polish  question,  and  was  especially  anxious  to  prevent 
the  accession  of  the  late  king's  son,  Augustus  III.,  as  the  union  of 
Saxony  and  Poland  was  disadvantageous  to  Prussia,  lie  himself 
was  not  averse  to  the  election  of  Stanislaus  Leczinski,  but  as  this 
was  distasteful  to  both  Austria  and  Russia,  he  accepted  the  treaty 
of  Lowenwolde  (Dec.  1732)  which  aimed  at  procuring  the  crown  for 
Emanuel  of  Portugal.  Events  speedily  made  this  arrangement 
impossible,  and  before  long  Charles  VL  was  induced  by  hoMility  to 
France  and  the  desire  to  get  rid  of  a  formidable  opponent  of  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  to  take  up  the  cause  of  Augustus.  This  was  a 
great  blow  to  the  Prussian  king,  but  the  French  invasion  of  the 
empire  kept  him  firm  to  his  alliance,  and  on  condition  that  his 
claims  on  Berg  should  be  again  confirmed,  he  offered  to  send 
30,000  troops  to  act  on  the  Rhine.  To  his  intense  surprise  the 
offer  was  rejected.  Still  he  loyally  sent  the  10,000  men  that  had 
been  arranged  for  in  1728,  and  himself  with  his  son  joined  Prince 
Eugene  in  the  fruitless  campaign  of  1734.  In  the  next  year  Charles 
VI.  made  a  peace  which  in  two  points  ran  exactly  counter  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Prussian  king.  The  integrity  of  the  empire  was 
sacrificed  by   the  cession  of  Lorraine,  and    the  elector  of  Saxony 


334  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvh. 

was  acknowledged  as  king  of  Poland.  To  make  matters  worse,  the 
preliminaries  of  the  treaty  were  not  communicated  to  Frederick 
William,  and  he  had  to  le  irn  them  independently.  The  Viennese 
government  actually  went  so  far  as  to  blame  the  conduct  of  the 
Prussian  troops  in  the  late  campaign.  To  these  slights  was  added 
a  growing  coolness  on  the  subject  of  Julich  and  Berg.  The  emperor 
was  now  allied  with  France,  and  France  had  always  supported 
the  wishes  of  the  elector  palatine.  It  became  evident  that  the 
numerous  pledges  on  the  emperor's  part  were  entirely  worthless, 
and  that  the  Prussian  rights  would  be  little  regarded  in  comparison 
with  the  possibility  of  inducing  the  elector  palatine  to  accept  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction.  Frederick  William's  natural  irritation  was 
increased  by  the  thought  that  he  had  been  a  dupe  all  along,  that 
Austria  had  always  regarded  Prussia  as  an  inferior  vassal  state 
instead  of  an  independent  ally,  and  that  in  his  blind  adherence 
to  a  humiliating  connexion  he  had  involvtd  himself  in  all  the 
miseries  of  a  family  quarrel.  It  was  under  the  influence  of  these 
feelings  that  he  one  day  pointed  to  his  son  with  the  prophetic 
words  :  "  There  stands  one  who  will  avenge  me." 

A  last  attempt  was  made  to  induce  the  emperor  to  fulfil  his 
engagements.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  Turkish  war  Prussian 
assistance  was  off.-red  on  condition  that  the  treaty  of  1728  should 
be  confirmed,  but  the  offer  was  refused.  In  fact,  Charles  VI.,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  practically  decided  to  take  the  opposite  side,  and 
early  in  1739  he  concluded  his  arrangement  with  France,  by  which 
provisional  occupation  of  the  disputed  territories  was  secured  for 
two  years  to  the  prince  of  Sulzbach.  Repeated  disappointments 
induced  Frederick  William  to  depart  altogether  from  his  previous 
policy  and  to  open  direct  negotiations  with  France,  the  power  to 
which  he  had  hitherto  displayed  a  patriotic  antipathy.  Fleury  was 
always  willing  to  have  two  alternatives  to  choose  between,  and  he 
ofl'ered  to  secure  to  Prussia  part  of  the  duchies  when  they  became 
vacant.  This  was  accepted  by  the  king,  on  the  ground  that  a  part 
was  better  than  nothing,  and  a  secret  treaty  was  arranged  at  the 
Hague  to  this  effect.  Frederick  William  would  have  been  placed  in 
a  very  difficult  position  if  the  question  had  come  up  for  solution 
in  his  lifetime  and  he  had  found  himself  in  open  hostility  to  the 
emperor.  But  the  elector  palatine  survived  him,  and  he  escaped 
the  turmoil  and  confusion  that  followed  on  his  death  (31  May, 
1640).  The  crown  of  Prussia  passed  to  his  son,  a  far  abler,  far 
more  cultivated,  and  at  the  same  time  a  far  less  honest  prince,  who 
had  early  been  trained  not  only  to  endure  hardship  but  also  to 
practise  deceit,  and  it  is  difficult  to  decide  which  of  the  two  lessons 
was  the  more  useful  to  him. 


CHAPTER  XVin. 

THE  WAR  OF  THE  AUSTRIAN  SUCCESSION. 

Maritime  War  between  England  and  Spain. — §  1.  Mercantile 
rivalry;  the  right  of  search  and  Jenkins' ear ;  outbreak  of  war;  fall 
of  Walpole.  11.  Thk  First  Silesian  War. — §  2.  Accession  and 
attitude  of  Frederick  the  Great.  §  3.  Question  of  the  Austrian  suc- 
cession; Maria  Theresa;  other  claimants.  §  4.  Attitude  of  the 
European  powers;  Prussian  invasion  of  Silesia;  battle  of  Mollwitz. 
§  5.  Prospects  of  the  imperial  election ;  attitude  of  France ;  Belleisle's 
schemes;  Prussia  joins  France.  §  6.  Critical  position  of  Maria 
Theresa;  conduct  of  the  Hungarians;  convention  of  Klein  Schnellen- 
dorf.  §  7.  French  and  Bavarians  take  Prague ;  Frederick  breaks  the 
convention  ;  election  of  Charles  VII.  §  8.  Frederick's  Moravian  cam- 
paign,  1742;  its  failure;  negotiations;  battle  of  Chotusitz;  treaties 
of  Berlin  and  Dresden.  111.  Period  op  Prussian  Neutrality. — 
§  9.  War  in  Bavaria  and  Bohemia,  1742.  §  10.  Affairs  in  Italy; 
attitude  of  Sardinia;  Italian  campaign  of  1742.  §  11.  Death  of 
Fleury ;  the  French  ministry ;  position  of  Maria  Theresa.  §  12. 
Campaign  of  1743  in  Bavaria,  Western  Germany,  and  Italy ;  treaty  of 
Worms;  treaty  of  Fontainebleau.  §  13.  Campaign  of  1744  in  the 
Netherlands  and  on  the  Rhine.  IV.  The  Second  Silesian  War. — 
§  14.  Frederick's  attitude  while  neutral ;  his  negotiations  with  France  ; 
he  resumes  the  war.  §  15.  Maria  Theresa  determines  to  recover 
Silesia ;  the  Prussians  in  Bohemia ;  the  Austrians  retreat  from  the 
Rhine;  Frederick  driven  from  Bohemia;  Charles  VII.  recovers  Bavaria; 
Italian  campaign  of  1744.  §  16.  Death  of  Charles  VII. ;  Maximilian 
Joseph  concludes  the  treaty  of  Fiissen;  attitude  of  Saxony.  §  17. 
Campaign  of  1745  in  the  Netherlands;  battle  of  Fontenoy;  Austrian 
invasion  of  Silesia ;  battle  of  Hohenfriedberg ;  convention  of  Hanover 
between  England  and  Prussia ;  election  of  Francis  I.  to  the  empire. 
§  18.  Battle  of  Soor ;  winter  campaign  ;  Prussian  conquest  of  Saxony ; 
the  treaty  of  Dresden  ;  end  of  Second  Silesian  war.  V.  Conclusion 
of  the  War. — §  19.  Italian  campaign  of  1745.  §  20.  D'Argenson's 
scheme  for  the  settlement  of  Italy  ;  its  import  and  its  failure.  §  21. 
Italian  campaign  of  1746 ;  accession  of  Ferdinand  VI.  of  Spain.  §  22. 
Campaign  of  1746  in  the  Netherlands ;  invasions  of  France ;  negoti- 
ations at  Breda.  §  23.  French  invasion  of  Holland ;  William  IV. 
becomes  Stadtholder ;  failure  of  the  siege  of  Genoa ;  French  repulsed 
from  Italy ;  negotiations  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  §  24.  Campaign  of 
1748;  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle;   results  of  the  war.     VI.  Russia  and 


336  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xviii. 

the  Northern  States. — §  25.  Reign  of  Anne  ;  revolutions  in  Russia 
in  1740  and  1741 ;  accession  of  Elizabeth.  §  2i>.  Foreign  policy  of 
Russia ;  war  with  Sweden ;  conquest  of  Finland ;  treaty  of  Abo ; 
Swedish  affairs.  §  27.  Alienation  of  Russia  from  Prussia;  alliance 
with  Austria. 

I.  Maritime  War  between  England  and  Spain. 
§  1.  In  the  fifth  decade  of  the  18th  century  a  period  of  open  war 
succeeded  to  the  confused  diplomacy  which  had  occupied  Europe 
since  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  The  occasion  of  this  war  was  the 
disputed  succession  to  the  last  male  of  the  Hapsburg  line  in 
Austria,  just  as  the  former  great  war  had  followed  the  death  of  the 
last  male  of  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs.  But  before  this  occasion 
arose,  a  smaller  conflict  had  broken  out  between  England  and 
Spain,  which  requires  a  few  words  of  explanation.  England  was 
still  governed  by  Walpole,  who  had  been  at  the  head  of  a  Whig 
ministry  for  twenty  years,  and  who  had  made  it  one  of  his  chief  ob- 
jects to  keep  the  country  at  peace.  There  were  two  grand  motives 
for  his  peace  policy  :  to  allow  the  country  to  recover  from  the  exhaus- 
tion of  the  Spanish  Succession  war,  and  to  deprive  the  Jacobites  of 
the  support  of  foreign  powers.  But  powerful  as  the  minister  was, 
he  was  unable  to  continue  this  policy  in  the  face  of  a  growing 
desire  among  the  people  to  avenge  the  insults  offered  by  Spain  to  the 
maritime  power  of  England,  Spain  was  still  ruled  nominally  by 
Philip  V.,  but  really  by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth  of  Parma,  the 
"  termagant "  as  Carlyle  calls  her,  who  had  kept  Europe  embroiled 
by  her  constant  efforts  to  obtain  Italian  principalities  for  her 
children.  Besides  the  dynastic  ambition  of  the  queen,  Spanish  policy- 
was  directed  to  another  object,  the  revival  of  that  naval  and 
commercial  prosperity  which  the  country  had  not  enjoyed  since  the 
reign  of  Philip  II.  The  great  obstacle  in  the  way  was  the  irritat- 
ing claim  advanced  by  England  to  absolute  supremacy  by  sea. 
Common  jealousy  of  England  was  powerful  enough  to  terminate  the 
ill-feeling  between  France  and  Spain  which  had  been  aroused 
during  the  regency  of  Orleans,  and  in  1733  a  Family  Compact  was 
concluded  between  the  two  branches  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  by 
which  they  undertook  to  support  each  other  in  attacking  the  naval 
supremacy  of  England.  The  treaty  was  kept  so  carefully  secret 
that  no  hint  of  it  reached  the  Knglish  ministers,  but  it  un- 
doubtedly encouraged  the  Spaniards  to  bolder  measures  in  the 
maintenance  of  what  they  considered  their  undoubted  rights. 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht  had  given  England  the  right  of  importing 
negroes  into  the  Spanish  colonies,  but  had  restricted  the  general 
trade  to  the  sending  once  a  year  of  a  single  ship  of  600  tons  burden. 
This  restriction  had  been  evaded  by  the  rise  of  a  system  of  smuggling 


a.d.  1739-1742.      WAR  OF  JENKINS'  EAR.  337 

on  the  part  of  the  English  traders  which  was  the  chief  grievance  of 
which  Spain  complained.  To  put  a  stop  to  it  the  Spaniards  rigidly- 
exercised  their  right  of  search,  often  seizing  British  vessels  on  the 
high  seas  and  treating  the  crews  with  unjustifiable  brutality. 
This  gave  rise  to  the  greatest  ill-feeling  between  the  two  nations, 
which  was  increased  by  other  colonial  disputes  about  the  right  of 
gathering  logwood  in  Carapeachy  Bay  and  about  the  frontiers  of 
Florida.  Stories  of  the  atrocities  committed  by  Spanish  sailors 
reached  England,  where  they  roused  a  tempest  of  popular  indigna- 
tion which  was  encouraged  by  the  opposition  in  order  to  discredit 
Wal[>ole.  The  most  famous  of  these  stories  was  that  of  Jenkins,  an 
English  captain,  who  maintained  that  he  had  been  tortured  and  his 
ears  cut  off  by  a  Spanish  guarda  costa.  The  truth  of  this  statement 
has  never  been  established,  but  it  was  sufficient  to  rouse  the  people 
to  a  furious  demand  for  reprisals.  Walpole  was  forced  against  his  will 
to  declare  war  in  October,  1739.  The  hostilities  which  followed 
were  insignificant.  During  the  long  peace  the  naval  organisation 
of  England  had  fallen  into  disorder,  and  the  conduct  of  the  war  was 
impeded  by  party  jealousies.  Admiral  Vernon  captured  Porto 
Bello  to  the  intense  delight  of  the  opposition.  Anson  plundered 
Paita,  and  with  the  Centurion  made  his  famous  voyage  round  the 
world.  These  were  the  only  successes.  An  attack  upon  Carthagena 
was  repulsed  with  great  loss,  and  the  war  was  soon  swallowed  up  in 
the  general  European  conflict.  Its  chief  importance  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  helped  to  direct  English  policy  in  the  Austrian 
question,  and  that  it  led  to  the  overthrow  of  Walpole,  who 
retired  from  the  ministry  in  January,  1742. 

II.  The  First  Silesian  War. 

§  2.  Frederick  William  of  Prussia  died  on  the  31st  of  May,  1740, 
a  year  that  was  also  fatal  to  Pope  Clement  XII.,  the  Emperor 
Charles  VI.,  and  the  Czarina  Anue  of  Russia.  Great  expectations 
had  been  formed  of  the  young  king  of  Prussia,  Frederick  II.,  who 
succeeded  his  father  at  the  age  of  28.  For  the  last  few  years  he 
had  lived  in  retirement  at  Kheinsberg,  apparently  absorbed  in 
literary  pursuits  and  in  correspondence  with  Voltaire  and  other 
French  men  of  letters.  Men  built  Utopian  anticipations  upon  the 
prospect  of  seeing  a  philosopher  ascend  a  throne.  His  previous 
life,  and  above  all,  his  famous  quarrel  with  his  father,  led  men  to 
expect  a  complete  reversal  of  the  existing  system  of  Government. 
But  events  proved  the  falsity  of  these  hopes.  Frederick  was 
perhaps  the  only  man  in  Europe  who  could  fully  appreciate  the 
merits  of  his  father's  system,  which  he  determined  strictly  to 
16* 


338  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviil 

uphold,  while  removing  the  excesses  that  had  excited  derision, 
The  army  was  actually  increased,  but  the  costly  regiment  of  giants 
at  Potsdam  was  abolished.  Economy  was  still  made  a  paramount 
object  in  both  the  court  and  the  public  administration,  though  the 
former  was  somewhat  extended  and  improved.  Ministers  were 
retained  in  their  offices,  and  the  friends  of  the  crown  prince  found 
that  merit  rather  than  past  services  could  gain  favour  from  the 
king.  From  the  first  Frederick  maintained  that  absolute  supremacy 
over  every  department  which  had  been  the  most  striking 
characteristic  of  his  father's  system.  The  changes  that  were  made 
were  only  superficial,  although  they  clearly  illustrate  the  difference 
in  character  between  Frederick  and  his  father.  Perfect  liberty  was 
allowed  to  the  press,  torture  was  abolished  except  in  a  few  carefully 
specified  cases,  and  complete  toleration  was  assured  to  all  religious 
beliefs  so  long  as  their  holders  behaved  as  good  subjects  and 
abstained  from  proselytism.  In  foreign  politics  the  first  four 
months  of  Frederick's  reign  are  important  only  as  proving  his 
determination  to  use  for  ambitious  purposes  the  forces  collected  by 
his  father.  His  first  object  was  naturally  the  enforcement  of  those 
claims  upon  Jiilich  and  Berg  which  had  absorbed  Frederick  William's 
attention.  The  Elector  Palatine  was  now  eighty  years  old,  so  that 
the  succession  question  must  come  up  for  decision  before  long.  It 
was  with  this  in  view  that  Frederick  started  to  travel  through  his 
western  territories  and  paid  the  famous  visit  to  Strasburg.  The 
only  result  of  the  journey  was  a  growing  conviction  that  nothing 
but  opposition  was  to  be  expected  from  Vienna,  and  this  was 
strengthened  by  the  emperor's  attitude  in  a  dispute  between  the 
king  and  the  bishop  of  Liege.  In  this  Frederick  convinced  Europe 
of  his  determination  to  maintain  his  rights  at  all  hazards,  and  the 
threat  of  invasion  forced  the  bishop  to  purchase  the  disputed 
succession  to  Heristal  by  the  payment  of  200,000  thalers.  Soon 
afterwards  a  wholly  new  direction  was  given  to  Frederick's 
ambition  by  the  news  of  Charles  VI.'s  death  (20  October,  1740). 

§  3.  Two  great  questions  were  raised  by  this  event ;  the  succession 
to  the  Empire,  which  was  nominally  elective,  but  since  1438  had  been 
practically  hereditary  in  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  the  succession 
to  the  Austrian  territories,  which  were  absolutely  hereditary,  but 
had  never  yet  fallen  under  the  rule  of  a  woman.  This  latter 
question  had  absorbed  the  attention  of  Charles  VI.  for  the  last 
tw«  nty  years,  and  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  gave  the  inheritance  to 
his  elder  daughter,  Maria  Theresa.  Her  hand  had  been  a  great 
prize  in  the  matrimonial  market,  but  her  father's  wish  and  her  own 
inclination  had  chosen  as  her  husband  Francis  of  Lorraine,  who  had 
found  it  necessary  to  purchase  his  bride  by  exchanging  his  heredi- 


a.d.  1740.  MARIA  THERESA.  339 

tary  duchy  for  the  alien  state  of  Tuscany.  The  hope  of  a  male  heir 
had  kept  Charles  VI.  from  seeking  the  election  of  his  son-in-law  as 
King  of  the  Romans  during  his  own  lifetime,  and  this  omission  left 
the  imperial  succession  to  the  interests  or  caprices  of  the  electors. 

In  the  Austrian  territories  Maria  Theresa  assumed  the  govern- 
ment without  any  opposition.  The  young  queen,  who  was  just 
twenty- three  years  old,  found  her  position  the  reverse  of  encourag- 
ing. The  well-armed  troops  and  the  full  treasury  which  Eugene 
had  recommended  as  the  best  guarantee  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction, 
were  non-existent.  The  finances  were  in  the  most  lamentable 
condition,  and  the  army,  partly  through  want  of  funds  and  partly 
through  the  disasters  of  the  Turkish  war,  contained  only  half  its 
numbers.  The  soldiers  were  scattered  through  the  numerous  and 
distant  provinces,  and  were  dispirited  by  recent  reverses,  while  the 
most  distinguished  of  the  Austrian  generals  were  expiating  their 
ill-success  in  prison.  To  assist  her  in  the  work  of  government  the 
queen  had  no  one  to  rely  upon  except  the  octogenarian  ministers  of 
her  father.  Her  only  strength  Iky  in  her  own  character.  In  spite 
of  her  feminine  weakness  and  her  absolute  inexperience,  she  was 
endowed  with  a  resolute  courage,  which  enabled  her  to  win  the 
affection  of  her  subjects,  and  to  save  Austria  from  misfortunes  that 
at  one  time  seemed  inevitable.  If  not  the  most  successful,  she  is 
certainly  the  most  attractive  sovereign  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  her  memory  is  still  affectionately  cherished  in  the  country  that 
she  ruled.  The  first  object  that  she  set  before  herself  was  to 
procure  her  husband's  election  as  emperor,  and  to  give  him  the 
requisite  rank  and  dignity  she  named  him  as  joint  ruler  of  the 
Austrian  States.  Her  next  care  was  to  reform  the  army  and  the 
finances,  in  order  to  meet  any  |»ossible  danger  from  without,  and 
she  inaugurated  her  reign  by  an  act  of  justice  and  mercy  when  she 
released  the  imprisoned  generals,  Seckendorf,  Neipperg  and  Wallis. 
But  before  time  had  been  given  to  prosecute  the  needful  reforms, 
the  new  government  was  called  upon  to  confront  difficulties  and 
dangers  far  more  serious  than  had  been  anticipated. 

The  Pragmatic  Sanction  had  been  guaranteed  over  and  over 
again  by  almost  all  the  European  Powers,  and  it  was  now  to  be 
discovered  that  Charles  VI.'s  precautions  were  as  useless  as  they 
had  been  costly.  The  first  opposition  came  from  Charles  Albert, 
elector  of  Bavaria,  who  was  closely  connected  with  the  Hapsburgs 
through  his  wife,  the  second  daughter  of  Joseph  I.  But  his  claim 
had  an  older  basis  than  this  marriage.  In  1546  Charles  V.  had 
purchased  the  support  of  the  duke  of  Bavaria  against  the  League  of 
Schmalkalde  by  a  treaty,  which  secured  the  eventual  succession  in 
Austria  to  the  Bavarian  line.     The  then  duke,  Albert,  had  married 


340  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xviii 

Anne,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  L,  whose  will  was  supposed  to  have 
named  her  descendants  as  heirs  in  case  of  the  male  line  of  Haps- 
burg  becoming  extinct.  Directly  after  Charles  VI.'s  death  the 
Bavarian  envoy  at  Vienna  made  a  formal  protest  against  the 
accession  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  demanded  to  see  the  will  of 
Ferdinand  I.  The  will  was  accordingly  produced,  and  it  was  found 
to  provide  for  the  extinction  not  of  "  male,"  but  of  "  lawful " 
descendants.  Charles  Albert,  however,  maintained  that  the  docu- 
ment had  been  tampered  with,  recalled  his  envoy,  and  made  no 
secret  of  his  intention  to  enforce  his  claim.  He  was  also  the  most 
prominent  candidate  for  the  vacant  Imperial  throne. 

Of  the  other  claims  the  most  important  were  those  advanced  by 
Saxony  and  Spain.  Augustus  III.,  elector  of  Saxony,  had  guaran- 
teed the  Pragmatic  Sanction  in  1733,  to  obtain  Charles  VI.'s 
support  in  his  candidature  for  the  Polish  crown.  In  spite  of  this 
he  brought  forward  the  claim  of  his  wife,  the  elder  daughter  of 
Joseph  I.,  protested  against  the  appointment  of  Maria  Theresa's 
husband  as  joint  ruler  in  Austria,  and  loudly  maintained  that  he 
could  not  be  allowed  to  give  the  Bohemian  vote  at  the  Imperial 
election.  From  the  first  it  was  evident  that  the  Saxon  claim  was 
a  manifest  breach  of  treaty  obligations,  and  that  it  was  only 
advanced  to  be  bought  off  by  some  concession  from  one  or  other  of 
the  competitors.  The  Spanish  claim  was  still  more  baseless,  but 
more  formidable.  Philip  V.,  instigated  by  his  ambitious  wife,  did 
not  scruple  to  appeal  to  the  old  aiTangement  between  the  two 
Hapsburg  lines,  in  defiance  of  which  he  had  obtained  his  crown- 
The  Spanish  Hapsburgs  were  to  inherit  when  the  Austrian  branch 
died  out,  he  was  the  heir  of  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs,  therefore  the 
Austrian  territories  ought  to  go  to  him.  It  was  obvious,  not  only 
that  this  claim  was  absurd,  but  that  all  Europe  would  combine 
agaiust  it,  and  it  was  never  seriously  considered.  But  it  gave  Spain 
the  desired  opportunity  to  reclaim  those  Italian  provinces  which 
Charles  VI.  had  obtained  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht.  Elizabeth  had 
already  won  the  two  Sicilies  for  Don  Carlos,  she  now  hoped  to 
acquire  a  similar  principality  for  her  second  son,  Don  Philip,  in 
Lombardy  and  Tuscany. 

§  4.  It  was  certain  that  the  succession,  both  in  Austria  and  the 
Empire,  would  not  be  settled  without  the  intervention  of  the  great 
powers  of  Europe.  The  most  important  of  these,  not  only  in 
itself,  but  also  in  its  relations  to  the  rival  claimants,  was  France. 
After  long  hesitation  France  had,  in  1735,  guaranteed  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction  in  the  amplest  terms ;  and  on  this  guarantee  Charles  VI. 
had  relied  with  implicit  confidence  during  the  last  five  years  of  his 
reign.     On  the  other  hand,  France  was  closely  allied  by  gratitude 


a.d.  1740.  THE  AUSTRIAN  SUCCESSION.  341 

to  Bavaria,  and  by  relationship  to  Spain.  The  all-powerful 
minister,  Fleury,  was  inclined  by  temperament  to  evade  these 
difficulties  by  pursuing  a  waiting  policy,  but  it  was  doubtful 
whether  he  would  be  able  to  resist  the  strong  martial  party  which 
was  rapidly  gaining  ground  at  the  French  Court.  Next  to  France 
the  most  important  of  European  powers  was  England.  As  elector 
of  Hanover,  George  II.  was  bound  to  a  close  alliance  with  the 
house  of  Hapsburg,  while  English  interests,  especially  during  the 
war  with  the  Spanish  Bourbons,  made  it  imperative  to  maintain 
the  power  of  Austria  as  a  balance  to  that  of  France.  There  was, 
therefore,  no  doubt  that  England  would  fulfil  its  obligation  to 
support  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  and  that  Holland  would,  as  usual, 
follow  in  the  wake  of  England.  Russia  had  been  one  of  the  first 
powers  to  accept  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  and  Charles  VI.  had 
thought  to  make  certain  of  its  support  by  his  conduct  in  the 
Turkish  War.  But  this  close  alliance  had  been  broken  off  by  the 
death  of  the  Czarina  Anne,  and  by  the  accession  of  the  infant 
Iwan  VI.  The  chief  power  was  now  in  the  hands  of  Marshal 
Munnich,  who  was  known  to  be  better  disposed  to  Prussia  than  to 
Austria.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Czar's  father,  Anton  Ulric  of 
Brunswick,  was  a  nephew  of  Charles  VI.'s  widow,  so  that  some 
reliance  was  placed  on  his  influence.  But  in  the  end  the  attitude 
of  Russia  proved  unimportant,  in  consequence  of  a  series  of  palace 
revolutions,  which  rendered  impossible  any  decisive  line  in  foreign 
affairs,  'lhe  only  other  state  of  any  importance  was  Sirdinia. 
Charles  Emmanuel  was  descended  from  Philip  II.,  and  was  there- 
fore able  to  put  forward  a  claim  somewhat  similar  to  that  of 
Philip  V.,  i.e.,  that  he  represented  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs.  But  this 
was  a  merely  formal  contention,  and  it  was  to  be  expected  that  he 
would  oppose  any  further  increase  of  the  Bourbon  jiower  in  Italy. 
Charles  Emmanuel's  policy  was  dictated,  like  that  of  his  predecessors, 
by  the  desire  of  territorial  aggrandisement.  He  inherited  the 
traditional  scheme  of  obtaining  Lombardy,  and  he  was  willing  to 
sell  his  support  to  whichever  side  offered  him  the  largest  bribe. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  was  evident  at  Vienna  that  hostility 
was  to  be  expected  from  Bavaria  and  Spain,  that  the  attitude  of 
France,  Saxony,  and  Sardinia  was  doubtful,  and  that  Maria  Theresa 
could  rely  with  certainty  upon  the  support  of  England  and  Holland 
and  upon  the  neutrality  of  Russia.  So  far  the  prospect  of  affairs,  if  not 
encouraging,  was  at  any  rate  not  h<»j>ele8s.  But  a  sudden  and  unex- 
pected danger  arose  from  a  quarter  where  it  was  least  expected.  Of 
all  the  guarantors  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  the  most  thorough- 
going had  been  Frederick  William  of  Prussia,  and  the  assent  of  the 
Ratisbon  diet  in  1731  was  mainly  attributable  to  his  influence.     In 


342  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvm. 

spite  of  a  growing  alienation  from  the  emperor,  Frederick  William 
had  never  shown  any  desire  to  repudiate  his  obligations,  and  more- 
over Prussia  had  been  so  long  at  peace  that  its  neighbours  had 
grown  quite  accustomed  to  seeing  its  army  increased  and  trained, 
and  never  dreamt  of  its  being  actively  employed.  The  most  intense 
surprise  and  consternation  was  aroused  when  it  appeared  that  the 
young  king  was  about  to  revive  the  obsolete  and  almost  forgotten 
claims  of  his  family  in  Silesia  and  to  enforce  them  at  the  sword's 
point.  There  seems  no  doubt  that  Frederick  formed  this  determin- 
ation the  moment  he  heard  of  Charles  VI. 's  death.  Throwing  ofF 
the  ague  from  which  he  was  suffering,  he  at  once  set  to  work,  and 
summoned  to  his  side  Podewils  and  Marshal  Schwerin,  who  were  his 
only  confidants  in  the  matter.  There  were  two  alternative  lines  of 
policy  to  pursue.  Either  Frederick  might  offer  to  support  Maria 
Theresa  against  all  opponents  and  demand  Silesia  as  the  price  of  his 
assistance  :  or  he  might  ally  himself  with  Bavaria  and  France  and 
conquer  Silesia  in  conjunction  with  them.  Ultimately  Frederick 
decided  to  seize  Silesia  and  to  leave  the  choice  between  the  two 
alternatives  open.  If  Maria  Theresa  would  accept  his  terms,  he 
would  support  her  and  give  his  vote  for  her  husband,  otherwise  he 
would  join  her  enemies  and  vote  for  Bavaria.  In  either  case  he 
was  willing  to  give  up  his  claims  upon  Juhch  and  Berg,  which 
had  comparatively  little  value  in  his  eyes.  Historians  have  taken 
very  great  pains  to  analyse  and  discuss  the  merits  of  the  Silesian 
claim.  But  it  is  noteworthy  that  Frederick  himself  says  hardly  any- 
thing about  them.  His  motives,  according  to  his  own  account,  were 
"  ambition,  interest,  and  the  desire  to  make  people  talk  of  me." 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  claims  were  legally  almost  valueless, 
and  that  the  invasion  of  Silesia  was  under  all  the  circumstances  an 
act  of  the  most  unjustifiable  aggression. 

On  the  16th  of  December,  Frederick  commenced  his  march, 
and  almost  on  the  same  day  his  ambassador  presented  himself 
at  the  Court  of  Vienna.  His  instructions  were  to  enlarge  upon 
the  dangers  which  threatened  Austria,  and  to  point  out  that 
the  only  security  lay  in  the  Prussian  alliance,  which  could  be  pur- 
chased by  the  cession  of  Silesia.  Maria  Theresa  and  her  husband 
rejected  the  insidious  offer  with  scorn,  and  refused  to  negotiate  as 
long  as  a  single  Prussian  soldier  remained  on  Austrian  soil.  But 
the  danger  wras  as  great  as  it  was  unforeseen.  There  was  no  army 
to  oppose  Frederick's  march,  and  he  met  with  no  resistance  except 
from  the  garrisoned  fortresses  of  Glogau,  Brieg  and  Neisse.  The 
Protestants,  who  had  suffered  from  the  orthodox  rule  of  Austria, 
welcomed  the  Prussian  King  as  they  had  formerly  appealed  to 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden.      One  town  after  another  opened   their 


a.d.  1740-1741.       INVASION  OF  SILESIA.  343 

gates  to  him,  and  even  the  capital,  Breslau,  undertook  to  remain 
neutral  so  long  as  it  was  allowed  to  retain  its  municipal  indepen- 
dence and  to  be  free  from  a  foreign  garrison.  On  the  8th  of  March 
the  first  of  the  three  fortresses,  Glogau,  was  stormed  by  the  younger 
Leopold  of  Dessau,  and  Frederick  now  'aid  siege  to  Neisse.  Here 
he  was  surprised  by  the  sudden  arrival  of  an  Austrian  army  under 
Neipperg.  Hastily  raising  the  siege,  the  Prussians  retreated  towards 
Ohlau  which  they  had  previously  occupied.  But  the  enemy 
contrived  to  get  in  front  of  them,  and  to  prevent  being  utterly  cut 
off  from  supplies  and  communications  it  was  necessary  to  fight  the 
battle  of  Mollwitz  on  the  10th  of  April.  The  Prussian  cavalry  was 
the  weakest  arm  of  the  service  and  was  completely  routed  by  the 
Austrian  charge  under  Komer.  Frederick  was  induced  or  com- 
pelled to  quit  the  field,  narrowly  escaped  being  captured  at  Oppeln 
which  had  been  seized  by  the  Austrians,  and  spent  sixteen  hours  iu 
almost  solitary  flight.  Meanwhile  the  day  had  been  retrieved  by 
the  steadiness  of  the  Prussian  infantry  under  Schwerin.  At  last 
the  careful  drill  introduced  by  Frederick  William  and  the  old 
Dessauer  produced  its  fruits.  With  their  iron  ramrods  the  Pm 
could  fire  more  than  twice  as  fast  as  the  enemy,  and  this  gave  them 
a  tremendous  advantage.  The  Austrians  were  compelled  to  retire 
upon  Neisse  and  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  Prussian  victories  was 
won.  Frederick  was  extremely  chagrined  at  the  part  he  had  played 
in  the  battle  and  never  pardoned  Schwerin.  But  in  spite  of  his 
personal  humiliation  his  hold  on  Silesia  was  saved,  and  an  immense 
impression  had  been  made  on  public  opinion  in  Europe.  Frederick 
after  Mollwitz  undertook  the  siege  of  Brieg,  which  was  forced  to 
surrender,  and  then,  as  Neipperg's  position  was  too  strong  to  be 
attacked,  he  went  into  camp  at  Strehlen,  where  he  busied  himself 
with  diplomacy  and  with  the  training  of  his  cavalry  so  as  to 
remove  those  defects  which  had  been  so  conspicuous  in  the  late 
battle. 

§  5.  Meanwhile,  Maria  Theresa  was  still  endeavouring  to  secure  her 
husband's  election  as  emperor.  The  great  obstae'e  in  the  way  was 
that  the  Lorraine  family  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  Frenchmen 
rather  than  Germans,  and  that  Francis  now  that  he  had  lost 
Lorraine,  had  not  a  single  possession  in  Germany.  If  his  wife  died 
he  would  be  a  merely  nominal  em])eror,  without  any  independent 
power  of  his  own.  In  spite  of  these  difficulties  his  election,  in  the 
early  months  of  1741,  appeared  by  no  means  impossible.  The 
electors  of  Mainz  and  Trier  were  in  his  favour.  The  archbishop  of 
Cologne  was  not  on  the  best  terms  with  his  brother,  the  elector  of 
Bavaria,  and  this  family  quarrel  might  be  utilised  to  gain  him  over. 
The  attitude  of  England  seemed  to  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the 


344  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviil 

Hanoverian  vote.  The  Elector  of  Saxony  wished  to  be  emperor 
himself,  but  if  that  were  out  of  the  question,  it  seemed  at  least  as 
likely  that  he  would  vote  for  Austria  as  for  Bavaria.  The  Elector 
Palatine  could  be  gained  over  by  guaranteeing  Julich  and  Berg  to 
the  Salzbach  branch.  Even  the  Prussian  vote  might  be  purchased, 
if  absolutely  necessary,  at  the  price  of  Silesia.  The  right  of  voting 
for  Bohemia  had  been  transferred  by  Maria  '1  heresa  to  her  husband, 
but  Saxony  had  formally  protested,  and  the  interesting  question  as 
to  the  rights  of  a  female  elector  would  have  to  be  settled  by  the 
electoral  college. 

Prussia  was  still  the  only  active  enemy  of  Maria  Theresa. 
Bavaria  and  Spain  were  powerless  without  the  help  of  France. 
Bavaria  had  neither  men  nor  money ;  and  as  long  as  the  English 
fleets  held  the  sea,  Spain  was  cut  off  from  Italy,  unless  France 
would  grant  an  overland  passage  to  Spanish  troops.  It  therefore 
depended  upon  the  attitude  of  France  whether  there  should  be  a 
general  war  about  the  Austrian  succession,  or  whether  it  should  be 
restricted  to  the  campaigns  in  Silesia.  If  Louis  XV.  and  Fleury 
had  been  left  to  themselves  they  would  probably  have  remained 
neutral,  and  in  that  case  the  war  would  never  have  reached  any 
serious  dimensions.  The  motive  for  French  intervention  1-iy  in  the 
memory  of  the  long  contest  against  the  house  of  Hapsburg.  The 
policy  of  Richelieu,  Mazarin,  and  Louis  XIV.  had  brought  such 
glory  to  France  that  men  forgot  that  this  policy  had  gained  its  end, 
and  that  the  Hapsburgs,  since  the  extinction  of  the  Spanish  branch, 
were  no  longer  dangerous  to  France  or  to  Europe.  The  leader  of 
the  aggressive  party  was  Charles  Louis  Fouquet,  count  of  Belleisle, 
the  grandson  of  Louis  XI  Ws  famous  minister,  and  the  represen- 
tative of  the  rising  generation  who  found  themselves  shut  out  from 
a  career  either  at  home  or  abroad  by  Fleury's  jealousy  of  rivals  and 
his  inveterate  love  of  peace.  Belleisle's  scheme,  as  presented  by 
him  to  the  ministers,  aimed  at  the  partition  of  the  Austrian 
territories.  France  was  to  annex  the  Netherlands  and  Luxemburg, 
Bavaria  was  to  have  Bohemia  and  the  imperial  crown,  Sardinia  and 
Spain  were  to  divide  Lombardy,  Parma  and  Tuscany.  Opposition 
from  England  might  be  bought  off  by  the  grant  of  commercial 
advantages.  Russia  could  be  rendered  powerless  either  by  a 
domestic  revolution  or  by  a  war  with  Sweden.  Saxony  might  be 
conciliated  with  a  small  slice  of  territory,  afterwards  settled  as 
Moravia.  Maria  Theresa  would  be  powerless  against  so  many  foes, 
so  that  it  would  be  hardly  necessary  to  draw  the  sword.  Austria 
once  partitioned,  the  supremacy  of  France  would  be  assured,  and 
the  Bourbons  would  be  the  dictators  of  Europe. 

The  scheme  was  grand  enough  to  fascinate  the  inexperienced, 


a.d.  1741.  COALITION  AGAINST  AUSTRIA.  345 

while  Fleury  was  worked  upon  by  the  fear  that  Francis,  if  he 
became  emperor,  would  endeavour  to  recover  Lorraine.  The  corre- 
spondence with  Maria  Theresa  became  less  and  less  cordial,  while 
Belleisle  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  marshal,  and  sent  as  envoy  to 
Germany.  After  visiting  the  courts  of  the  Rhenish  electors,  where 
he  was  lavish  in  bribes  and  promises,  he  went  on  to  Bavaria,  and 
on  the  22nd  of  May,  1741,  concluded  the  treaty  of  Nymphenlmr<: 
with  Charles  Albert.  France  undertook  to  support  the  elector's 
claims  to  ihe  Austrian  succession  as  well  as  to  the  empire,  and  to 
send  at  least  16,000  men  to  his  assistance.  In  return,  the  French 
were  to  be  allowed  to  retain  any  conquests  that  they  might  make 
in  the  Netherlands.  On  the  28th  of  May  a  similar  treaty  was 
made  by  the  Spanish  envoy,  who  also  promised  men  and  money  to 
Bavaria  on  condition  that  all  conquests  of  the  Spaniards  in  Italy 
should  be  confirmed  to  them. 

Prussia  had  not  yet  joined  the  great  league  that  was  forming 
against  Austria;  and  Frederick,  who  saw  through  the  French 
schemes  for  a  division  of  Germany,  was  eager  to  force  Maria 
Theresa  to  purchase  his  alliance  by  the  cession  of  Silesia.  His 
chief  hope  was  based  upon  the  intervention  of  England.  The 
English  parliament  had  declared  warmly  for  Maria  Theresa,  but 
neither  George  II.  nor  Walpole  wished  for  war  against  Prussia,  the 
king  for  fear  of  Hanover  being  attacked,  the  minister  because  he 
deemed  the  coalition  too  strong.  England  was  actuated  solely  by 
hostility  to  France,  while  common  Protestantism  was  a  link  with 
Prussia.  The  primary  object  of  English  policy,  therefore,  was  to 
induce  Maria  Theresa  to  grant  Fred-rick's  demands.  But  the 
efforts  of  the  two  envoy n,  Lord  Hyudford  and  Sir  Thomas 
Robinson,  were  foiled  by  the  obstinate  determination  of  the 
Archduchess  not  to  break  the  I  ragmatic  Sanction  by  any  cession 
of  territory.  The  failure  of  these  negotiations  forced  Frederick 
reluctantly  to  sacrifice  his  patriotism  as  a  German  to  his  interests 
as  a  Prussian  king,  and  to  join  France.  On  the  5th  of  June 
the  treaty  of  Breslau  stipulated  mutual  assistance  in  case  of  attack, 
while  in  the  secret  articles  Fredrick  promised  his  vote  to  the 
elector  of  Bavaria,  and  resigned  his  claims  upon  Jiilich  and  Berg. 
Louis  XV.  guaranteed  to  him  Lower  Silesia,  with  Breslau,  and 
promised  to  send  40,000  men  into  Germany  within  two  months, 
and  to  induce  the  Swedes  to  make  war  on  Russia.  Before  the  end 
of  July,  Augustus  III.  of  Saxony  joined  the  French  alliance  on 
condition  of  receiving  Moravia  and  Upper  Silesia.  About  the  same 
time  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  captured  Passau. 

§  6.  The  league  against  Austria  being  now  complete,  France  pre- 
pared to  take  an  active  part  in  the  war.    Two  armies  were  formed,  the 


346  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xvm 

one  under  Belleisle  to  co-operate  with  the  Bavarians  against  Austria, 
the  other  under  Maillebois  to  advance  into  the  Netherlands,  so  as 
to  threaten  Holland  and  Hanover  with  invasion.  As  Belleisle  was 
still  occupied  with  diplomacy,  his  troops  crossed  the  Rhine  on  the 
12th  of  August,  under  the  command  of  Lenville.  To  prove  that 
they  were  auxiliaries  rather  than  principals  in  the  war,  they 
assumed  the  Bavarian  colours.  Without  opposition  they  joined 
the  elector's  troops,  and  the  combined  forces  took  Linz  on  the  10th 
of  September,  so  that  they  stood  within  three  days'  march  of 
Vienna.  Everything  seemed  to  favour  the  League.  Sweden 
declared  war  against  Russia,  and  George  II.,  frightened  by  the 
advance  of  Maillebois,  concluded  a  convention  by  which  Hanover 
was  to  remain  neutral  and  the  Hanoverian  vote  was  promised  to 
Charles  Albert. 

The  terror  which  was  inspired  at  Vienna  by  the  news  of  the 
French  advance  forced  Maria  Theresa  to  resume  the  project  of 
buying  off  the  hostility  of  Prussia.  Robinson  was  sent  to  Frederick's 
camp  at  Strehlen,  but  the  concessions  which  he  was  authorised  to 
offer  were  insufficient,  and  were  haughtily  rejected  by  the  king.  To 
emphasise  his  adhesion  to  the  French  alliance,  Frederick  now 
occupied  Breslau,  which  had  hitherto  retained  its  independence. 
At  the  same  time  he  urged  the  allied  armies  to  advance  from  Linz 
against  Vienna. 

It  was  a  critical  moment  for  Maria  Theresa.  Her  husband  was 
unpopular,  and  she  herself  was  absent  in  Hungary,  the  province 
which  for  nearly  a  century  had  been  in  constant  revolt  against  the 
Hapsburgs.  At  this  juncture  she  determined  to  disregard  the 
advice  of  her  German  ministers,  and  to  grant  the  Hungarians 
the  right  of  arming  themselves,  which  had  hitherto  been  studiously 
withheld.  This  proof  of  confidence,  and  the  visible  annoyance  of 
the  hated  Germans,  roused  the  sensitive  Magyars  to  enthusiastic 
devotion.  An  insurrection,  or  armed  levy  of  the  whole  population, 
was  unanimously  voted,  and  no  opposition  was  made  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  grand-duke  Francis  as  joint-ruler.  It  is  true  that  the 
queen  liftd  to  purchase  these  concessions  by  the  grant  of  consti- 
tutional privileges,  which  seriously  limited  the  central  power,  and 
that  the  Hungarian  troops,  always  disorderly  and  unmanageable, 
did  not  render  very  effective  assistance.  But  the  moral  effect  was 
prodigious.  At  the  moment  when  everything  s-.  emed  lost,  when 
the  capital  was  being  deserted  and  there  was  no  ally  to  be  called  in, 
the  province  which  had  shown  the  greatest  aversion  to  Hapsburg 
rule  suddenly  set  an  example  of  loyalty  which  made  a  profound 
impression  both  in  Austria  and  in  Europe.  At  the  same  time 
Maria  Theresa  was  materially  aided  by  disunion  among  her  enemies. 


a.d.  174L  KLEIN  SCHNELLENDORF.  347 

Vienna  must  have  fallen  if  it  had  been  \  romptly  attacked.  But 
the  French,  either  for  military  reasons  or  through  jealousy  of 
Prussia  and  Bavaria,  refused  to  advance  from  Linz,  and  leaving 
Vienna  on  their  right  entered  Bohemia. 

The  immediate  danger  to  Austria  was  over,  but  it  had  already 
produced  an  important  result  in  compelling  Maria  Theresa  to 
consent  to  concessions.  To  save  her  capital  she  had  opened  simul- 
taneous negotiations  with  France  and  with  Prussia.  An  envoy  was 
sent  to  treat  with  Belleisle  at  Frankfort;  and  he  offered  to  give 
France  Luxemburg,  to  hand  over  the  Netherlands  to  Bavaria,  and 
to  satisfy  Spain  in  Italy.  In  return  for  this  the  invasion  of  Austria 
was  to  be  given  up,  Prussia  was  to  be  compelled  to  restore  Silesia, 
and  the  grand  duke  Francis  was  to  obtain  the  empire.  These 
pro|x)8al8  were  based  on  the  supposition  that  the  object  of  France 
was  to  obtain  territorial  acquisitions.  But  this,  in  Belleisle's  mind, 
was  wholly  secondary  to  the  humiliation  of  Austria,  and  the 
proposals  were  unhesitatingly  rejected.  More  successful  were  the 
negotiations  which  Marshal  Neipj  erg  was  authorised  to  conduct 
with  Prussia.  The  real  mediator  was  Lord  llyndford.  On  the  9th 
of  October  a  secret  conference  was  held  at  Klein  Schnellendorf,  at 
which  only  five  persons  were  present,  Fredeiick  himself  and  Colon  1 
Goltz  for  Prussia,  Neipperg  and  Lentulus  for  Austria,  and  llynd- 
ford. The  terms  of  a  convention  had  been  already  agreed  opoo. 
The  Prussians  were  to  be  allowed  to  take  Neisse  after  a  sham 
siege  of  fourteen  days.  Neipperg  was  to  be  allowed  to  withdraw 
his  army  without  molestation,  the  Prussian  troops  were  to  winter 
in  Upper  Silesia,  and  Frederick  promised  to  abstain  from  all 
hostilities  against  Austria  and  Hanover.  Within  a  few  months  a 
formal  treaty  was  to  be  arranged,  by  which  Lower  Silesia  was  to  be 
definitely  ceded  to  Prussia.  The  contracting  parties  swore  to  keep 
the  convention  completely  secret,  and  Frederick  declared  that  if 
this  were  broken  he  should  hold  himself  freed  from  a'l  obligations. 
Nothing  was  signed  on  either  side,  and  the  only  record  of  the 
convention  was  a  writing  in  the  hand  of  Lord  Hyndford.  The 
siege  of  Neisse  was  commenced,  and  after  a  formal  cannonade  the 
fortress  surrendered  on  the  2nd  of  November.  Neipperg  was 
allowed  to  march  off  with  his  army  to  the  defence  of  the  Austrian 
territories. 

The  convention  of  Klein  Schnellendorf  is  one  of  the  great  stum- 
bling-blocks in  the  way  ot  Frederick's  apologists,  and  as  a  masterly 
piece  oi  treacherous  double-dealing  it  has  no  equal.  Maria  Theresa's 
object  is  unmistakable.  It  was  absolutely  necessary  to  withdraw 
from  Silesia  the  one  army  which  Austria  possessed,  and  this  could 
only  be  effected  by  a  sacrifice.     She  may  also  have  hoped  to  irritate 


348  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvin. 

the  other  allies  against  Prussia.  Frederick's  policy  is  more  intricate 
but  equally  obvious.  It  was  a  great  thing  for  him  to  obtain 
possession  of  Neisse  without  having  to  strike  a  blow  for  it.  Lower 
Silesia  passed  absolutely  into  his  possession,  and  he  was  able  to 
recruit  his  exhausted  troops.  At  the  same  time  his  future  actions 
were  left  entirely  untrammelled.  The  condition  of  secrecy  could 
not  possibly  be  observed.  Even  if  nothing  had  been  betrayed  on 
the  part  of  Austria,  the  sham  siege  of  Neisse  and  the  departure  of 
Neipperg's  army  could  not  fail  to  arouse  the  suspicion  of  his  allies. 
He  gained  a  great  immediate  advantage  by  making  promises  which 
he  never  intended  to  keep,  and  in  fact  he  provided  himself  before- 
hand with  a  convenient  pretext  for  breaking  them.  The  only 
people  whom  he  sacrificed  were  his  allies,  who  suddenly  found  that 
they  had  to  reckon  with  Neipperg's  army,  which  had  hitherto  been 
occupied  in  Silesia. 

§  7.  It  is  probable  that  when  Frederick  concluded  the  convention 
he  expected  the  allies  to  fail  in  their  invasion  of  Bohemia,  and 
at  the  moment  this  appeared  more  than  possible.  Their  com- 
munications with  Upper  Austria  and  Bavaria  were  cut  off  by 
the  march  of  Neipperg's  army  into  Moravia.  Charles  Albert 
wished  to  turn  back  for  the  maintenance  of  his  Austrian  conquests, 
which  had  been  left  in  the  charge  of  Count  Segur.  But  the  French 
officers  insisted  upon  attacking  Prague.  Belleisle  himself  hurried 
up  from  Frankfort  to  assume  the  command,  but  was  detained  by  a 
serious  illness  at  Dresden.  To  everybody's  surprise  Prague  was 
taken  at  the  first  assault  (25th  Nov.),  thanks  to  the  energy  and 
good  fortune  of  the  young  Maurice  de  Saxe,  a  son  of  Augustus  II. 
and  the  Countess  of  Konigsmark.  The  loss  of  Prague  was  a 
terrible  blow  to  Maria  Theresa,  and  was  followed  by  even  worse 
disasters.  On  the  5th  of  December  a  revolution  in  Russia  deprived 
Austria  of  a  friend.  The  Regent  Anne,  who  governed  for  her  infant 
son  Iwan,  was  overthrown,  and  the  government  was  assumed 
by  Elizabeth,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  who  was 
inclined  to  a  French  alliance.  Worst  of  all,  the  fall  of  Prague  de- 
cided Frederick  to  break  the  convention  of  Klein  Schnellendorf. 
With  cynical  audacity  he  announced  to  Lord  Hyndford  his  deter- 
mination to  stand  by  the  winning  side,  and  sent  Schwerin  to  invade 
Moravia.  On  the  27th  of  December  the  Prussians  occupied  Olrnutz, 
and  Frederick  promised  to  join  them  early  in  the  next  year. 

At  the  end  of  1741  Maria  Theresa's  position  seemed  almost 
hopeless.  Upper  Austria  and  great  part  of  Bohemia  were  held  by 
the  French  and  Bavarians.  The  Prussians  occupied  Silesia,  and  had 
begun  the  invasion  of  Moravia.  The  only  Austrian  army,  that  of 
Neipperg,  lay  at  Budweis  unable  to  move  in  either  direction.     But 


a.d.  1741-1742.      ELECTION  OF  CHARLES  VIL  349 

the  courage  of  the  queen  was  never  more  conspicuous,  and  fortune 
turned  at  the  critical  moment.  Belleisle's  illness  haci  led  to  the 
api>ointment  of  a  new  commander,  Broglie,  who  was  sluggish  and 
incapable,  unpopular  with  his  own  officers,  and  personally  detested 
by  Frederick.  From  this  time  we  can  trace  a  growing  alienation 
between  Prus-ia  and  France,  which  encouraged  Austria  to  adopt  a 
bolder  attitude.  Kegiments  were  withdrawn  from  Italy,  and,  with 
the  Hungarian  levies,  were  formed  into  a  second  army  under 
KL<  venhuller.  Early  in  January,  1742,  these  troops  advanced  into 
Upper  Austria,  where  they  were  welcomed  by  the  population.  On 
the  23rd  Lin/,  was  c  iptured,  and  on  the  next  day  Passau  surrendered 
to  an  advanced  body  of  hussars  under  Barcnklau.  The  Austrian 
provinces  were  recovered. 

These  successes  came  too  late  to  influence  the  course  of  events  at 
Frankfort,  where  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  was  chosen  emperor  as 
Charles  VII.  by  eight  votes  on  the  24th  fcrf  January,  the  very  day 
of  the  fall  of  Passau.  Before  his  coronation,  the  luckless  emperor 
hcaid  that  his  own  territories  were  invaded.  Khevcnhuller  over- 
ran Bavaria  in  three  weeks,  and  captured  the  whole  province  except 
Strassburg,  Ingolstadt,  and  a  few  other  fortresses.  He  was  prevented 
from  completing  the  work  by  an  order  to  send  10,000  men  to  join 
the  main  army  at  Budweis,  the  command  of  which  was  transferred 
from  Neipi>crg  to  Charles  of  Lorraine,  Maria  Theresa's  brother-in- 
law. 

§  8.  Meanwhile  Frederick,  not  without  great  difficulty, had  obtained 
the  assistance  of  the  Saxon  army  and  a  French  detachment,  which 
placed  under  His  command  for  the  Moravian  campaign.  His 
object,  which  has  often  been  misunderstood,  was  to  force  Maria 
Theresa  to  give  up  Bohemia  to  Bavaria,  Moravia  to  Saxony,  and  the 
whole  of  Silesia  with  Glatz  to  himself.  He  had  no  real  desire  to 
aggrandise  Saxony  and  Bavaria,  but  he  felt  that  they  would  be 
safer  neighbours  than  Austria.  As  long  as  Maria  Theresa  kept 
Bohemia  and  Moravia,  she  would  always  aim  at  the  recovery  of 
Silesia;  if  she  lost  those  provinces,  Silesia  would  be  safe.  At 
Olmiirz  he  was  met  by  an  Austrian  envoy,  who  offered  the  cession 
of  Silesia ;  but  Frederick,  confidently  anticipating  success,  refused  to 
desert  his  allies.  On  the  15th  of  February  he  took  Iglau,  where  the 
French  t-oops  were  recalled  by  Broglie,  and  after  some  difficulty 
he  induced  the  Saxons  to  join  him  in  the  siege  of  Brtinn.  But 
Frederick  found  the  Moravian  campaign  a  very  different  affair  from 
that  in  Silesia.  Mixed  forces  were  far  more  difficult  to  handle 
than  his  own  subjects,  and  the  population  was  bitterly  hostile  to 
the  invaders.  Before  the  sluggish  Charles  of  Lorraine  had  decided 
which  enemy  to  attack,  the  Prussian  king  had  given  up  the  enter- 


350  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviii. 

prise  in  disgust.  On  the  25th  of  April  the  Prussians  evacuated 
Olraiitz,  and  marched  to  Chrudim  in  Bohemia,  where  they  en- 
camped for  a  period  of  rest.  The  Austrians  found  that  they  had 
nothing  to  do  but  occupy  the  deserted  fortresses,  and  Prince  Charles 
now  determined  to  follow  the  enemy  into  Bohemia. 

The  failure  of  the  Moravian  campaign,  and  Frederick's  evident 
alienation  from  his  allies,  led  to  a  renewal  of  negotiations  with 
Austria.  Maria  Theresa  had  recently  been  strengthened  by  the  fall 
of  Walpole's  ministry,  which  had  been  partly  due  to  his  failure  to 
give  efficient  support  to  the  Austrian  cause.  Foreign  affairs  were 
now  in  the  hands  of  Carteret,  who  was  regarded  as  the  champion  of 
intervention  in  Germany.  Parliament  declared  strongly  for  sup- 
porting Austria  against  Fiance,  and  voted  a  subsidy  of  half-a- 
million.  But  on  one  point  Walpole's  policy  was  followed  by  his 
successors.  They  gave  it  to  be  understood  that  England  could  take 
no  part  in  the  war  until  terms  had  been  arranged  with  Prussia. 
Maria  Theresa  was  now  eager  for  an  agreement  which  would  give 
her  the  support  of  the  maritime  powers,  and  ensure  the  triumphant 
expulsion  of  the  French  from  hor  territories.  She  was  willing  to 
give  up  Lower  Silesia  with  Glatz  and  great  part  of  Upper  Silesia, 
but  she  demanded  that,  in  return  for  these  ample  concessions, 
Frederick  should  join  her  against  France  and  Bavaria.  This  the 
king  unhesitatingly  refused.  He  would  be  neutral,  but  even  he  was 
not  capable  of  such  a  political  somersault.  Moreover  he  wished  to 
keep  Silesia,  and  not  to  fight  for  it  over  again  with  France  and 
Saxony.  On  this  difference  the  negotiations,  which  were  again 
conducted  by  Hyndford,  broke  down,  and  it  was  obvious  that  the 
war  must  go  on  until  one  or  other  party  should  give  way. 

Charles  of  Lorraine  was  now  marching  from  Moravia  into 
Bohemia,  and  the  Prussians  lay  between  him  and  Prague.  If  the 
negotiations  had  succeeded  he  would  have  been  allowed  to  attack 
the  French  without  hindrance.  That  was  now  impossible,  and  on 
the  17th  of  May  the  Prussian  and  Austrian  armies  met  for  the 
second  time  in  a  pitched  battle  at  Chotusitz  or  Czaslau.  The  result 
was  the  same  as  at  Mollwitz,  with  the  great  difference  that  the 
victory  was  not  won  in  Frederick's  absence,  but  was  gained  in  great 
measure  by  his  own  skill  and  energy.  The  battle  was  a  diplomatic 
move  rather  than  a  great  military  achievement,  and  was  fought 
by  Frederick  to  force  Austria  to  fall  in  with  his  demands.  This 
was  fully  realised  at  Vienna,  and  the  negotiations  were  at  once 
resumed. 

The  news  of  Chotusitz  had  roused  the  French  to  make  some  show 
of  energy.  A  detachment  of  Broglie's  troops  won  a  small  victory  at 
Sahay  over  the  Austrians  under  Lobkowitz,  who  had  been  left  in 


a.d.  1742.  TREATY  OF  BERLIN.  351 

Bohemia  by  Prince  Charles.  The  French  might  have  held  their 
position  in  Pisek  and  Pilsen  if  they  could  have  prevented  the  union 
of  the  Prince's  army  with  that  of  Lobkowitz.  Belleisle,  who  had 
returned  from  Frank  fort  after  the  election,  hurried  off  to  Frederick's 
camp  to  induce  him  to  do  something.  There  he  must  have  seen 
pretty  clearly  through  the  king's  designs,  especially  as  the  Prussians 
made  not  the  slightest  effort  to  check  the  enemy's  retreat.  Prince 
Charles  joined  Lobkowitz  without  any  difficulty,  and  at  once 
advanced  against  the  French.  Broglie  decided  that  he  could  not 
resist  so  large  a  force,  and  retreated  from  point  to  point.  First 
Pisek  and  then  Pilsen  were  taken  by  the  Austrians,  and  the  French 
were  compelled  to  retire  ignominiously  under  the  walls  of  Prague. 
This  news  decided  Frederick.  He  was  afraid  that  if  Prague  were 
taken,  Maria  Theresa  would  withdraw  the  powers  that  had  been 
given  to  Hyndford,  and  try  to  recover  Silesia.  He  sent  off  a  courier 
at  once  to  his  minister  Podewils,  urging  him  to  arrange  a  treaty 
with  Hyndford  as  soon  as  possible.  He  was  to  stipulate  for  Lower 
Silesia  and  Glatz,  with  the  border-counties  of  Bohemia  if  possible ; 
if  not,  then  he  must  get  as  much  as  he  could  of  Upper  Silesia. 
Podewils,  who  had  always  wished  to  come  to  terms  with  Austria 
and  England,  had  already  commenced  the  negotiations  of  his  own 
accord,  so  that  the  matter  was  readily  settled.  On  11th  June,  the 
very  day  ou  which  the  courier  arrived,  the  preliminaries  of  peace 
\vrn-  rigned  at  Hm|m  Maria  Taaraai  ■amnflatad  Lower  Hikaii, 
Upper  Silesia  with  the  exception  of  Teschen,  Troppau,  etc.,  and 
the  county  of  Glatz  in  full  sovereignty  for  ever.  Frederick 
renounced  all  claims  elsewhere,  and  undertook  to  withdraw  all  his 
troops  from  Austrian  soil  within  sixteen  days.  Difficulties  arose 
about  the  exact  line  of  frontier,  and  further  negotiations  were 
transferred  to  Berlin,  where  the  final  treaty  was  signed  on  the  28th 
of  July,  1742.  The  example  of  Prussia  in  deserting  France  was 
promptly  followed  by  Saxony.  Augustus  III.  tried  hard  to  obtain 
some  advantage  from  the  bargain,  but  Maria  Theresa  refused  to  give 
up  another  foot  of  territory.  Ultimately,  just  to  satisfy  the  king's 
desire  to  save  his  dignity,  Austria  promised  to  assist  Saxony  in 
obtaining  Erfurt,  if  this  could  be  done  with  the  consent  of  the 
archbishop  of  Mainz,  to  whom  it  belonged.  On  the  7th  of  September 
the  treaty  was  formally  signed  at  Dresden. 

III.  Period  op  Prussian  Neutrality. 

§  9.  The  defection  of  Prussia  and  Saxony  ruined  all  the  French 
schemes  of  partitioning  Austria,  and  Fleury  and  Belleisle  had 
nothing  to  aim  at  but  the  release  of  the  troops  from  their  imprison* 


352  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviil 

ment  in  Bohemia.  This  was  first  attempted  by  diplomacy,  and  terms 
were  offered  which  contrasted  strongly  with  the  haughty  tone  hither- 
to employed  by  the  court  of  Versailles.  But  Maria  Theresa,  eager 
for  reveDge  upon  an  unprovoked  assailant,  and  encouraged  by  the 
prospect  of  English  assistance,  refused  to  listen  to  any  propo  al  of 
peace.  She  had  hopes  cf  obtaining  some  compensation  for  Silesia, 
and  wished  to  force  Charles  VII.  to  alienate  part  of  Bavaria  in  ex- 
change for  the  Netherlands  and  a  strip  of  northern  France.  To 
effect  this  the  military  strength  of  the  French  must  be  more 
completely  broken  than  it  would  be  if  their  army  were  allowed  to 
inarch  peaceably  out  of  Bohemia.  But  the  practical  measures  of 
Austria  were  less  energetic  than  her  intentions.  Khevenhuller  in 
Bavaria  was  still  weakened  and  discontented  by  the  loss  of  part  of  his 
troops,  and  the  grand  duke  Francis,  who  superseded  hin  brother  Charles 
in  Bohemia,  was  not  ready  to  besiege  Prague  until  the  end  of  July. 
France,  on  the  other  hand,  was  discouraged  rather  than  defeated. 
At  the  risk  of  opening  the  way  for  English  intervention,  Maillebois' 
army  was  ordered  to  march  eastwards'  to  reinforce  Broglie  and 
Belleisle,  while  another  detachment  was  sent  under  Harcourt  into 
B.ivaria.  These  energetic  measures  nearly  succeeded  in  wresting 
their  expected  success  from  the  Austrians.  Francis,  alarmed  at 
the  approach  of  a  new  hostile  army,  left  12,000  inen  under  Festetics 
to  watch  Prague,  while  he  himself,  with  the  bulk  of  his  troops, 
marched  to  meet  Maillebois.  Khevenhuller,  who  h;id  failed  to 
prevent  the  entrance  of  the  French  into  Bavaria,  tried  to  redeem 
matters  by  joining  the  grand  duke.  But  by  this  step  he  left  the 
duchy  undefended.  Seckendorf,  the  second  imperial  general  who 
had  deserted  the  Hapsburg  cause  when  it  seemed  to  be  unfortunate, 
was  now  in  command  of  the  Bavarian  troops,  and  he  found  no 
difficulty  in  taking  Munich  (7th  October),  and  recovering  the 
whole  of  Bavaria  except  Scharding  and  Passau. 

Meanwhile  the  combined  armies  of  Khevenhuller  and  the  grand 
duke  contented  themselves  with  holding  the  Bohemian  frontier 
against  Maillebois  by  a  series  of  marches  and  counter-marches.  As 
the  French  commander  was  not  more  active  or  capable  than  his 
opponents,  this  proved  a  sufficiently  easy  task.  It  was  now 
decided  to  send  Lobkowitz  with  reinforcements  to  join  Festetics 
before  Prague.  Marshal  Broglie  had  already  left  the  city  to 
supersede  Maillebois,  so  that  Belleisle  was  left  in  sole  command. 
He  had  taken  advantage  of  the  cessation  of  the  siege  to  bring 
supplies  into  Prague,  and  could  have  stood  a  siege  for  some  time, 
if  there  had  been  anything  to  gain  by  it.  But  his  one  thought  now 
was  to  leave  the  city  as  soon  as  possible,  and  to  march  by  Eger  into 
Bavaria.     He  deceived  Lobkowitz  by  the  measures  which  were 


a.d.  1742.  WAR  IN  BOHEMIA.  353 

taken  for  a  feigned  defence,  and  on  the  night  of  the  16th  of 
December  the  French  troops,  numbering  about  14,000,  started  on 
their  march.  They  suffered  frightful  hardships  from  the  cold,  and 
from  the  attacks  of  the  light-armed  Hungarian  cavalry.  But 
Belleisle's  resolution  overcame  all  obstacles,  and  by  marching  night 
and  day  he  reached  Eger  on  the  27th  of  December  after  having  lost 
more  than  2000  men  on  the  way.  In  Prague  some  6000  men  had 
been  left  under  Lieutenant  Chevert,  not  so  much  to  defend  the 
place  as  because  they  were  unable  to  bear  the  hardships  of  a  winter 
march.  Even  this  force  Lobkowitz  did  not  venture  to  attack,  but 
opened  negotiations  with  Chevert.  On  25th  December  the 
capitulation  was  signed  by  which  the  garrison  was  allowed  to 
march  out  with  all  the  honours  of  war,  and  Prague  returned  to 
the  possession  of  Austria. 

Thus  the  Austrians,  after  an  arduous  campaign,  had  gained  less 
than  they  might  have  done  by  accepting  the  despised  overtures  of 
peace.  Prague  had  been  won  back,  but  Bohemia  had  not  been 
evacuated,  as  the  French  still  occupied  Eger.  And  to  gain  this 
they  had  sacrificed  nearly  all  their  conquests  in  Bavaria.  Broglie, 
when  he  assumed  the  command  in  the  place  of  Maillebois,  had  given 
up  all  idea  of  entering  Bohemia,  and  had  marched  to  Bavaria  in  the 
hnpe  of  taking  Passau  before  the  close  of  the  campaign.  The 
Austrians,  once  more  under  Charles  of  Lorraine,  Francis  having 
returned  to  Vienna,  followed  close  upon  the  French,  and  foiled  this 
attempt,  l»ut  were  themselves  repulsed  from  Braunau.  After  these 
indecisive  movements  the  two  armies  went  into  winter-quarters  to 
recruit  themselves  for  the  next  year's  campaign. 

§  10.  It  is  now  necessary  to  turn  for  a  moment  to  Italy,  which  in 
1742  had  also  become  the  scene  of  military  operations.  The 
treaties  of  Utrecht  and  Itastadt  had  given  Charles  VI.  consider- 
able possessions  in  Italy;  Milan  with  its  fertile  territories,  the 
impregnable  Mantua,  the  strong  places  on  the  Tuscan  coast,  and 
Naples.  Sardinia,  which  on  account  of  its  distance  was  com- 
paratively useless,  had  been  exchanged  in  1720  for  the  far  more 
profitable  island  of  Sicily.  In  Italy,  as  in  Germany,  Austria  was 
indisputably  the  foremost  power.  But  Charles  VI.  and  his 
"Spanish  Council"  had  not  been  successful  rulers  in  Italy,  and 
the  result  was  the  loss  of  Naples  and  Sicily  in  1735  to  Don  Carlos 
of  Siiain.  As  compensation,  the  emperor  had  received  Parma  and 
Piacenza,  and,  in  a  sense,  the  grand  duchy  of  Tuscany,  which  was 
given  to  his  son-in-law  as  an  equivalent  for  Lorraine.  At  the 
same  time  a  considerable  strip  of  the  Milanese  had  been  ceded  to 
Sardinia. 

Maria  Theresa  succeeded  therefore  by  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  to 
17 


354  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviii. 

Milan  with  its  diminished  territories,  Mantua,  the  Tuscan  ports,  and 
Parma  and  Piacenza,  while  her  husband  was  grand  duke  of  Tuscany 
in  his  own  right.  The  independent  states  in  the  peninsula,  were 
Naples  under  Don  Carlos,  the  papacy  now  held  by  Benedict  XIV., 
Venice,  Sardinia,  which  included  that  island  with  Savoy  and 
Piedmont  and  was  ruled  by  Charles  Emanuel  III.,  and  Modena 
under  one  of  the  Este  family.  No  hostility  was  to  be  expected 
from  the  papacy  or  from  Venice.  The  duke  of  Modena  was  unim- 
portant, and  Charles  Emanuel  was  married  to  the  sister  of  the 
grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  so  that  his  support  might  be  relied  on,  unless 
some  opportunity  occurred  for  gratifying  the  traditional  greed 
of  his  family  for  increasing  their  territories.  The  only  ruler  who 
was  likely  to  be  hostile  was  Charles  of  Naples,  but  he  was  very 
distant  from  the  Austrian  territories,  and  was  not  very  formidable, 
unless  he  received  support  from  his  relatives  in  Spain.  It  was  on 
Spain,  therefore,  that  the  question  depended  whether  Maria  Theresa's 
accession  would  be  followed  by  disturbances  in  Italy  similar  to 
those  in  Germany.  Of  the  attitude  of  Spain  there  was  no  doubt 
for  a  moment.  The  restless  wife  of  Philip  V.  had  never  been 
reconciled  to  the  loss  of  the  duchy  of  Parma,  where  she  had  been 
born  and  bred,  and  determined  to  spare  no  effort  for  its  recovery. 
The  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  such  an  enterprise  was  the 
journey  between  the  two  peninsulas.  The  sea  was  held  by  the 
hostile  English  fleet,  and  to  effect  the  land  passage  it  was  necessary 
to  pass  through  the  territories  both  of  France  and  Sardinia.  From 
France,  when  once  Fleury  had  decided  to  follow  the  policy  of 
Belleisle,  no  difficulty  was  anticipated,  but  the  attitude  of  the 
king  of  Sardinia,  who  held  the  passes  of  the  Alps,  was  much  more 
doubtful.  It  was  obviously  to  the  interest  of  Sardinia  to  maintain 
the  status  quo,  to  balance  the  Bourbons  and  the  Hapsburgs  in  Italy 
so  as  to  prevent  either  of  them  from  obtaining  a  predominance 
which  would  be  dangerous  to  its  own  independence.  Of  the  two 
families  the  Bourbons  were  the  more  dangerous,  because  of  the 
neighbourhood  of  France  to  Savoy.  If  the  Hapsburgs  were  supreme 
in  Italy,  it  was  always  possible  to  join  France  against  them.  As 
against  these  considerations  of  policy  there  was  the  never-ceasing 
desire  to  obtain  as  much  as  possible  of  Lombardy.  Lombardy  was 
in  the  hands  of  Austria,  not  of  Spain,  and  the  court  of  Turin  was 
well  aware  that  the  largest  concessions  would  be  made  by  the  party 
not  in  possession.  In  fact  Spain  proposed  to  expel  the  Hapsburgs 
from  Italy,  to  cede  Lombardy  as  far  as  the  Adda  to  Sardinia,  and  to 
be  content  with  Mantua,  Parma  and  Piacenza.  On  these  terms 
Charles  Emanuel  joined  the  alliance  that  had  been  made  at 
Nymphenburg,  and  from  this  time  was  regarded  by  Spain  as  an 


A.D.   1741-1742.  WAR  IN  ITALY.  355 

ally.  But  the  king  of  Sardinia  was  fully  conscious  of  the  politic 
arguments  against  the  aggrandisement  of  the  Bourbons  in  Italy. 
He  formed  the  alliance  for  the  mere  purpose  of  forcing  Austria  to 
pay  him  a  good  price  for  breaking  it.  It  was  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  Maria  Theresa  to  buy  over  Charles  Emanuel,  but 
it  was  difficult  for  her  to  consent  to  the  cession  of  territory  which 
was  demanded,  not  only  a  large  portion  of  Lombardy  as  far  as 
Pavia,  but  also  territory  belonging  to  Genoa,  which  Sardinia  wanted 
as  an  opening  to  the  Mediterranean.  England  undertook  the 
mediation  with  Sardinia  as  with  Prussia,  but  failed  to  induce  the 
queen  to  make  such  extreme  sacrifices.  Suddenly,  in  November, 
1741,  came  the  utterly  unexpected  news  that  the  Spaniards  had 
eluded  the  English  fleet  and  had  landed  an  army  in  the  gulf  of 
Genoa.  This  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  negotiations,  but  a  serious 
obstacle  still  existed  in  the  claim  which  Charles  Emanuel  put 
forward  to  the  Austrian  succession  as  a  deceudant  of  Philip  II. 
Naturally  Maria  Theresa  was  unwilling  to  admit  an  ally  into  the 
fortresses  of  the  Milanese  who  might  maintain  that  they  were  his 
own  by  right.  Ultimately  the  question  of  territorial  cessions  to 
Sardinia  was  postponed,  and  on  the  1st  of  February,  1742,  I 
provisional  convention  was  signed  to  settle  military  arrangements. 
According  to  this  the  Austrian  troops  were  to  march  southwards 
and  to  occupy  Mantua  and  Mirandola,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
Spaniards  from  entering  Lombardy.  Charles  Emanuel  was  to 
send  auxiliary  troops,  and  if  necessary  was  to  advance  with  his 
whole  army.  But  his  claims  were  not  to  be  prejudiced  by  the 
convention.  As  long  as  it  lasted  he  was  pledged  to  do  nothing  to 
enforce  them,  but  he  reserved  the  right  to  repudiate  the  bargain  by 
a  month's  notice,  and  within  the  month  he  was  to  withdraw  all  his 
troops  from  Austrian  territories. 

Luckily  for  the  allies,  Montemar,  the  Spanish  general,  showed 
none  of  the  energy  that  had  characterised  his  movements  when  he 
conquered  Naples  and  Sicily  in  1734.  Instead  of  advancing  at 
once  against  Lombardy,  he  marched  into  the  papal  states  to  wait 
for  Neapolitan  reinforcements,  and  it  was  not  till  March,  1742,  that 
he  was  ready  for  the  campaign.  The  Austrian  commander  was 
Count  Traun,  who  had  been  trained  under  Guido  Stahremberg  and 
proved  a  worthy  pupil  of  that  able  general.  The  first  object  of 
the  two  armies  was  to  occupy  the  territory  of  Modena,  where  duke 
Francesco  d'Este  had  hitherto  been  allied  with  the  Hapsburgs  but 
had  been  induced  by  Maria  Theresa's  misfortunes  to  join  Spain.  The 
Austrians  and  Sardinians  had  little  difficulty  in  taking  Modena 
(June,  1742),  and  the  duke  had  to  fly  to  Venice.  This  first  success 
decided  the  campaign.     The  allies  seized  Mirandola,  and  advanced 


356  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviil 

to  meet  Montemar,  who  promptly  retreated  through  Rimini  and 
Ravenna  to  Foligno.  The  Spanish  disasters  were  completed  when 
an  Knglish  fleet  appeared  before  Naples,  and  by  the  threat  of  a 
bombardment  compelled  Don  Carlos  to  recall  his  troops  and  to 
promise  strict  neutrality  for  the  rest  of  the  war.  The  Government 
of  Madrid  was  so  dissatisfied  with  Montemar's  conduct  that,  in 
spite  of  his  former  services,  he  was  superseded  by  a  younger  officer, 
Count  Gages.  Maria  Theresa  was  encouraged  by  the  substantial 
victory  of  her  troops  to  aim  at  the  recovery  of  Naples  and  Sicily  and 
the  complete  expulsion  of  the  Bourbons  from  Italy.  But  here  she 
came  into  collision  with  her  ally.  Charles  Emanuel  had  been 
willing  enough  to  exclude  the  Spaniards  from  Lombardy,  but  he 
was  not  eager  to  drive  them  from  Italy,  simply  to  restore  the 
Hapsburgs  to  their  old  supremacy  in  the  peninsula.  Not  only  did 
he  refuse  to  advance,  but  he  found  a  pretext  for  withdrawing  his 
troops  in  the  attack  that  was  threatened  against  Savoy  by  another 
Spanish  army  under  Don  Philip  which  had  marched  through 
southern  France.  The  other  ally  of  Austria,  England,  refused  to 
employ  its  fleet  for  the  conquest  of  Naples :  and  the  pope  would 
not  admit  the  Austrian  troops  into  his  territories.  Traun  was 
therefore  compelled  to  withdraw  his  army  to  the  north  of  the 
Tanaro  where  he  occupied  a  strong  position.  Montemar's  successor, 
Gages,  had  advanced  against  Modena,  but  then  gave  up  the  enter- 
prise and  went  into  winter  quarters  near  Bologna,  which  was  governed 
by  the  ex-Spanish  minister  Alberoni ;  so  the  campaign  of  1742 
ended,  leaving  Austria  in  secure  possession  of  its  territories  and  of 
Modena,  but  with  no  other  advantage  being  gained. 

§  11.  The  first  important  event  of  1743  was  the  death  of  Cardinal 
Fleury,  on  the  29th  of  January,  at  the  age  of  93.  His  ministry  had 
lasted  17  years,  and  was  rendered  illustrious  by  the  annexation  of 
Lorraine,  but  otherwise  he  had  conferred  few  benefits  upon  France. 
He  had  been  compelled  at  the  close  of  his  career  to  give  up  the 
policy  of  peace  which  was  congenial  to  him,  and  the  result  was 
disaster  and  disgrace  to  the  French  arms.  For  several  years 
speculation  had  been  rife  as  to  his  successor.  Louis  XV.  declared 
that  he  would  imitate  his  great-grandfather,  and  be  his  own 
minister :  but  his  disinclination  for  business  made  this  an  empty 
profession.  The  chief  result  of  Fleury's  death  was  that  unity  in 
the  administration  was  replaced  by  discord.  There  was  no  one 
who  could  be  regarded  as  first  minister,  but  there  were  several  rivals 
for  the  chief  influence  over  the  king.  The  most  important  of  these 
were  three  men  who  held  no  office,  Cardinal  Tencin,  the  persecutor 
of  the  Jesuits,  Marshal  Noailles,  and  the  due  de  Richelieu,  who 
owed  a  brief  tenure  of  power  to  the  favour  of  the  king's  mistress. 


a.d.  1742-1743.  DEATH  OF  FLEURY.  357 

Besides  these,  ihere  were  the  ministers  proper,  Orri,  the  controller- 
general  of  finance,  Amelot,  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  Maurepas  of 
marine,  d'Argenson  of  war,  and  the  chancellor  d'Aguesseau.  The 
government  of  Fleury  had  not  been  successful,  that  of  so  many  rival 
pretenders  to  his  place  was  not  likely  to  be  more  fortunate.  The 
brilliant  Belleisle,  who  two  years  ago  had  been  regarded  as  certain 
to  be  the  next  minister  of  France,  had  just  returned  with  the 
remnants  of  his  Bohemian  army.  The  failure  of  his  grand  German 
schemes  involved  the  ruin  of  his  prospects  at  home,  and  he  retired 
into  temporary  obscurity. 

The  treaty  of  Berlin  had  been  purchased  at  a  great  sacrifice,  but 
that  it  was  worth  the  loss  of  Silesia  is  proved  by  comparing  the 
situation  of  Maria  Theresa  at  the  beginning  of  1748  with  that  which 
she  had  occupied  the  year  before.  The  project  of  partitioning  the 
Austrian  territories,  at  one  time  so  certain  of  success,  was  now  a  thing 
of  the  past.  Upper  Austria,  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  which  twelve 
months  ago  lay  at  the  mercy  of  her  enemies,  had  been  triumphantly 
recovered.  Eger  was  the  only  place  which  the  French  still  held  in 
Bohemia.  Charles  VII.,  the  nominal  head  of  the  hostile  league, 
had  suffered  great  losses,  France  was  humiliated,  the  Spaniards 
had  utterly  failed  in  their  attack  on  Lombardy.  The  powers 
which  a  year  ago  had  been  so  energetic  in  their  aggressions 
were  now  compelled  to  stand  on  the  defensive.  England  was  at 
last  about  to  take  a  decisive  part  in  the  war.  The  Swedish  war 
with  Russia,  on  which  France  had  relied  to  occupy  the  great 
northern  empire,  had  been  unsuccessful,  and  before  the  close  of  the 
year  Sweden  had  to  accept  the  humiliating  peace  of  Abo.  The 
attitude  of  Maria  Theresa  changed  with  the  altered  circumstances. 
No  longer  was  she  content  to  uphold  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  she 
would  take  vengeance  for  the  unprovoked  attacks  that  had  been 
made  upon  her,  and  would  extort  from  her  enemies  some  compen- 
sation for  the  loss  of  Silesia. 

§  12.  The  military  events  of  1743  are  more  important  in  their 
results  than  in  themselves,  and  the  three  campaigns,  in  Bavaria, 
Western  Germany,  and  Italy,  may  be  passed  over  in  rapid  review. 
In  Bavaria,  Charles  of  Lorraine  and  Khevenhuller  had  a  very  easy 
task.  Broglie,who  commanded  the  army  of  Maillebois,  refused  to  give 
any  assistance  to  Seckendorf,  and  finally  marched  back  to  France 
without  striking  a  blow.  The  Bavarian  troops  were  now  com- 
pletely outnumbered.  Munich  was  retaken  by  the  Austrians,  and 
the  unfortunate  Charles  VII.  had  to  fly  from  his  capital  to  Frank- 
fort. On  the  27th  of  June  the  convention  of  Niederschonfeld  was 
signed,  by  which  the  whole  of  Bavaria,  except  Ingolstadt,  was  handed 
over  to  Austrian  occupation   until  the  conclusion  of  a  general 


358  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvm. 

treaty.  In  August  the  French  had  to  give  up  Eger,  the  last  relic 
of  their  Bohemian  conquests.  Before  this  ( 'harles  of  Lorraine  had 
advanced  from  Bavaria  to  the  Rhine,  to  co-operate  against  France 
with  the  allied  troops  which  England  had  brought  into  Germany. 

In  1 742  a  mixed  English  and  Hanoverian  army  had  entered  the 
Netherlands,  and  early  in  the  next  year  it  commenced  its  march 
towards  Germany  with  some  20,000  Austrian  auxiliaries  under  the 
duke  of  Arenberg.  The  "  Pragmatic  Army,"  as  it  was  called,  was 
commanded  by  Lord  Stair,  and  so  dilatory  were  its  movements,  that 
it  did  not  cross  the  Rhine  till  April.  Through  the  whole  of  May 
it  remained  in  complete  inactivity  near  Mainz  and  Frankfort.  To 
oppose  the  allies,  a  French  army  was  formed  out  of  the  remnant  of 
Belleisle's  troops  with  fresh  recruits,  and  placed  under  the  command 
of  Noailles.  He  contented  himself  with  carefully  following  the 
enemy,  so  as  to  frustrate  any  attempt  either  to  attack  France  or  to 
interfere  in  Bavaria.  The  explanation  of  Stair's  inactivity  is  to  be 
found  in  the  negotiations  which  England  was  conducting  to  induce 
the  Dutch  to  take  part  in  the  war.  For  a  long  time  the  republic, 
which  had  no  real  interests  at  stake,  was  persistent  in  its  refusal. 
But  at  last  the  Orange  party,  which  wished  for  an  opportunity  to 
restore  the  stadtholdership,  got  the  upper  hand,  and  in  May,  1743, 
Holland  untertook  to  send  20,000  men  to  support  the  cause  of  Maria 
Theresa.  The  prospect  of  this  reinforcement  impelled  Stair  to 
more  active  measures,  and  leaving  his  magazines  at  Hanau,  he 
advanced  towards  Aschaffenburg.  But  Noailles,  who  carefully 
watched  all  his  movements,  outmarched  him  and  blocked  the  way. 
At  this  juncture  George  II.  arrived  to  assume  the  command  in 
person.  To  extricate  himself  from  the  difficult  position,  George 
determined  to  return  to  Hanau.  But  Noailles,  anticipating  this 
resolve,  was  again  too  quick  for  the  enemy,  and  occupied  a  strong 
position  at  Seligenstadt,  while  he  sent  his  nephew  the  due  de  Gram- 
mont  to  seize  the  village  of  Dettingen,  about  half-way  between 
Aschaffenburg  and  Hanau.  The  king  found  himself  compelled  to 
fight  a  battle  in  a  disadvantageous  position  (26th  June),  and  he 
would  certainly  have  been  defeated  but  for  an  error  of  Grammont, 
who  left  his  position  at  Dettingen  to  meet  the  enemy  in  the  valley 
below.  This  deranged  all  Noailles'  elaborate  plans,  the  battle 
became  a  confused  melee,  and  the  French  had  ultimately  to  retreat. 
But  the  victory,  such  as  it  was,  proved  of  very  slight  importance. 
Noailles  was  not  pursued  or  harassed  in  any  way,  and  George  II. 
was  quite  content  to  have  secured  his  one  object  of  removing  all 
obstacles  to  his  return  to  Hanau.  So  hasty  was  he  in  effecting  this 
that  he  actually  left  his  wounded  on  the  field  of  battle  to  the 
humanity  and  courtesy  of  the  French  commander. 


a.d.  1743.  PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  359 

The  news  of  the  battle  of  Dettingen  was  received  with  the 
greatest  enthusiasm  at  Vienna.  Maria  Theresa  was  con6dent  that 
the  junction  of  Charles  of  Lorraine  with  the  victorious  allies  must 
compel  France  to  yield.  But  nothing  came  of  these  expectations. 
Quarrels  arose  between  the  English  and  Hanoverian  troops,  and 
Lord  Stair  in  disgust  threw  up  his  command.  Charles  of  Lorraine, 
eager  to  win  glory  for  himself,  refused  to  join  the  English  king. 
At  last  it  was  decided  to  attack  France  in  two  divisions.  The 
Austrians  under  Charles  were  to  enter  Lower  Alsace  by  Alt-Breisach, 
while  the  Pragmatic  Army  was  to  cross  the  French  border  further 
north.  Two  French  armies  were  set  on  foot  to  oppose  the  invasion ; 
one  under  Coigni  against  the  Austrians,  the  other  under  Noailles 
against  George  II.  The  defence  was  completely  successful.  Prince 
Charles  advanced  to  Alt-Breisach,  but  failed  to  effect  a  passage 
across  the  Rhine.  The  Pragmatic  Army  crossed  the  Rhine  below 
Mainz,  but  made  no  effort  to  attack  Noailles.  Ultimately  the 
two  invading  armies  gave  up  their  enterprise  and  went  into  winter 
quarters.  The  French  were  excluded  from  Germany,  but  their  own 
frontiers  were  secure  from  attack. 

In  Italy  the  Spanish  commander,  Gages,  received  orders  to  renew 
the  enterprise  in  Lonilwrdy  which  had  failed  in  the  preceding  year. 
Crossing  the  Tanaro,  he  attacked  the  Austrians  under  Traun,  but 
was  completely  defeated  at  Campo  Santo  and  compelled  to  retire  to 
Rimini.  Traun  wished  to  follow  the  enemy  and  complete  his 
discomfiture,  but  was  prevented  by  the  attitude  of  his  ally,  the  king 
of  Sardinia.  Charles  Emanuel  had  not  yet  extorted  from  Maria 
Theresa  any  definite  promise  of  territorial  concessions,  and  until 
that  was  effected  he  was  determined  not  to  continue  the  war.  To 
give  greater  force  to  his  demands  he  entered  into  negotiations  with 
the  courts  of  Versailles  and  Madrid,  which  were  eager  for  the 
Sardinian  alliance.  English  mediation  had  to  be  called  in  to  effect 
a  reconciliation  between  Austria  and  Sardinia.  As  in  the  case  of 
Prussia,  England  did  not  hesitate  to  urge  unwelcome  sacrifices  upon 
Maria  Theresa,  with  a  vehemence  that  may  have  been  politic  but 
was  certainly  unwelcome  at  Vienna.  But  too  many  interests  were 
at  stake  for  the  queen  to  hold  out.  On  the  13th  of  September,  1743, 
the  important  treaty  of  ♦Worms  was  arranged  between  England, 
Austria,  and  Sardinia.  Maria  Theresa  ceded  to  Charles  Emanuel 
the  Milanese  west  of  the  Ticino  and  Lake  Maggiore,  the  cities  and 
districts  of  Pavia  and  Piacenza,  and  the  right  of  re-purchasing  the 
marquisate  of  Finale  from  the  Genoese.  Finale  had  been  sold  by 
Charles  VI.  to  Genoa  for  1,200,000  piastres,  but  the  emperor  had 
reserved  the  right  of  reclaiming  the  territory  on  paying  back  the 
money.     The  transference  of  this  right  to  Sardinia  was  bitterly 


360  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviil 

resented  by  the  Genoese  and  ultimately  drove  them  to  side  with 
France  and  Spain.  In  return  for  these  concessions,  Charles 
Emanuel  guaranteed  Maria  Theresa  in  the  possession  of  all  her 
other  territories,  and  promised  to  assist  Austria  with  40,000  men 
until  the  conclusion  of  a  general  peace.  The  settlement  of  the  Sar- 
dinian difficulties  enabled  the  Austrians  to  take  the  offensive  in  Italy. 
Khevenhuller  having  lately  died,  Traun  was  recalled  to  take  his 
place  in  Germany,  and  his  command  in  Lombardy  was  given  to 
Lobkowitz.  At  the  head  of  a  mixed  force  of  Austrians  and 
Sardinians,  Lobkowitz  attacked  the  Spaniards  in  the  papal  terri- 
tories and  drove  them  back  from  point  to  point.  Ultimately,  at 
the  end  of  October,  Gages  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Pesaro. 

The  treaty  of  Worms  was  a  serious  blow  to  France  and  Spain, 
and  to  meet  it  they  concluded  a  new  alliance  at  Fontainebleau  (25th 
October).  By  this  the  two  Bourbon  lines  pledged  themselves  to  a 
permanent  union.  France  promised  to  declare  war  against  England 
and  Sardinia ;  to  assist  Spain  in  conquering  the  Milanese  and 
Parma  for  Don  Philip ;  not  to  negotiate  with  England  until  Gib- 
raltar, ami  if  possible  Minorca  too,  had  been  restored  to  Spain  ;  aud 
to  force  England  to  resign  the  colony  of  Georgia,  which  had  recently 
been  usurped  from  the  Spaniards.  This  treaty,  which  pledged 
France  to  obtain  such  enormous  and  almost  impossible  advantages 
for  Spain,  without  any  recompense  fur  itself,  was  the  work  of 
Maurepas.  It  is  characteristic  of  Louis  XV.  that  he  saw  and 
expressed  clearly  the  defects  of  the  treaty,  bat  had  not  sufficient 
strength  of  mind  to  refuse  his  signature  to  it.  The  first  result  of 
this  new  family  compact  was  seen  in  the  energy  with  which  Savoy 
was  attacked  from  the  French  side.  For  two  years  a  Spanish  army 
had  been  assembled  in  southern  France  under  Don  Philip,  but  as 
yet  it  had  done  nothing.  In  October  of  this  year  an  attempt  was 
made  to  force  a  passage  through  the  Alps,  but  Charles  Emanuel's 
defensive  preparations  were  fully  sufficient  and  the  attack  was 
repulsed. 

§  13.  The  war  was  far  more  vigorously  prosecuted  in  1744  than  in 
the  preceding  year.  One  cause  of  this  was  a  sudden  outburst  of 
energy  on  the  part  of  Louis  XV.  His  third  mistress,  Madame  de  la 
Tournelle,  who  became  duchess  of  Chateauroux,  strove  to  play  the 
part  of  an  eighteenth-century  Agnes  Sorel,  and  to  inspire  the  king 
with  a  love  of  military  glory.  At  the  same  time  the  national 
spirit  of  the  French  was  roused  by  the  threatened  attack  on  their 
frontier,  and  the  old  hatred  of  England  was  revived  in  all  its  force. 
The  first  enterprise  of  the  year,  a  maritime  expedition  under 
Maurice  de  Saxe  to  restore  the  young  Pretender,  was  frustrated  by 
a  storm.     Hitherto  France  and  England  had  professed  to  take  part 


jld.  1743-1744.         PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  361 

in  the  war  as  auxiliaries  only.  This  farce  was  terminated  by  a 
declaration  of  war  against  England  in  March,  and  against  Austria 
in  April.  It  was  determined  to  make  the  Netherlands  the  chief 
seat  of  hostilities,  and  in  May  a  large  army  set  out,  accompanied 
by  the  king  in  person.  The  real  commander  was  Maurice  de  Saxe, 
who  was  now  made  a  marshal  of  France.  The  allied  army  had 
wintered  in  the  Netherlands,  the  English  under  General  Wade, 
the  Dutch  under  Lewis  of  Nassau,  and  the  Austrians  under 
Arenberg.  They  had  been  weakened  by  the  withdrawal  of  several 
English  regiments  to  resist  the  threatened  invasion,  and  the  want 
of  unanimity  among  the  three  generals  rendered  them  quite  unable 
to  oppose  the  enemy's  advance.  Courtrai,  Menin,  Ypres  and  other 
fortresses  were  captured  by  the  French  in  rapid  succession,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  foresee  any  limit  to  their  conquests  when  the 
campaign  was  suddenly  interrupted  by  news  from  Alsace. 

Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine  had  been  married  in  the  winter  to 
Maria  Theresa's  younger  sister,  the  archduchess  Marianne.  In 
the  spring  he  resumed  his  command,  accompanied  by  Marshal 
Traun,  who  in  this  year  proved  himself  the  ablest  Austrian  general 
since  Eugene  and  Gnido  Stahremberg.  Prince  Charles  had  decided 
to  renew  the  enterprise  that  had  been  foiled  in  1743,  to  cross  the 
Rhine  into  Alsace,  to  recover  from  Germany  the  lost  provinces, 
and  to  inflict  such  losses  on  the  French  monarchy  that  it  should 
make  peace  on  terms  dictated  from  Vienna.  To  oppose  him  there 
were  the  Bavarian  troops  under  Seckendorf,  which  had  left  Bavaria 
after  the  convention  of  Niederschonfeld  and  now  occupied  a  strong 
position  at  Philipsburg,  and  the  French  army  under  Coigni.  To 
deceive  the  enemy  Prince  Charles  pretended  to  meditate  crossing 
the  Rhine  near  Mainz.  Seckendorf  at  once  left  his  position  and 
marched  up  the  river  to  Speier,  while  Coigni  advanced  directly  upon 
Mainz.  Before  the  enemy  could  be  undeceived  the  Austrians 
commenced  their  passage  lower  down  on  the  30th  of  June,  and 
effected  it  without  serious  difficulty  in  three  days.  Lauterburg  and 
Weissemburg  were  taken,  and  the  Austrian  light  cavalry  devastated 
Alsace  to  the  borders  of  Lorraine.  Prince  Charles  would  gladly 
have  advanced  at  once  to  the  recovery  of  the  inheritance  of  his 
family,  to  the  renunciation  of  which  he  personally  had  always  refused 
his  assent.  But  he  was  afraid  to  go  too  far  from  the  Rhine,  lest 
the  bridges  might  be  broken  behind  him  and  his  communications 
cut  off.  And  at  this  juncture  he  found  that  he  had  to  face  a  more 
formidable  enemy  than  had  been  anticipated.  As  soon  as  he  heard 
that  the  Austrians  were  actually  in  Alsace,  Louis  XV.  determined 
to  undertake  the  defence  of  his  own  territories.  Leaving  Marshal 
Saxe  to  occupy  a  defensive  position  in  the  Netherlands,  he  marched 
17* 


362  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvin. 

southwards  with  the  main  body  of  the  French  army.  At  Metz 
the  king  was  seized  (4th  August)  with  a  sudden  and  dangerous 
illness.  The  greatest  excitement  was  aroused  by  the  news  in 
Paris,  and  so  great  was  the  popular  devotion  to  the  king,  and  so 
enthusiastic  the  rejoicings  when  he  was  out  of  danger,  that  this 
episode  in  his  reign  gave  Louis  the  epithet  of  the  Bien-aime. 
This  illness  exercised  a  fatal  influence  on  the  conduct  of  military 
affairs.  Noailles,  who  assumed  the  command,  was  absorbed  in 
watching  the  king's  health,  and  it  was  not  till  the  17th  of  August 
that  the  army  of  Flanders  effected  its  junction  with  Coigni.  But 
before  that  time  the  news  that  Frederick  of  Prussia  had  invaded 
Bohemia  had  reached  the  Austrians,  and  Prince  Charles  received 
orders  from  Vienna  to  quit  Alsace. 

IV.  The  Second  Silesian  War. 

§  14.  The  Austrian  successes  in  1743  had  inspired  Frederick  the 
Great  with  considerable  misgivings  for  the  safety  of  Silesia.  He  was 
especially  alarmed  by  the  treaty  of  Worms,  and  by  a  defensive 
alliance  between  Austria  and  Saxony  which  had  been  concluded  at 
Vienna  in  December.  In  both  of  these  the  Austrian  territories  had 
been  guaranteed  without  any  exception,  and  the  Saxon  alliance 
could  hardly  be  directed  against  any  power  but  Prussia.  He 
professed  to  have  found  definite  proofs  of  hostile  intention  in  a 
letter  from  George  II.  to  Maria  Theresa;  but  the  assertion  is 
probably  unfounded,  as  England  was  especially  anxious  not  to 
alienate  Prussia.  Asa  supporter  of  Charles  VII.,  Frederick  resented 
the  occupation  of  Bavaria,  which  made  the  emperor  a  powerless 
fugitive  in  Frankfort,  the  laughing-stock  of  both  enemies  and 
allies.  From  the  very  beginning  of  1744  he  meditated  a  new 
breach  with  Austria,  not  only  to  secure  what  he  had  already 
obtained,  but  also  in  the  hope  of  gaining  that  portion  of  Bohemia 
which  he  had  failed  to  get  in  the  treaty  of  Berlin.  In  May  he 
formed  the  Union  of  Frankfort,  which  was  joined  by  Charles  VII., 
the  Elector  Palatine,  and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel.  Its 
objects  were  to  restore  the  lawful  constitution  of  the  Empire,  to 
induce  Maria  Theresa  to  restore  Bavaria,  to  settle  the  disputes 
about  the  Austrian  succession,  and  to  arrange  a  final  peace.  As 
no  other  German  princes  would  join  the  league,  it  was  of  slight 
practical  importance,  but  it  served  Frederick's  purpose  so  far  that 
it  gave  him  a  pretext  for  war  with  Austria  as  the  champion  of 
German  interests  and  of  the  imperial  constitution  against  wanton 
aggression. 

At  the  same  time  Frederick  resumed  his  connection  with  France, 


a.d.  1744.  PRUSSIA  RENEWS  HOSTILITIES.  363 

and  sent  Count  Rothenburg  as  his  envoy  to  Paris.  A  court  intrigue 
led  to  the  dismissal  of  Amelot  from  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs, 
and  enabled  Rothenburg  to  conclude  a  treaty  at  Paris  on  the  5th  of 
June.  The  French  undertook  to  attack  the  Netherlands,  so  as  to 
prevent  the  maritime  powers  from  sending  aid  to  Austria.  Another 
French  army  was  to  march  through  Westphalia  to  attack  Hanover, 
and  France  undertook  to  induce  Sweden  and  liussia  to  conclude  a 
defensive  alliance  with  Prussia.  Frederick  himself  promised  that  if 
the  main  Austrian  army  invaded  Alsace  he  would  at  once  attack 
Bohemia  with  80,000  men.  But  to  this  promise  two  very  definite 
conditions  were  attached.  If  Charles  of  Lorraine  were  compelled 
by  Frederick's  action  to  quit  Alsace,  the  French  were  to  pursue  him 
closely,  to  recover  Bavaria  for  the  emperor,  and  to  harass  the 
Austrian  territories.  To  compensate  Frederick  lor  his  exertions  the 
four  Bohemian  circles  to  the  right  of  the  Kibe  (Bunzlau,  Lei t merit/., 
Pardubitz  and  Konigingratz)  were  to  be  united  with  Silesia  and 
ceded  to  Prussia.  It  was  still  necessary  to  obtain  the  Emperor's  con- 
sent, but  this  was  effected  by  a  secret  treaty  between  Charles  VII. 
and  Frederick  (24th  July).  By  this  Frederick  pledged  himself  to 
use  all  possible  means  to  carry  out  the  objects  of  the  Union  of 
Frankfort  and  to  conquer  Bohemia  for  Charles,  who,  on  his  part, 
confirmed  the  proposed  cession  of  the  four  circles  to  Prussia. 

During  his  two  years  of  neutrality  Frederick  had  never  lost  sight 
of  a  possible  renewal  of  the  war.  By  strict  parsimony  and  regular 
administration  his  exhausted  treasury  had  been  re-filled.  The 
Silesian  fortresses,  Neisse,  Glogau,  Brieg,  Cosel  and  Glatz  had 
been  repaired  and  strengthened.  The  Prussian  army  had  been 
increased  and  incessantly  trained,  and  everything  was  prepared  for 
the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  The  news  of  the  invasion  of  Alsace  by 
the  Austrians  decided  Frederick  to  fulfil  his  engagements,  although 
the  stipulated  alliance  with  Sweden  and  Russia  had  not  been 
concluded.  On  the  7th  of  August  his  envoy  at  Vienna,  Count 
Dohna,  made  a  formal  declaration  that,  as  a  German  elector,  he 
could  no  longer  endure  to  see  the  emperor  oppressed  and  the 
constitution  broken  by  Austria,  that  he  was  determined  to  send 
auxiliaries  to  aid  Charles  VII.,  but  that  his  conduct  was  in  no  way 
a  breach  of  the  treaty  of  Berliu.  The  same  contention  was  made 
in  a  manifesto  which  he  published  at  Berlin.  On  the  very  same  day 
he  demanded  from  the  Saxon  government  a  free  passage  for  his  troops 
as  imperial  auxiliaries.  Augustus  III.  was  in  Warsaw,  whence  he 
ordered  that  the  demand  should  be  refused.  Fortunately  for 
Saxony  this  order  arrived  too  late  from  Poland,  the  Prussian  troops 
were  already  on  the  spot,  and  the  authorities  did  not  venture  on  a 
refusal.     In  four  columns,  the  Prussians,  80,000  strong,  crossed  the 


364  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvih. 

Bohemian  frontier,  three  under  the  king  in  persoD,  and  the  fourth 
from  Silesia  under  Marshal  Schwerin. 

§  15.  The  news  of  the  Prussian  movement  was  received  in  Vienna 
rather  with  joy  than  with  dismay.  For  more  than  a  year  Maria 
Theresa  had  made  her  chief  object  to  obtain  some  compensation  for 
the  loss  of  Silesia.  But  endless  obstacles  had  been  interposed,  by  her 
allies  as  much  as  by  her  enemies.  Now  the  far  more  desirable 
prospect  was  opened  of  recovering  Silesia  itself.  Hitherto  that  had 
been  impossible,  because  England,  the  only  important  ally  of  Austria, 
had  guaranteed  the  treaty  of  Berlin.  But  Frederick  himself  had 
now  broken  the  treaty  and  England  was  bitterly  indignant  at  his 
conduct.  From  this  time  Maria  Theresa  determined  to  subordinate 
every  other  enterprise  to  the  re-conquest  of  Silesia  and  the 
humiliation  of  the  Prussian  king.  She  herself  paid  another  visit  to 
Pressburg,  where  her  presence  exercised  the  same  magical  influence 
as  before,  and  the  Hungarians  voted  a  second  "  insurrection."  The 
Austrian  commander  in  Bavaria,  Count  Batthyani,  was  ordered  to 
march  with  the  main  body  of  his  troops  to  Bohemia.  Reinforce- 
ments were  sent  to  Count  Harsch,  the  governor  of  Prague,  and  his 
garrison  was  raised  to  14,000  men.  But  the  chief  reliance  was 
placed  in  the  army  of  Charles  of  Lorraine,  who  received  orders  to 
give  up  the  invasion  of  Alsace  and  to  return  as  speedily  as  possible 
to  the  defence  of  Bohemia. 

But  for  the  moment  Bohemia  was  almost  defenceless.  Batthyani 
had  barely  20,000  men,  and  it  was  hopeless  to  oppose  them  to  the 
Prussian  army.  Early  in  September  Prague  was  besieged,  and  on 
the  16th  Harsch  had  to  surrender  unconditionally.  Opinions  were 
divided  as  to  future  movements.  Schwerin  advised  an  immediate 
attack  upon  Batthyani,  aud  after  crushing  him  proposed  to  take 
Pilsen  and  to  occupy  the  passes  between  Bohemia  and  the  Upper 
Palatinate,  so  as  to  bar  the  advance  of  Charles  of  Lorraine. 
Belleisle,  who  had  recovered  some  of  his  influence  as  France  became 
more  active  in  the  war,  and  who  had  recently  arrived  in  the 
Prussian  camp,  urged  on  the  other  hand  that  the  Prussians  should 
advance  boldly  southwards  and  conquer  the  whole  of  Bohemia. 
His  advice  was  followed  by  Frederick.  Tabor,  Budweis,  and 
other  strong  places  were  taken  and  compelled  to  swear  fealty  to 
Charles  VII."  By  the  fourth  of  October  the  Prussians  had  advanced 
almost  to  the  Austrian  frontier.  But  this  was  destined  to  be  the 
limit.  Saxony  obstinately  refused  to  support  Prussia,  and  carried 
out  the  treaty  of  Vienna  by  sending  20,000  men  to  co-operate 
with  the  Austrians.  Still  more  fatal  to  Frederick's  projects  was  the 
failure  of  the  French  to  fulfil  their  obligations. 

Charles  of  Lorraine  had  determined,  even  before  his  instructions 


A.D.  1744.       PRUSSIAN  FAILURE  IN  BOHEMIA.  365 

arrived  from  Vienna,  to  recross  the  Rhine.  But  this  was  a  task  of 
appalling  difficulty.  The  armies  of  Noailles  and  Coigui  had  just 
united  and  were  considerably  superior  to  his  own.  The  genius  of 
Traun  and  the  negligence  of  the  French  enabled  the  Austrians  to 
triumph  over  all  obstacles.  On  the  23rd  of  August  the  |>assage 
was  effected  with  a  loss  of  only  300  men  in  the  very  face  of  the 
hostile  armies.  It  was  an  achievement  that  naturally  inspired  the 
troops  with  confidence  both  in  themselves  and  in  their  leaders. 
On  the  10th  of  September  they  reached  Donauwoith,  whence 
Prince  Charles  set  out  for  Vienna,  while  Traun  organised  the  defence 
of  Bavaria.  General  Barenklau  was  left  in  command  of  the  province 
with  20,000  men.  Then  the  Austrians  continued  the  march  east- 
wards, and  on  the  2nd  of  October  effected  a  junction  with  the 
forces  of  Batthyani.  The  French  had  been  bound  by  the  treaty  with 
Frederick  to  molest  the  Austrians  on  their  retieat  and  to  follow 
them  with  40,000  men  Neither  condition  was  fulfilled,  nor  was 
the  stipulated  army  despatched  against  Hanover.  Noailles  con- 
tented himself  with  laying  siege  to  Freiburg,  and  with  sending 
12,000  men  under  Se'gur  to  assist  Seckendorf  in  Bavaria.  The 
plan  of  Frederick's  campaign  was  ruined.  He  had  deserted  the 
French  in  1742,  they  now  paid  him  back  in  his  own  coin. 

In  Bohemia  Frederick  waited  in  uncertainty  as  to  what  would  be 
the  enemy's  movements.  To  his  surprise,  instead  of  attacking 
Budweis,  they  marched  northwards  to  meet  the  20,000  Saxons, 
who  joined  them  on  the  22nd  of  October.  Their  numbers  were  now 
about  70,000,  while  Frederick's  were  reduced  to  60,000.  Still  the 
latter  might  have  been  successful  il  he  could  have  forced  on  a 
decisive  battle.  But  in  this  attempt  he  was  foiled  by  the  masterly 
strategy  of  Traun,  who  was  the  guiding  genius  of  the  Austrian 
campaign.  Traun's  plan  was  to  occupy  an  unassailable  position 
1 Inch  barred  the  advance  of  the  Prussians,  and  to  hold  it  until  want 
of  supplies  compelled  them  to  retreat  to  another  district:  then  he 
follow,  d  them  and  repeated  the  manoeuvre.  Frederick  chafed  at  this 
intangible  obstacle  in  his  way,  but  could  do  nothing.  Traun,  as  he 
honestly  confessed,  completely  out-generalled  him,  and  he  was 
forced  to  retire  step  by  step  towards  the  Silesian  frontier.  Through- 
out the  campaign  the  Austrians  were  immensely  assisted  by  the 
native  population.  By  the  end  of  November,  Frederick  recognised  the 
necessity  of  giving  up  Prague  and  his  other  conquests  and  of  evacuat- 
ing Bohemia  altogether.  The  enterprise  which  ended  in  such  com- 
plete failure  had  been  a  costly  one.  Of  the  80,000  men  who  had 
entered  Bohemia,  barely  40,000  returned  to  their  homes.  Frederick, 
thinking  the  campaign  was  over,  entrusted  the  command  to  Leopold 
of  Anhalt-Dessau  and  hurried  off  to  Berlin.     But  the  Austrians,  at 


366  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xm 

the  express  command  of  Maria  Theresa,  disregarded  the  winter 
climate  and  entered  Silesia.  Frederick  had  to  return  to  urge  the 
methodical  old  Dessauer  to  hasten  his  preparations.  The  Prussians 
took  the  offensive  in  January,  1745,  and  speedily  forced  the  enemy 
to  retire  into  Moravia.  But  it  was  not  till  February  that  they 
were  able  to  go  into  winter  quarters. 

Meanwhile  the  efforts  which  the  Austrians  had  made  in  Bohemia 
had  cost  them  their  hold  on  Bavaria.  As  soon  as  Prince  Charles 
was  well  out  of  the  way,  Seckendorf,  reinforced  by  the  French 
under  Segur  and  by  troops  from  Hesse  and  the  Palatinate, 
marched  to  Donauworth,  which  was  captured  on  2nd  October. 
Barenklau  had  not  sufficient  forces  to  venture  upon  a  conflict  with 
the  enemy.  Munich,  which  was  of  slight  military  importance, 
was  taken  on  the  12th  of  October.  This  welcome  news  brought 
Charles  VII.  back  to  his  native  country,  and  on  October  23  he 
re-entered  his  capital  amidst  the  jubilation  of  its  inhabitants. 
Ultimately  the  whole  of  Bavaria  was  recovered  except  Ingolstadt, 
Schiirding,  and  Braunau,  which  the  Austrians  still  held.  In 
November  the  allied  troops  were  disposed  in  winter  quarters,  and 
Seckendorf,  having  completed  his  task,  retired  from  the  command. 
The  French  army  on  the  Rhine  attempted  nothing  after  the  capture 
of  Freiburg,  which  cost  them  a  three  months'  siege.  The  Breisgau, 
which  had  belonged  to  the  Hapsburgs  since  the  14th  century, 
passed  for  a  few  months  into  the  hands  of  France.  In  the 
Netherlands  nothing  of  importance  took  place  after  Louis  XV.'s 
departure.  The  Pragmatic  Army,  with  its  triplet  of  incompetent 
commanders,  Wade,  Nassau,  and  Arenberg,  remained  obstinately 
inactive,  and  allowed  Marshal  Saxe  with  a  very  inferior  force  to 
keep  possession  of  the  French  conquests. 

In  Italy  the  campaign  of  1744  was  in  the  highest  degree  in- 
decisive. According  to  the  treaty  of  Worms,  a  combined  attack  was 
to  have  been  made  upon  Naples.  But  this  depended  on  the  joint 
action  of  English,  Sardinians  and  Austrians.  Admiral  Mathews  re- 
fused to  co-operate  ;  and  Charles  Emanuel  thought  more  of  his  own 
interests  than  of  those  of  his  allies.  His  first  object  was  to  obtain 
possession  of  Finale  from  Genoa,  but  his  attention  was  soon  called 
away  to  resist  a  threatened  invasion  of  Piedmont.  20,000  French 
under  the  Prince  of  Conti  were  combined  with  the  same  number  of 
Spaniards  under  Don  Philip.  In  April  they  took  Nice  and 
attempted  to  pass  the  Alps.  But  they  spent  several  months  in  the 
siege  of  a  small  fortress  called  Cori,  and  in  October  the  beginning  of 
the  rainy  season  drove  them  back  into  Dauphine  after  they  had  lost 
nearly  half  their  troops.  Jealousy  between  the  French  and 
Spaniards  contributed  to  bring  about  the  failure  of  the  enterprise. 


a.d.   1744-1745.        PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  367 

Meanwhile  the  defection  of  the  Sardinians  left  the  Austrian 
commander  Lobkowitz  to  act  alone  in  central  Italy.  In  April  he 
advanced  from  Rimini  towards  the  Spanish  camp  at  Pesaro.  But 
Gages,  widiout  waiting  to  be  attacked,  retired  into  Neapolitan 
territory.  The  Austrians  marched  as  far  as  the  frontier  of 
Naples  and  there,  in  accordance  with  custom,  waited  for  instruc- 
tions from  Vienna.  Meanwhile  the  favourable  moment  was  passed. 
Don  Carlos,  regardless  of  his  enforced  promise  of  neutrality, 
at  once  espoused  the  cause  of  his  fellow-countrymen.  Think- 
ing it  better  to  wage  the  war  in  foreign  territory  rather  than 
in  his  own  kingdom,  he  entered  the  papal  states  and  encamped 
at  Velletri.  On  the  10th  August,  Lobkowitz  made  a  night 
attack  upon  the  camp,  which  was  momentarily  successful  but 
ultimately  repulsed  after  a  desperate  combat.  The  intense  heat 
in  the  marshy  plains  gave  rise  to  fever  among  the  Austrians, 
and  Lobkowitz,  after  losing  more  men  by  disease  than  by  war, 
commenced  a  retreat  which  did  not  end  till  he  had  again  reached 
Rimini. 

§  16.  In  1745  the  aspect  of  affairs  was  entirely  altered  by  the 
sudden  death  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VII.  (20th  January)  before  he 
had  completed  his  48th  year.  The  electorate  of  Bavaria  passed  to 
his  son,  Maximilian  Joseph,  who  was  only  eighteen  years  of  age. 
Maria  Theresa  had  never  given  up  the  hope  of  recovering  the 
imperial  crown  for  the  Uapsburgs  in  the  j-erson  of  either  heb 
husband  or  her  son.  As  the  latter  was  only  four  years  old,  there 
was  no  alternative  but  to  urge  on  the  electors  the  older  but  less 
popular  candidate.  Maria  Theresa  saw  that  the  best  chance  of 
securing  her  husband's  elevation,  and  also  of  regaining  Silesia,  lay  in 
a  reconciliation  with  Bavaria,  which  might  easily  lead  to  peace 
with  France.  The  young  elector  had  declared  immediately  on  his 
accession  that  he  would  not  be  a  candidate  for  the  imperial  crown, 
but  he  by  no  means  abandoned  his  claims  to  the  Austrian  succes- 
sion, and  in  fact  assumed  the  title  of  archduke.  There  were  no  less 
than  four  French  envoys  at  his  court  all  urging  him  to  remain 
steadfast  to  his  father's  policy.  On  the  other  side  were  his  mother, 
Maria  Amelia,  herself  a  Hapsburg,  and  Seckendnrf,  the  Austrian 
renegade,  who  used  all  their  influence  to  bring  about  a  reconcili- 
ation with  Austria.  Maria  Theresa  lost  no  time  in  publicly 
announcing  her  desire  for  peace,  but  at  the  same  time  she  gave 
weight  to  her  proposals  by  military  preparations.  As  the  young 
elector,  distracted  by  op|>osite  influences,  could  not  make  up  his 
mind,  the  Austrians  commenced  the  attack.  The  Upper  Palati- 
nate was  speedily  overrun :  Batthyani  defeated  the  Bavarians  and 
the  French,  and  the  latter  under  Segur  promptly  evacuated  the 


368  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvin. 

ducliy  and  retreated  to  the  Rhine.  Within  a  few  weeks  the  whole 
of  Bavaria  was  for  the  third  time  in  the  hands  of  the  Austrians. 
At  the  same  time  the  Austrian  troops  under  Arenberg  threatened 
to  advance  through  Westphalia  to  Bavaria.  The  young  elector, 
who  had  fled  from  his  capital  to  Augsburg,  was  compelled  to 
negotiate.  Fussen,  a  small  town  belonging  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Augsburg,  was  selected  as  a  meeting  place  for  the  diplomatists, 
and  there  a  treaty  was  signed  on  22nd  April.  Maria  Theresa 
recognised  the  deceased  Charles  Albert  as  emperor  and  his  widow 
as  empress :  she  restored  to  Maximilian  Joseph  all  his  father's 
territories  as  they  had  stood  in  1741,  and  withdrew  all  claims  to 
compensation  for  the  expenses  of  the  war.  On  his  side,  the  elector 
renounced  all  claim  to  the  Austrian  territories,  guaranteed  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  and  promised  his  vote  to  the  grand  duke 
Francis.  Until  the  imperial  election  was  settled,  Braunau  and 
Schiirding,  with  the  strip  of  Bavaria  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Inn, 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Austrians. 

Meanwhile  the  vacancy  in  the  empire  threatened  to  terminate 
the  alliance  between  Austria  and  Saxony.  France  was  as  anxious 
as  ever  to  prevent  the  election  of  the  grand  duke,  partly  on  account 
of  his  Hapsburg  connection,  and  partly  because  he  was  regarded  as 
a  personal  enemy  to  France  on  the  score  of  Lorraine.  The  most 
obvious  means  of  effecting  this  object  was  to  offer  the  imperial 
crown  to  Augustus  III.  as  the  price  of  his  desertion  of  Austria, 
Frederick,  though  bitterly  opposed  to  the  elevation  of  Saxony,  was 
compelled  to  support  the  French  proposal.  Augustus  himself  was 
averse  to  any  increase  of  business,  but  his  wife  was  eager  to  rival 
her  younger  sister  who  had  married  Charles  VII.,  and  his  empty- 
headed  minister,  Count  Briihl,  wished  to  pose  as  the  prime 
minister  of  an  emperor.  At  Vienna  the  danger  of  Saxony  joining 
France  was  fully  appreciated,  and  great  efforts  were  made  to  renew 
the  recent  alliance  on  a  more  permanent  basis.  Ultimately  jealousy 
of  Prussia  prevailed  at  Dresden,  and  Augustus  determined  to  adhere 
to  Maria  Theresa.  But  a  great  difficulty  was  raised  by  the  king's 
demand  of  a  territorial  reward  for  his  fealty  at  the  expense  of 
Silesia.  Maria  Theresa  was  determined  not  to  submit  to  further 
losses,  and  it  took  some  time  to  arrange  a  compromise.  By  this 
Austria  was  to  give  up  the  circle  of  Schwiebus,  but  all  further  com- 
pensation to  Saxony  must  be  obtained  at  the  cost  of  Prussia.  On  the 
18th  of  May  a  treaty  was  arranged  to  the  following  effect.  The  two 
powers  agreed  not  to  lay  down  their  arms  until  they  had  conquered 
from  the  king  of  Prussia  not  only  Silesia  and  Glatz  but  also  a 
part  of  his  inherited  territories.  As  regards  the  imperial  election, 
Augustus  promised  not  to  become  a  candidate  himself  nor  to  oppose 


ad.  1745.  BATTLE  OF  FONTENOY.  369 

the  candidature  of  the  grand  duke :  but  he  refused  to  pledge  his 
vote,  and  declared  that  if  the  majority  of  electors  chose  him  he 
would  accept  the  crown. 

§  17.  The  invasion  of  Silesia  by  the  Austrians  and  Saxons  is  by  far 
the  most  important  event  of  the  year  1745,  but  before  considering 
it,  it  is  necessary  to  turn  to  Frederick's  only  remaining  ally,  France. 
Since  the  last  campaign  Louis  XV.  had  conceived  a  passion  for 
war,  but  it  must  be  a  war  which  could  be  waged  without  danger 
and  with  a  fair  certainty  of  success.  These  conditions  could 
only  be  secured  in  the  Netherlands.  Accordingly  three  French 
armies  were  set  on  loot,  one  under  Maillebois  to  assist  the 
Spaniards  in  Italy,  another  under  Conti  to  act  on  the  German 
frontier,  to  defend  Alsace  from  attack,  and  to  watch  over  the 
approaching  election  at  Frankfort.  The  third  and  largest  was  to 
act  in  the  Netherlands  with  Marshal  Saxe  as  its  commander,  but 
accompanied  by  the  king  in  person.  The  allied  army  in  the 
Netherlands  consisted  chiefly  of  English,  Hanoverians  and  Dutch, 
with  only  8000  Austrians,  the  remainder  under  Arenberg  having 
marched  into  Germany  to  threaten  Bavaria.  The  experience  of 
the  last  campaign  had  shown  clearly  the  evils  of  a*  divided 
command,  and  it  was  determined  to  entrust  the  army  to  a  single 
general,  the  duke  of  Cumberland,  while  Maria  Theresa  sent  the 
experienced  Marshal  Konigsegg  to  serve  by  his  side.  The  Dutch 
troops  were  led  by  the  Prince  of  Waldcck.  In  April  Marshal  Saxe, 
who  suffered  so  severely  from  dropsy  that  he  had  to  be  carried  in 
a  litter,  took  the  command  of  his  army,  and  laid  siege  to  Tournay. 
Louis  XV.  was  present  with  his  new  mistress,  Madame  de  Pom- 
padour. The  duke  of  Cumberland,  who  could  not  be  accused  of 
want  of  courage,  advanced  to  the  relief  of  Tournay.  Marshal 
Saxe,  leaving  20,000  men  to  continue  the  siege,  occupied  a  strong 
position  at  Fontenoy,  where  a  pitched  battle  was  fought  on  the 
11th  of  May.  The  stubborn  courage  of  the  English,  whose 
advance  remains  one  of  the  great  feats  of  war,  nearly  carried  the 
day  in  spite  of  their  general's  want  of  strategy.  But  they  were 
ill-supported  by  the  Dutch.  Marshal  Saxe  brought  up  his 
reserves  at  the  critical  moment,  and  the  attack  was  repulsed  with 
great  loss.  The  victory  of  the  French  decided  the  fate  of  the 
campaign.  Tournay  surrendered  on  the  23rd  of  May,  though  the 
citadel  held  out  until  the  20th  of  June.  No  more  opposition  was 
made  to  the  French  advance.  The  outbreak  of  the  Jacobite  revolt 
recalled  the  duke  of  Cumberland  and  most  of  his  troops  to  Eng- 
land. The  history  of  the  campaign  from  this  time  is  merely  a 
list  of  successful  sieges.  Ghent,  Bruges,  Oudenarde,  Denderraonde, 
Ostend  and  Nieuport  opened  their  gates  one  after  the  other.     With 


370  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvra. 

the  capture  of  Ath  on  the  8th  of  October  the  French  closed  the 
campaign.  They  had  scarcely  reaped  as  much  profit  as  they  might 
have  done  from  their  victory,  and  they  had  certainly  done  little 
to  help  their  ally.  Frederick  himself  bitterly  declared  that  the 
battle  of  Fontenoy  might  as  well  have  been  fought  on  the 
Scamander. 

In  the  east  the  Austrian  army  was  once  more  entrusted  to 
Charles  of  Lorraine,  whose  success  in  Bohemia  had  given  him  a 
great  but,  as  it  proved,  an  undeserved  reputation.  Traun,  to  whom 
the  whole  credit  of  the  last  campaign  was  really  due,  was  regarded 
with  jealousy  by  the  prince,  and  was  sent  to  command  the  army  in 
Germany,  which  was  to  overawe  the  electors  at  Frankfort.  With 
his  usual  want  of  promptitude  Prince  Charles  delayed  till  May  his 
advance  to  the  frontier  of  Silesia.  At  Landshut  he  was  joined  by 
30,000  Saxons  under  the  duke  of  Sachsen-Weissenfels.  His  army 
now  numbered  considerably  more  than  100,000  men,  and  was 
numerically  far  superior  to  the  Prussians.  But  the  latter  had  a 
great  advantage  in  their  unity  and  their  undivided  command. 
Frederick,  as  soon  as  he  learnt  the  enemy's  design  to  invade  Silesia, 
encamped  by  Schweidnitz  at  the  foot  of  the  JNesengebirge,  or 
Giant  Mountains,  which  separate  Silesia  from  Bohemia.  On  the 
first  of  June  the  allies  commenced  the  passage  of  the  mountains. 
Charles  of  Lorraine  had  the  campaign  ready  mapped  out  in  his 
mind.  He  would  manoeuvre  the  Prussians  out  of  Silesia  as  he  had 
manoeuvred  them  out  of  Bohemia.  Frederick  would  retreat,  the 
Austrians  would  occupy  one  strong  position  after  another,  and 
everything  would  go  well.  But  it  was  one  thing  to  carry  out 
Traun's  policy  with  him  to  help,  and  another  to  do  it  in  his  absence. 
The  hypothesis  on  which  the  whole  plan  was  based  was  erroneous. 
Frederick  did  not  intend  to  retreat.  As  soon  as  the  Saxons,  who 
formed  the  vanguard  of  the  allied  army,  had  appeared  on  the  plain 
by  Hohenfriedberg,  they  were  attacked  by  the  Prussians,  and,  in 
spite  of  a  valiant  resistance,  were  routed  almost  before  Prince 
Charles  was  aware  that  a  battle  was  being  fought.  When  the 
situation  was  realised  the  Austrians  were  formed  in  order  of  battle, 
but  it  was  too  late  to  reverse  the  fortunes  of  the  day.  The 
Prussian  cavalry,  which  had  been  so  defective  at  Mollwitz,  now 
carried  all  before  it.  The  Austrians  were  completely  defeated,  and 
had  to  seek  safety  in  recrossing  the  mountains.  Frederick  followed 
them  into  Bohemia,  not  for  the  purpose  of  making  conquests,  but 
in  order  to  support  his  troops  at  the  expense  of  a  hostile  state. 

The  battle  of  Hohenfriedberg  was  a  great  blow  to  Maria  Theresa, 
and  the  conquest  of  Silesia  seemed  for  the  moment  impossible. 
But  the  Queen's  courage  remained  unshaken,  and  she  determined 


a.d.  1745.  ATTITUDE  OF  ENGLAND.  371 

not  to  give  up  the  enterprise  on  the  first  reverse.  Her  great  fear 
was  lest  the  fidelity  of  her  allies,  Saxony  and  England,  should  be 
shaken,  and  her  first  act  was  to  send  an  envoy  to  Dresdeu  and 
Hanover  to  urge  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  With  regard  to 
England  her  fears  proved  well  founded.  The  common  interests 
which  had  led  to  the  alliance  with  Austria  no  longer  existed.  The 
sole  object  of  England  in  joining  the  war  was  to  weaken  France. 
Maria  Theresa  had  now  subordinated  her  enmity  to  France  to  the 
desire  of  humiliating  Prussia,  in  which  England  had  no  interest,  or 
rather  the  reverse.  The  Austrian  troops  had  been  recalled  from 
the  Netherlands,  and  the  whole  burden  of  the  war  had  been  thrown 
upon  the  allies.  The  result  was  the  defeat  of  Fontenoy,  the  loss 
of  the  Flemish  fortresses,  and  the  outbreak  of  the  Jacobite  revolt. 
English  interests  imperatively  demanded  the  conclusion  of  peace 
with  Prussia,  and  Frederick  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage  oi  this 
turn  in  his  favour.  On  the  26th  of  August  he  concluded  the  con- 
vention of  Hanover  with  George  II.  England  undertook  to  nego- 
tiate a  peace  between  Prussia  and  Austria  within  six  weeks  on  the 
basis  of  the  treaty  of  Berlin.  Frederick's  possession  of  Silesia  was 
to  be  guaranteed  by  all  the  European  Powers,  and  on  this  condition 
he  promised  to  give  his  vote  to  the  grand-duke  of  Tuscany.  The 
claim  of  England  to  act  as  a  sort  of  guardian  to  Austria,  and  to 
make  terms  in  her  name,  was  not  likely  to  commend  the  conven- 
tion to  Maria  Theresa.  On  the  29th  of  August  she  answered  it  l»v 
a  new  treaty  with  Saxony.  The  two  Powers  again  pledged  them- 
selves not  to  lay  down  arms  till  they  had  accomplished  their 
object.  Maria  Theresa  undertook  to  send  reinforcements  from  her 
German  army  into  Silesia;  and  Augustus  pledged  himself  to 
employ  his  whole  forces  in  the  war  instead  of  the  bare  contingent 
of  30,000  men.  English  mediation  failed  altogether  to  effect  its 
object,  and  the  war  continued. 

But  before  it  could  be  resumed  the  attention  of  Europe  was 
called  away  for  a  moment  to  the  approaching  election  at  Frankfort. 
In  spring  a  French  army  under  Conti  had  crossed  the  Rhine, 
occupied  Frankfort  and  advanced  to  Aschaffenburg  on  the  Main. 
The  task  of  expelling  the  invaders  was  entrusted  to  the  veteran 
Marshal  Traun,  who  assumed  the  command  of  the  Austrian  troops 
in  Bavaria,  and  was  joined  by  the  grand-duke  in  person.  Traun 
advanced  to  the  Main,  where  he  was  reinforced  by  Arenberg's 
forces  from  the  Netherlands.  By  a  series  of  masterly  marches  and 
countei -marches,  and  without  risking  a  battle,  the  Austrian  com- 
mander forced  the  French  to  evacuate  Germany  and  to  recross  the 
Rhine.  The  result  of  the  election  was  now  assured.  The  Arch- 
bishops of  Mainz  and  Trier  were  devoted  to  Austria.     The  elector 


372  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvm. 

of  Cologne  was  gained  over  when  it  was  certain  that  his  nephew 
would  not  be  a  candidate.  The  Bavarian  vote  was  secured  by  the 
treaty  of  Fussen,  those  of  Hanover  and  Saxony  by  previous 
treaties.  This  time  no  objection  was  made  to  Maria  Theresa's 
exercise  of  the  Bohemian  vote.  The  only  opponents  were  Prussia 
and  the  Palatinate,  the  former  at  open  war  with  Austria,  and  the 
latter  completely  under  French  influence.  On  the  13th  of  Septem- 
ber the  grand-duke  Francis  was  elected  Emperor  by  seven  votes. 
His  elevation  made  no  difference  in  the  relations  between  husband 
and  wife.  Maria  Theresa  remained,  by  virtue  of  her  natural 
qualities,  the  master-spirit,  and  in  Vienna  she  was  welcomed  by 
the  populace  as  the  Empress-Queen. 

§  18.  Frederick  had  made  great  efforts  to  gain  over  Saxony  as 
well  as  England  after  the  battle  of  Hohenfriedberg.  But  the  new 
treaty  which  Augustus  III.  made  with  Austria  convinced  him  that 
he  must  resort  to  stronger  measures.  Accordingly  he  ordered  the 
old  Leopold  of  Dessau  to  form  a  camp  at  Halle,  and  to  prepare  for 
an  invasion  of  Saxony.  But  he  still  hesitated  to  give  the  final 
order,  because  Elizabeth  of  Russia  had  declared  that  any  attack 
upon  Saxon  territory  would  be  regarded  as  an  act  of  hostility 
against  Russia.  The  only  immediate  result  of  the  preparations 
was  that  the  duke  of  Sachsen-Weissenfels,  with  the  bulk  of  the 
Saxon  troops,  quitted  Charles  of  Lorraine  and  returned  to  the 
defence  of  his  native  country.  Meanwhile  the  result  of  the  im- 
perial election  had  encouraged  Maria  Theresa  to  resume  hostilities. 
Before  starting  for  Frankfort  she  sent  orders  to  Prince  Charles  to 
drive  the  Prussians  out  of  Bohemia.  But  Frederick  himself  had 
already  determined  to  retreat.  The  country  was  exhausted,  his 
troops  were  almost  starved,  and  his  treasury  empty.  On  the 
20th  of  September  he  arrived  at  Soor,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
mountains.  The  Austrians  followed  close  on  his  steps,  occupied 
the  surrounding  heights,  and  determined  to  attack.  Their  position 
was  immensely  superior,  their  numbers  were  larger,  and  if  the 
attack  had  been  made  at  once  it  could  hardly  have  failed  to  be 
successful.  But  the  habit  of  procrastination  was  inbred  in  the 
Austrians,  and  their  delay  gave  Frederick  time  to  make  his  prepa- 
rations. He  determined  to  be  the  attacking  party  instead  of 
waiting  to  be  attacked.  The  Prussian  troops  stormed  the  heights 
with  resistless  courage,  and  drove  the  enemy  from  their  positions. 
Considering  the  circumstances  it  was  Frederick's  greatest  victory  as 
yet,  and  reflected  the  greatest  discredit  on  Prince  Charles  and  his 
associates.  But  the  results  of  the  victory  were  small.  Frederick 
could  not  and  did  not  wish  to  re-enter  Bohemia,  and  he  continued 
his  retreat  with  such  rapidity  that  his  camp  fell  into  the  hands  of 


a.d.  1745.  CONQUEST  OF  SAXONY.  373 

the  Austrians.  The  Hungarian  irregulars  harassed  his  march,  and 
inflicted  considerable  damage.  At  last  he  crossed  the  frontier  by 
Trautenau  and  re-entered  Silesia.  Having  no  doubt  that  the 
campaign  was  over,  and  that  the  battle  of  Soor  would  force 
Austria  to  accept  the  convention  of  Hanover,  he  sent  his  troops 
into  winter  quarters,  and  ordered  the  Prince  of  Anhalt-Dessau  to 
do  the  same. 

But  Saxony  and  Austria  were  determined  to  carry  on  the  war 
through  the  winter  months,  and  to  attack  Brandenburg  as  well  as 
Silesia.  Great  hopes  were  entertained  that  Russia,  closely  allied  at 
thin  time  with  Saxony,  would  at  last  take  part  in  hostilities  against 
Prussia.  Count  Rutowski.  one  of  the  numerous  bastards  of 
Augustus  II.,  had  superseded  the  duke  of  Sachseu-Weissenfels. 
He  was  instructed  to  join  (  harles  of  Lorraine  with  the  main  army 
of  Saxony,  and  the  combined  forces  were  to  advance  to  the  frontier 
of  Brandenburg  and  Silesia.  Thus  they  would  cut  off  the  Prussians 
from  their  communications,  and  could  attack  them  at  leisure.  At 
the  same  time  a  detachment  which  had  been  sent  from  Traun's 
army  was  to  march  upon  Berlin.  These  hostile  schemes  \\<ic 
divulged  to  Frederick  by  the  indiscretion  of  Count  Briihl,  ami  the 
king  took  prompt  measures  to  meet  the  danger.  Berlin  was 
prepared  to  stand  a  siege,  and  Leopold  of  Dessau  was  ordered  to 
reassemble  his  troops  at  Halle.  Frederick  himself  hurried  oft  to 
Silesia  to  take  the  command  of  4000  men,  who  were  hastily 
collected  from  their  winter  quarters.  As  soon  as  he  heard  that 
Charles  of  Lorraine  had  entered  Lausitz,  Frederick  ordered  Leopold 
to  invade  Saxony,  while  he  himself  opposed  the  Austrians.  On 
the  21st  of  November  he  crossed  the  frontier,  and  on  the  23rd  he 
crushed  a  Saxon  contingent  at  Gross  Hennersdorf.  Prince  Charles, 
as  soon  as  he  realised  how  matters  stood,  retreated  before  the 
Prussians  to  Bohemia,  which  he  re-entered  on  the  28th.  Mean- 
while Leopold  of  Dessau  invaded  Saxony  from  the  north,  took 
Leipzig  without  meeting  any  resistance,  and  advanced  towards 
Dresden.  Frederick  now  made  a  last  attempt  to  induce  Augustus 
to  come  to  terms.  As  his  overtures  met  with  an  evasive  reply  he 
continued  his  march  from  Lausitz  upon  Dresden,  keeping  a  careful 
watch  upon  the  Austrian  movements.  At  the  same  time  he  sent 
urgent  orders  to  the  old  Dessauer  to  advance  with  speed,  and  to 
attack  the  Saxons  under  Rutowski  wherever  he  might  find  them. 
The  cautious  tactician  conducted  his  march  with  a  slow  precision 
that  roused  the  anger  of  the  king,  but  which  proved  quite  effec- 
tive. On  the  12th  of  December  he  occupied  Meissen ;  on  the  15th 
he  attacked  the  Saxon  camp  at  Kesselsdorf,  and  won  a  complete 
victory.    Two  days   later  the  king  joined  the  veteran  marshal, 


374  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviii. 

and  overpowered  him  with  expressions  of  gratitude.  The  combined 
Prussian  army  was  now  nearly  80,000  in  number,  and  was  irresis- 
tible. Prince  Charles  had  entered  Saxony  too  late  to  support 
Rutowski,  and  returned  finally  to  Bohemia.  On  the  18th  of 
December  Frederick  entered  Dresden  in  triumph. 

It  was  obvious  that  Saxony  must  make  peace  at  once ;  the  only 
question  was  whether  Austria  would  consent  to  do  the  same. 
Several  circumstances  combined  to  force  Maria  Theresa  to  give 
way.  Without  the  Saxon  alliance  it  was  hopeless  to  think  of 
recovering  Silesia ;  without  English  subsidies,  which  would  cease 
if  the  Prussian  war  continued,  Austria  was  utterly  powerless.  And 
just  at  this  juncture  came  news  from  Italy  that  the  Spaniards  had 
taken  Milan.  It  was  evident  that  if  she  prolonged  the  hopeless 
conflict  with  Frederick  she  must  make  up  her  mind  to  sacrifice  her 
Italian  provinces.  The  negotiations  were  hurried  on,  and  on  the 
25th  of  December  the  treaty  of  Dresden  was  signed.  There  were 
really  two  treaties,  one  between  Prussia  and  Saxony,  the  other 
between  Prussia  and  Austria.  Augustus  was  to  pay  to  Prussia  a 
million  thalers  in  gold,  he  guaranteed  the  cession  of  Silesia,  and 
his  wife  renounced  all  claims  on  the  province  which  might  descend 
to  her  as  the  daughter  of  Joseph  I.  In  return  Frederick  restored 
all  conques  s,  and  his  army  evacuated  Saxony.  Maria  Theresa 
renewed  the  cession  of  Silesia  and  Glatz  on  the  same  terms  as  in 
the  treaty  of  Berlin ;  conceded  to  Frederick  the  same  rights  that 
had  already  been  given  to  Saxony  and  Hanover,  and  confirmed  the 
privileges  that  had  been  assured  to  the  King  of  Prussia  by  the  late 
Emperor,  Charles  VII.  Frederick  on  his  side  recognised  Francis  I. 
as  Emperor,  and  acknowledged  the  validity  of  the  Bohemian  vote 
at  the  recent  election.  Both  parties  guaranteed  each  other  in  the 
possession  of  their  respective  territories,  but  Frederick's  guarantee 
extended  only  to  the  German  provinces  of  Austria.  Hanover,  the 
Palatinate,  and  Hesse-Cassel  were  included  in  the  treaty. 

Thus  ended  the  Second  Silesian  War,  which  was  much  fuller  of 
military  incidents  than  its  predecessor,  but  had  certainly  less 
decisive  results.  Frederick  had  immensely  increased  his  reputation 
as  a  commander,  but  as  a  politician  he  had  not  been  so  con- 
spicuously successful.  So  far  as  he  had  embarked  in  the  war  to 
obtain  territorial  acquisitions  he  had  failed.  He  had  secured 
Silesia,  but  that  was  all.  The  real  importance  of  the  war  is  to  be 
found  in  its  effects  upon  German  relations.  The  house  of  Hapsburg 
had  recovered  the  imperial  dignity.  One  of  the  first  acts  of 
Francis  I.  was  to  recall  the  Aulic  Council  to  Vienna,  and  the  Diet 
to  Ratisbon.  Rut  it  was  certain  that  the  imperial  power,  even  in 
Hansburg  hands,  could  no  longer  be  what   it  had  been.     The 


a.d.  1745.  TREATY  OF  DRESDEN.  375 

privileges  which  Charles  VII.  had  assured  to  Frederick  in  1741,  and 
which  were  confirmed  by  the  treaty  of  Dresden,  practically  released 
Prussia  from  its  obligations  and  duties  as  a  member  of  the  empire, 
while  it  retained  all  the  advantages  of  membership.  From  this 
time  Prussia  is  not  so  much  a  state  of  Germany  as  an  independent 
European  power 

V.  Conclusion  of  the  Wab. 

§  19.  Maria  Theresa's  obstinate  preference  of  the  Silesian  enter- 
prise to  everything  else  was  as  disastrous  to  Austrian  interests  in 
Italy  as  in  the  Netherlands.  The  Spaniards  determined  to  make  a 
great  effort  in  1745  for  the  conquest  of  northern  Italy.  They  were 
encouraged  by  the  active  assistance  of  France,  whence  an  army  under 
Maillebois  was  sent  to  co-operate  with  Don  Philip,  and  by  the 
conclusion  of  a  close  alliance  with  Genoa,  which  had  hitherto  been 
neutral,  but  now  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Bourbons  as  the  only 
means  of  saving  Finale  from  Sardinia.  Lobkowitz,  the  Austrian 
commander,  had  wintered  near  Rimini  after  the  failure  of  his 
expedition  against  Naples.  In  February  the  Spaniards  under 
Gages  advanced  to  drive  the  enemy  out  of  the  papal  territories. 
Lobkowitz  promptly  retreated  to  Modena,  where  he  received  notice 
of  recall,  which  had  been  too  long  delayed,  and  his  place  was  taken 
by  Schulenburg.  Gages  was  Mill  intent  upon  attacking  the 
Austrians,  when  he  was  stopped  by  an  order  to  march  to  (ienoa  in 
order  to  join  the  combined  Spanish  ami  French  armies  which 
Maillebois  and  Don  Philip  were  leading  in  Italy.  With  conspicuous 
skill  and  courage  Gages  effected  the  difficult  passage  of  tho 
Apennines,  and  at  Acqui  joined  the  army  from  the  nor:h.  With 
the  accession  of  10,000  Genoese  the  allied  forces  numbered  neariy 
70,000  men.  In  August  they  commenced  the  campaign  \vi  h  the 
siege  of  Tortona,  which  held  out  till  the  3rd  of  September.  Mean- 
while Schulenburg  and  the  king  of  Sardinia  had  joined  their  forces, 
and  occupied  a  strong  position  at  1'a.^signano  at  the  junction  of  the 
Tanaro  with  the  Po.  in  both  armies  there  prevailed  differences  of 
opinion  as  to  the  movements  to  be  undertaken.  While  the  French 
wished  to  reduce  Piedmont  as  the  best  means  of  detaching  Sardinia 
from  the  Austrian  alliance,  the  Spaniards  were  eager  to  conquer 
Lombardy.  On  the  other  hand,  Charles  F.manuel  was  intent  upon 
the  defence  of  his  own  territories,  while  the  Austrians  made  it  their 
first  object  to  resist  an  invasion  of  the  Milanese.  The  determination 
of  the  Spaniards  carried  the  day  with  their  allies,  and  after  the  fall 
of  Tortona  they  marched  against  Parma  and  Piacenza  which 
surrendered  without  resistance.  On  the  20th  of  September  they 
stormed  Pavia  and  now  threatened  Milan  itself. 


376  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xvnr 

Schulenburg  would  remain  inactive  no  longer.  Leaving  Charles 
Emanuel  to  defend  himself,  he  hurried  into  Lombardy  to  protect 
the  capital.  This  separation  of  the  Austrians  and  Sardinians  was 
the  very  object  at  which  the  enemy  had  been  aiming.  As  soon  as 
he  heard  the  news,  Gages  left  Pavia  and  marched  directly  upon 
Bassignano.  The  Sardinian  camp  was  stormed  on  the  27th  of 
September:  Charles  Emanuel  escaped  first  to  Valenza  and  then  to 
Casale,  where  he  was  again  joined  by  Schulenburg.  The  French 
were  now  eager  to  prosecute  the  war  in  Piedmont  so  as  to  follow  up 
the  blow  against  the  Sardinian  king.  But  Gages  was  equally 
resolute  to  complete  the  conquest  of  Lombardy.  On  the  6th  of 
October  the  Bourbon  army  laid  siege  to  Alessandria,  took  the  town 
in  six  days,  and  then,  leaving  the  citadel  strictly  blockaded, 
advanced  to  the  eapture  of  Valenza.  Schulenburg  had  recently 
been  superseded  by  Prince  Lichtenstein,  but  the  latter  was  unable 
to  alter  the  fate  of  the  campaign.  Like  his  predecessor,  he  wished 
to  enter  Lombardy,  from  which  he  would  be  excluded  if  once  the 
enemy  seized  Casale  and  Novara.  But  he  was  detained  in 
Piedmont  by  the  threat  of  Charles  Emanuel  that  if  the  Austrians 
deserted  him  he  would  make  a  separate  peace  with  France.  The 
Spaniards  were  thus  enabled  to  conduct  their  operations  without 
risk.  In  November  they  captured  Asti  and  Casale,  and  on  the 
16th  of  December  Milan  itself  opened  its  gates,  although  the 
Austrian  garrison  still  held  out  in  the  citadel.  The  Italian 
campaign  of  1745  had  been  one  of  almost  unmixed  disaster  for 
Austria. 

§  20.  These  disasters  were  not  unnaturally  attributed  by  the 
Sardinians  to  Maria  Theresa's  employment  of  all  her  forces  again -t 
Prussia.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  matters  might  have  gone 
very  differently  if  the  Austrian  troops  in  Italy  hail  been  sufficiently 
strengthened.  Their  inactivity  was  the  unavoidable  consequence 
of  their  weakness.  It  was  no  wonder  that  Charles  Emanuel,  inspired 
by  this  conviction,  lent  an  ear  to  the  offers  that  France  was  con- 
stantly making  to  him.  D'Argenson,  the  French  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  had  drawn  up  an  elaborate  scheme  for  the  settlement  of 
Italian  affairs.  The  Hapsburgs  were  to  be  driven  altogether  out  of 
Italy,  and  their  possessions  were  to  be  divided  among  a  number  of 
native  princes.  Underlying  the  scheme  we  can  trace  the  first  germ 
of  a  conception  that  has  become  familiar  in  recent  times,  the  inde- 
pendence of  Italy.  None  of  the  princes  were  to  have  external 
possessions,  or  to  be  subject  to  foreign  states.  In  fact  a  special  clause 
was  inserted  to  prevent  the  union  of  Naples  and  Parma  with  each 
other,  or  of  either  with  the  crown  of  Spain.  But  there  were 
several  circumstances  which  ensured  its  failure.     In  Italy  there 


a.d.  1745.  FRANCE  AND  ITALY.  377 

was  as  yet  no  effectual  demand  for  that  national  independence 
which  in  this  century  became  an  object  of  passionate  striving ;  and 
if  there  had  been,  Sardinia  was  not  yet  sufficiently  developed  to 
take  the  lead  in  satisfying  it.  Charles  Emanuel  saw  clearly  that 
the  abolition  of  the  imperial  suzerainty,  which  had  so  long  been 
exercised  from  Germany,  would  only  establish  a  more  practical  and 
oppressive  suzerainty  in  the  hands  of  France.  And  for  his  own 
state  the  scheme  involved  immediate  dangers.  Two  of  the  new 
principalities  would  not  be  really  self-dependent.  How  could  he 
make  head  rgainst  Charles  of  Naples  or  Dtt  Philip,  if  the  latter 
were  backed  by  the  two  Bourbon  monarchies  of  France  and  Spain? 
As  long  as  the  Hapsburgs  retained  their  hold  on  Italy,  Sardinia 
occupied  a  secure  and  to  some  extent  a  commanding  position, 
because  it  could  hold  the  balance  between  them  and  France.  But 
if  the  Lfapshuigs  were  expelled  and  ho  incurred  the  displeasure  of 
France,  where  could  he  find  an  ally  to  fall  back  upon?  If  the 
scheme  was  thus  unacceptable  to  Sardinia,  it  was  far  more  so  to 
Spain.  The  ambition  of  Elizabeth  of  Parma  was  not  likely  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  very  moderate  principality  offt  red  to  her  second 
son.  And  against  the  will  of  the  Spaniards,  who  held  most  of  the 
territory  conquered  from  Austria,  it  would  be  difficult  to  force  on 
any  settlement. 

But  though  Charles  Emanuel  was  unable  to  accept  D'Argenson's 
proposals  as  they  stood,  he  did  not  on  that  account  abstain  from 
in  u'-'tiations  with  France.  Austria  seemed  too  absorbed  against 
Prussia,  and  England  with  the  Jacobites,  to  interfere  in  Italy. 
The  citadel  of  Alessandria  held  out  for  the  present,  but  if  it  fell 
there  was  nothing  to  prevent  Turin  from  being  besieged.  Though 
he  had  no  wish  to  see  the  Hapsburg  power  annihilated  in  Italy,  he 
felt  that  if  that  were  destined  to  occur  it  would  be  better  to  make 
terms  for  himself  than  to  share  the  fate  of  his  ally.  On  the  26th 
of  December  he  went  so  far  as  to  draw  up  preliminaries  for  a  peace 
with  France.  Nothing  was  said  of  Italian  independence,  of  the 
abolition  of  imperial  suzerainty,  or  the  transference  of  Tuscany  to 
Charles  of  Lorraine.  The  only  point  touched  was  the  division  of 
the  Austrian  possessions.  Sardinia  was  to  have  the  whole  of 
Lombardy  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Po,  and  also  on  the  left  as  far 
as  Scrivia.  The  rest  was  to  go,  with  Parma,  to  Don  Philip,  except 
a  part  of  the  duchy  of  Mantua,  wliich  was  to  be  shared  between 
Venice  and  Modena.  Genoa  might  have  Oneglia,  but  neither  Nice 
nor  Finale.  January  and  February  were  spent  in  negotiations  on 
these  points,  but  a  definite  treaty  was  never  concluded.  Spain 
protested  bitterly  against  the  suggested  terms,  and  opened  separate 
negotiations  with  Vienna;  and  a  complete  change  of  circura- 
18 


378  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviti. 

stances  was  brought  about  by  the  treaty  of  Dresden.  Maria 
Theresa,  having  ended  the  northern  war,  was  able  to  spare  some  of 
her  troops  for  the  Italian  struggle. 

§  21.  In  March,  1746,  Charles  Emanuel  gave  up  his  negotiations 
and  again  took  up  arms.  The  Sardinian  troops  took  Asti,  and  com- 
pelled the  Spaniards  to  raise  the  siege  of  the  citadel  of  Alessandria. 
At  the  same  time  Austrian  reinforcements  arrived  under  Marshal 
Browne  to  join  Lichtenstein.  Don  Philip  had  to  quit  Milan  in 
haste  on  the  19th  of  March,  and  the  capital  of  Lombardy  was 
recovered  for  Maria  Theresa.  With  startling  rapidity  the  whole 
of  Piedmont  was  re- conquered  with  the  exception  of  Tortona.  The 
Spanish  army,  under  Don  Philip  and  Gages,  evacuated  Lombardy 
and  retreated  to  Piacenza.  The  Austrians  took  Parma  in  April, 
and  prepared  to  crush  the  enemy  at  one  blow.  But  the  Spaniards 
were  also  aware  that  a  critical  moment  had  arrived.  Conscious 
that  they  could  not  hold  Piacenza  much  longer,  they  summoned 
Maillebois  to  their  assistance,  and  determined  to  attack  the 
Austrians  before  they  could  be  joined  by  the  Sardinian  army.  On 
the  15th  of  June  the  battle  of  Piacenza  was  fought,  and  ended  in  a 
complete  victory  for  the  Austrians.  The  attack  was  repulsed,  and 
the  Spaniards  driven  back  under  the  walls  of  the  city.  Maria 
Theresa  was  so  delighted  with  the  news  of  the  recovered  glory  of 
her  arms  that  she  at  once  gave  up  those  negotiations  with  Spain  to 
which  distrust  of  Sardinia  had  impelled  her.  But  the  victory  was 
not  attended  with  proportionate  results.  Lichtenstein's  ill-health 
compelled  him  to  resign  his  command  immediately  after  the  battle. 
Military  etiquette  chose  as  his  successor,  not  the  ablest  of  his 
subordinates,  Browne,  but  the  senior  in  standing,  the  Marquis 
Botta,  who  had  been  envoy  to  Berlin  at  the  outbreak  of  the  first 
Silesian  war.  Botta  was  unable  to  concert  any  joint  action  with 
Charles  Emanuel,  and  the  allies  were  only  saved  from  disaster 
by  the  fact  that  similar  discord  prevailed  between  the  French 
and  the  Spaniards.  More  than  a  month  was  wasted  in  inactivity 
or  in  fruitless  manoeuvres. 

While  affairs  were  in  this  position,  the  important  news  arrived 
from  Spain  of  the  death  of  Philip  V.  on  the  9th  of  July,  and  the 
accession  of  his  only  surviving  son  by  his  first  marriage,  Ferdinand 
VI.  The  first  result  of  the  change  was  the  loss  of  power  to  the 
widow,  Elizabeth  of  Parma,  who  had  been  absolute  ruler  of  Spain 
for  thirty  years,  and  whose  ambition  had  been  one  of  the  chief 
disquieting  influences  in  Europe.  The  new  king  was  not  likely  to 
expend  more  of  his  country's  blood  and  treasure  to  obtain  a 
principality  for  his  step-brother.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to 
supersede  Gages,  who  had  shown  conspicuous  ability  throughout, 


a.d.  1746.  ITALIAN  CAMPAIGN.  379 

by  the  marquis  de  las  Minas.  The  Spaniards  had  already,  thanks 
to  Botta's  inactivity,  been  allowed  to  retire  to  Tortona.  In  spite  of 
the  vehement  remonstrances  of  Maillebois,  Las  Minas  continued 
the  retreat.  Garrisons  were  left  in  Gavi  and  in  Boghetta,  the 
bulwark  of  Genoa ;  but  the  main  army  of  the  French  and  Spaniards 
marched  out  of  Italy  by  the  coast.  On  the  French  frontier  they 
separated,  and  the  Spaniards  entered  Savoy,  which  they  had 
occupied  since  1742,  and  which  Don  Philip  hoped  to  retain  as  a 
principality,  even  if  he  had  to  resign  the  hope  of  acquisitions  in 
Italy.  The  Austrians  now  advanced  to  the  siege  of  Genoa,  winch 
had  to  pay  dearly  for  its  alliance  with  the  Bourbons.  Resistance 
being  deemed  impossible,  the  city  surrendered  unconditionally  in 
September.  An  enormous  sum  was  demanded  as  compensation, 
and  the  citizens  were  treated  with  a  haughtiness  and  severity  that 
roused  dangerous  disaffection.  Meanwhile  Charles  Emanuel,  always 
looking  after  his  own  interests,  made  himself  master  of  Finale  and 
Savona.  He  had  done  hardly  anything  for  the  common  cause, 
yet  he  was  bitterly  discontented  at  not  receiving  a  larger  share  of 
the  booty. 

§.  22.  In  the  Netherlands  the  campaign  of  1746  was  far  less 
encouraging  to  the  Austrians.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  the 
French  had  every  advantage  on  their  side.  The  duke  of  Cumberland 
had  withdrawn  the  English  troops  and  their  Hessian  auxiliaries,  to 
crush  the  Jacobites  at  home.  It  was  imperatively  necessary  for 
Maria  Theresa  to  make  a  great  effort  to  retain  any  hold  at  all  on 
her  western  provinces.  But  it  was  an  axiom  of  jiolitics  at  Vienna 
that  the  defence  of  the  Netherlands  against  France  might  safely  be 
left  to  the  maritime  |x>wers,  and  therefore  she  preferred  to  send  the 
majority  of  the  troops  which  were  released  by  the  treaty  of  Dresden 
to  Italy.  The  result  was  that  the  allied  forces  were  too  weak  to 
oppose  the  progress  of  the  French.  In  January  Marshal  Saxe 
advanced  against  Brussels,  which  surrendered,  after  a  brief  siege, 
on  the  20th  of  February.  Antwerp  was  besieged  in  the  presence  of 
Louis  XV.  himself;  the  town  capitulated  on  the  20th  of  May,  the 
citadel  on  the  3rd  of  June.  The  French  followed  up  their  successes 
by  the  capture  of  Mons  and  Charleroi.  Maria  Theresa  was  now 
compiled  to  send  reinforcements,  while  the  victory  at  Culloden 
(16th  April)  enabled  the  English  to  return  to  the  Continent.  The 
allied  army  was  raised  to  nearly  80,000  in  number,  and  on  the  21st 
the  command  was  undertaken  by  Charles  of  Lorraine.  This  was 
an  error  on  the  part  of  the  Austrian  government.  Maria  Theresa's 
affection  for  her  brother-in-law  ought  not  to  have  blinded  her  to 
the  fact  that  he  had  given  conclusive  evidence  of  incapacity.  At 
the  same  time  the  appointment  put  a  distinct  slight  upon  the 


380  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xviii. 

English  and  the  duke  of  Cumberland,  whose  success  in  Scotland 
had  made  him  a  hero  in  the  eyes  »  f  his  countrymen.  Charles  of 
Lorraine  attempted  to  protect  Namur,  but  he  was  forced  to  retreat 
towards  Liege,  while  Namur  was  taken  behind  his  back.  Marshal 
Saxe  now  followed  the  enemy,  and  Charles,  eager  to  win  back  some 
of  his  lost  reputation,  insisted  on  fighting  a  battle  in  a  disadvan- 
tageous position  and  with  inferior  numbers.  The  result  was  that 
he  was  completely  defeated  near  the  village  of  Raucoux  (llth  Octo- 
ber). But  the  French  victory  was  not  productive  of  any  important 
consequences,  and  the  two  armies  were  soon  afterwards  dispersed 
into  winter  quarters.  The  whole  of  the  Netherlands,  with  the 
exception  of  Limburg  and  Luxemburg,  were  lost  to  Austria. 

While  the  French  arms  were  carrying  all  before  them  in  the 
north,  France  itself  was  exposed  to  invasion  on  two  points.  At 
the  end  of  September  an  English  squadron  landed  some  troops  on 
the  coast  of  Brittany,  which  attempted  to  surprise  Lorient,  but 
were  repulsed  without  much  difficulty.  More  serious  was  the 
enterprise  in  Provence.  After  the  capture  of  Genoa,  debates  arose 
between  the  Austrians  and  Sardinians  as  to  what  further  operations 
should  be  undertaken  before  the  close  of  the  year.  The  Austrians 
naturally  wished  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of 
Worms,  and  to  renew  the  attempt  to  conquer  Naples,  which  had 
failed  so  lamentably  in  1744.  Charles  Emanuel,  however,  who 
was  not  so  anxious  to  aggrandise  the  Hapsburgs,  wished  to  secure 
what  had  been  so  fortunately  conquered.  The  difference  wras 
settled  by  the  intervention  of  England.  The  guiding  motive  of  the 
English  throughout  the  war  had  been  hostility  to  France.  They 
now  induced  their  allies  to  combine  in  an  invasion  of  southern 
France.  Their  object  was  to  crush  the  French  maritime  power  in 
the  Mediterranean,  and  this  could  be  best  effected  by  the  capture 
of  the  great  naval  arsenal,  Toulon.  In  November  Browne  led 
40,000  Austrian  and  Sardinian  troops  across  the  Var  into  Provence. 
The  French  retreated  before  them,  and  a  third  of  the  province  was 
speedily  overrun  by  the  invaders.  But  the  English  still  pressed 
for  an  attack  upon  Toulon,  and  for  this  Browne  required  heavier 
artillery  than  he  had  been  able  to  bring  with  him.  A  request  was 
therefore  sent  to  Botta,  who  had  remained  in  Genoa,  to  dispatch 
some  of  the  large  guns  from  that  city.  But  the  attempt  to  dis- 
mantle their  fortifications  was  more  than  the  already  disaffected 
Genoese  could  endure.  A  revolt  broke  out,  which  speedily  attained 
such  dimensions  that  Botta,  with  the  Austrian  troops,  was  driven 
to  retire  into  Lombardy.  This  event  decided  the  campaign  in 
Provence.  Marshal  Belleisle,  who  had  superseded  Maillebois, 
received  reinforcements  from  the  army  in  Flanders,  and  was  enabled 


a.d.  174G-1747.  NEGOTIATIONS.  381 

to  take  the  offensive.  Browne  had  to  give  up  the  enterprise  as 
hopeless,  and  in  February,  1747,  the  Austrians  and  Sardinians 
re-crossed  the  Var  and  evacuated  the  territory  of  France. 

In  the  winter  of  1746-7  the  first  serious  effort  was  made  to 
bring  about  a  general  peace  by  negotiations.  It  was  natural  that 
the  lead  in  these  should  be  taken  by  the  Dutch,  who  had  no  very 
special  interests  involved  in  the  war,  and  who  were  terrified  for 
tluir  mdepqndfttOfl  by  the  loss  of  the  barrier  fortresses,  and  the 
consequent  danger  of  a  French  invasion.  France  also  was  inclined 
to  peace.  Louis  XV.  had  gained  successes  in  the  Netherlands 
which  his  great-grandfather  had  found  impossible.  But  France 
seemed  no  longer  in  earnest  in  its  foreign  i^»l  it  its.  (\  inquests  had 
been  made,  but  no  one  dreamed  of  retaining  them.  Public  opinion 
was  not  very  much  excited  about  the  campaigus,  whether  > 
ful  or  the  reverse.  The  only  general  of  conspicuous  merit  that 
France  could  produce  was  a  German.  The  court  was  more  inter- 
ested in  petty  intrigues  than  in  the  interests  <>!'  the  country.  Just 
at  the  moment  when  the  result  of  so  many  years'  warfare  was 
about  to  be  decided,  one  of  these  intrigues  overt hrew  the  foreign 
minister,  D'Argenson,  who  not  only  possessed  more  ability  than 
any  other  French  statesman,  but  also  represented  that  hostility  to 
the  house  of  Hapsburg  which  had  involved  France  in  the  war. 
His  place  was  filled  by  the  obscure  and  incompetent  marquis  de 
Puysieux.  Besides  the  general  indifference  of  the  people  and  the 
Court  there  were  other  motives  for  desiring  a  peace.  Successes  in 
the  Netherlands  had  been  counterbalanced  by  losses  in  Italy  and  in 
the  colonies.  The  English  had  captured  Ca|>e  Breton,  and  it  was 
feared  that  they  might  invade  Canada.  Breda  was  agreed  upon  by 
France  and  Holland  as  the  site  for  a  diplomatic  conference ;  but 
the  negotiations  came  to  nothing.  England  insisted  on  the  admis- 
sion of  an  Austrian  envoy,  and  Maria  Theresa  was  determined  to 
continue  the  war.  Any  project  of  peace  was  distasteful  to  her 
whieh  did  not  offer  to  Austria  some  compensation  for  the  loss  of 
Silesia,  and  for  the  concessions  to  Sardinia.  Such  compensation 
was  out  of  the  question  as  matters  stood,  and  in  fact  further 
sacrifices  were  demanded  to  satisfy  the  Spanish  Infant,  Don  Philip. 
With  the  renewal  of  hostilities  in  1747  the  Conference  of  Breda 
was  broken  up. 

§  23.  Diplomacy  having  failed,  Louis  XV.  determined  to  detach 
Holland  from  the  hostile  alliance  by  force.  Two  French  armies 
were  set  on  foot  in  the  Netherlands.  One,  under  Maurice  de 
Saxe,  confronted  the  allies,  who  were  led  once  more  by  the  duke 
of  Cumberland,  Charles  of  Lorraine  having  been  sent  to  try  his 
fortune  in  Italy.      The  other,  under  Lowendahl,  a   Dane,  and 


382  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xviii. 

another  of  those  foreign  generals  whose  services  were  so  useful  to 
France  at  this  time,  commenced  the  campaign  by  attacking 
Holland.  French  invasion  in  1747  produced  the  same  result  as 
the  more  famous  attack  of  1672.  The  people  clamoured  against 
the  republican  government,  and  demanded  that  the  authority  of 
the  stadtholder,  which  had  been  in  abeyance  since  William  lll.'s 
death,  should  be  restored.  The  aristocratic  party  was  powerless  to 
resist  the  popular  will.  William  IV.  of  Orange,  the  great-nephew 
of  William  III.  and  a  son-in-law  of  George  II.,  was  declared 
stadtholder  of  Holland.  A  few  months  later  the  office  was  made 
hereditary  for  his  descendants,  not  only  male  but  female.  Thus 
the  constitutional  monarchy  which  had  grown  up  with  the  in- 
dependence of  the  state,  which  had  once  been  abolished  and . 
another  time  had  sunk  into  abeyance,  was  formally  re-established. 
But  if  any  hopes  existed  that  the  change  of  government  would 
result  in  the  repelling  of  invasion  they  were  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ment. William  lV.'s  elevation  resembles  in  some  points  that  of 
William  III.,  but  it  was  all  that  the  two  men  had  in  common. 
Lowendahl  met  with  no  resistance  of  any  moment,  and  captured  in 
speedy  succession  fortresses  which  had  held  out  against  the  power 
of  Spain.  Meanwhile  Marshal  Saxe  advanced  to  attack  Maestricht, 
and  was  met  by  the  duke  of  Cumberland  at  Lauffeld  (2nd  July). 
The  battle  was  a  mere  repetition  of  that  of  Uaucoux  in  the 
previous  year.  The  French  won  a  victory,  but  it  was  not  sufficiently 
decisive  to  enable  them  to  undertake  the  siege  of  Maestricht  under 
the  eyes  of  an  army  which,  though  defeated,  had  lost  fewer  men 
than  themselves.  The  only  result  of  the  battle  was  that  it 
prevented  the  allies  from  opposing  Lowendahl's  advance.  He 
received  orders  from  Marshal  Saxe  to  attack  Bergen-op-Zoom,  the 
masterpiece  of  Cohorn's  art,  and  regarded  as  one  of  the  strongest 
fortresses  in  the  world.  After  the  siege  had  lasted  more  than  a 
month,  the  French  commander  determined  to  attempt  a  storm. 
The  very  boldness  of  the  plan  favoured  its  success.  The  French 
climbed  the  walls  by  ladders,  and  the  garrison  was  so  astounded  at 
finding  the  enemy  inside  their  impregnable  fortifications  that  they 
hardly  thought  of  resistance.  With  the  fall  of  this  fortress  on  the 
16th  of  September  the  campaign  in  the  Netherlands  closed. 

In  Italy  the  chief  event  of  the  year  1747  was  the  siege  of  Genoa. 
Botta,  whose  conduct  had  been  so  productive  of  disaster,  and  who 
was  personally  disliked  by  Charles  Emanuel,  was  recalled,  and 
Schulenburg  for  the  second  time  undertook  the  command  of 
the  Austrian  troops.  He  was  compelled  to  undertake  the  siege 
alone,  as  the  Sardinians  refused  assistance  on  the  ground  that  all 
their  forces  were  required   to  resist  a  threatened  invasion  from 


a.d.  1747.  PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  383 

France.  Genoa,  thanks  to  the  help  which  it  received  from  France, 
held  out  for  two  months,  and  at  the  end  of  June  Schulenburg  had 
to  raise  the  siege.  Meanwhile  the  Spaniards  under  Las  Minas  and 
the  French  under  Belleiale  remained  inactive  in  Dauphinc".  The 
two  commanders  could  not  agree  upon  a  plan  of  operations.  The 
Spaniards  wished  to  enter  Italy  by  the  Riviera,  Belleisle  by  Mont 
Cenis;  at  last  the  marshal's  brother,  the  chevalier  de  Belleisle, 
obtained  permission  to  attempt  a  passage  by  Mont  Genevre.  On 
the  15th  of  July,  he  entered  the  Alps,  and  on  the  19th  he  was 
confronted  by  a  detachment  of  Sardinians  on  the  Col  d'Assiette. 
After  an  obstinate  conflict  the  French  were  on  the  point  of 
storming  the  enemy's  position  when  their  leader  was  killed  by  a 
bullet.  This  decided  the  engagement;  the  French  retreated  with 
great  loss,  and  no  further  attempt  was  made  to  invade  Italy  from 
the  north.  The  campaign  had  not  been  very  successful  for  the 
Austrians  and  Sardinians.  The  former  had  failed  in  their  attack 
upon  Genoa,  and  the  latter  had  done  nothing  to  recover  their 
transalpine  territories,  which  were  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
Spaniards. 

The  military  operations  of  1747  had  not  effected  any  great 
change  in  the  relations  of  the  European  powers,  and  the  winter  was 
spent  in  negotiations  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  with  little  more  prospect  of 
success  than  those  at  Breda  the  year  before.  The  chief  represen- 
tatives of  their  respective  courts  were :  for  England,  Lord  Sandwich ; 
for  France,  the  count  of  Saint-Severin ;  for  Spain,  the  marquis  of 
Sotomayor ;  and  for  Austria,  Kaunitz,  who  now  commenced  what 
was  destined  to  be  a  long  and  distinguished  career.  In  many 
points  the  negotiations  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  recall  those  of  Utrecht, 
especially  in  the  leading  part  taken  by  France  and  Fngland,  the 
willingness  of  the  latter  to  sacrifice  its  allies  for  commercial 
advantages,  and  the  reluctance  of  Austria  to  accede  to  the  proposed 
terms.  The  most  difficult  question  before  the  conference  was  the 
demand  of  a  principality  in  Italy  for  Don  Philip.  France,  which 
had  once  made  great  efforts  to  bring  this  about,  was  now  very  remiss 
in  its  support  of  Spain.  On  the  other  hand,  England,  the  ally  of 
Austria,  threw  all  its  weight  on  to  the  Spanish  side.  The  motive 
was  the  desire  to  advance  commercial  interests  by  making 
advantageous  terms  for  trade  with  Spain  and  its  colonies.  Maria 
Theresa  might  well  complain  that  the  English  alliance  had  been  a 
costly  one  to  her.  In  all  the  negotiations,  at  Breslau,  at  Worms, 
and  now  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  England  had  forced  Austria  to  make 
sacrifices.  After  seven  years  of  war  the  queen  thought  she  had 
done  enough  in  giving  up  Silesia  to  Prussia,  and  great  part  of 
Lombardy  to  Sardinia,  without  having  to  carve  off  another  slice  of 


384  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xviii. 

her  territories  for  the  Spanish  Infant.  If  Don  Philip  was  to  have  a 
principality,  let  him  keep  Savoy,  which  he  already  held.  This 
obstacle  was  fatal  to  the  negotiations  for  a  time,  and,  as  no  truce 
was  arranged,  hostilities  were  resumed  in  1748. 

§  24.  This  was  a  result  which  was  not  displeasing  to  several 
individuals,  even  in  the  states  which  were  most  desirous  of  peace. 
The  duke  of  Cumberland,  for  instance,  was  indignant  at  not  being 
made  plenipotentiary  at  the  conference.  If  he  could  not  distinguish 
himself  as  a  diplomatist,  he  would  at  least  regain  some  of  the 
military  laurels  which  he  had  lost  at  Lauffeld.  The  Prince  of 
Orange  also,  who  had  been  made  stadtholder  by  the  anti-French 
party,  was  anxious  to  gratify  his  supporters  and  to  strengthen  his 
own  position  by  a  successful  campaign.  They  gladly  acquiesced  in 
Maria  Theresa's  desire  to  renew  the  war,  and  exerted  themselves  to 
strengthen  the  allied  army.  Great  expectations  were  raised  by  the 
fact  that  Russia  had  promised  to  take  part  in  the  hostilities  by  a 
treaty  concluded  in  1747.  In  fact  30,000  Russians  were  actually 
sent  into  Germany;  but  the  summer  had  arrived  before  they 
reached  Mainz,  and  by  that  time  the  war  had  come  to  an  end. 
Meanwhile  France  had  realised  that  peace  could  only  be  secured  by 
active  exertions.  If  some  great  humiliation  could  be  inflicted  upon 
Austria,  she  would  be  compelled  to  come  to  terms.  This  could  be 
best  effected,  as  Marshal  Saxe  was  never  weary  of  pointing  out,  by 
the  capture  of  Maestricht,  the  last  great  fortress  except  Luxemburg 
which  the  Austiians  retained  in  the  Netherlands.  Saxe  united  his 
troops  with  those  of  Lowendahl,  and  in  April,  1748,  the  siege  was 
commenced.  The  duke  of  Cumberland  advanced  to  Roermonde  to 
attempt  the  relief  of  the  fortress. 

But  the  fate  of  Maestricht  was  decided  by  diplomacy  instead  of 
by  arms.  On  the  30th  of  April  England,  France  and  Holland, 
seeing  no  other  way  of  effecting  a  peace,  signed  the  preliminaries  of 
a  treaty  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  By  a  secret  article  it  was  agreed 
that  Maestricht  should  surrender  to  the  French  on  the  under- 
standing that  it  should  be  restored  to  Austria.  This  was  a  con- 
venient method  of  forcing  Maria  Theresa  to  accept  the  proposed 
terms.  Another  secret  article  decreed  that  any  power  which  rejected 
the  preliminaries  should  forfeit  all  the  advantages  secured  by  them. 
The  terms  which  were  thus  dictated  to  Europe  provoked  bitter  com- 
plaints from  the  other  negotiating  powers.  Kaunitz  issued  a 
formal  protest  in  the  name  of  his  mistress.  Spain,  Naples  and 
Sardinia  found  numerous  details  to  carp  at.  But  opposition  proved 
futile  in  face  of  the  resolute  attitude  of  England  and  France.  Some 
slight  changes  were  made,  but  the  preliminaries  of  April  form-  d  the 
basis    of    the    important   treaty   of    Aix-la-Chapelle,   which   was 


a.d.  1748.  PEACE  OF  AIXLA-CHAPELLE.  385 

accepted  in  October  by  all  the  powers  except  Sardinia.     On  the  7  th 
of  November  Charles  Emanuel  gave  his  signature  to  the  treaty. 

All  conquests  made  during  the  war  were  resigned,  with  certain 
specified  exceptions.  Don  Philip  received  Parma,  Piacenza  and 
Guastalla  as  a  hereditary  principality,  but  if  his  male  descendants 
became  extinct  these  territories  were  to  revert  to  Austria.  The 
king  of  Sardinia  recovered  Savoy  and  Nice,  and  was  confirmed  in 
the  possession  of  the  portions  of  Lon.bardy  which  had  been  ceded  to 
him  by  the  treaty  of  Worms.  The  Prussian  acquisition  of  Silesia 
was  guaranteed.  With  these  exceptions,  the  Pngmatic  Sanction 
was  once  more  formally  confirmed.  Francis  I.  was  acknowledged 
as  emperor  by  France  and  Spain.  Genoa  and  the  duke  of  M 
recovered  all  territories  they  had  held  before  the  war,  so  that 
Charles  Emanuel  had  to  relinquish  his  hold  on  Finale.  The  French 
evacuated  the  Netherlands,  and  the  barrier  fortresses  were  restored 
to  Dutch  garrisons.  To  England  were  confirmed  the  commercial 
advantages  with  Spain  which  had  been  arranged  at  Utrecht.  The 
Hanoverian  dynasty  was  again  acknowledged,  and  Louis  XV.  under- 
took to  exclude  the  Pretender  from  French  soil.  The  fortitir:iii«.ns 
of  Dunkirk  on  the  land  side  were  permitted  to  remain,  but  those 
facing  the  sea  were  to  be  destroyed.  In  the  colonies  the  treaty 
produced  important  results.  England  had  to  give  up  Cape  1' 
and  thus  lost  its  opening  towards  Canada;  but  at  the  same  time 
Madras  was  recovered,  and  the  French  were  checked  at  a  moment 
when  it  seemed  probable  that  they,  and  not  the  English,  would 
found  an  empire  in  India. 

Thus  ended  the  second  great  succession  war  that  had  distracted 
Europe  in  the  18th  century.  The  most  conspicuous  impression 
that  its  history  produces  is  of  the  immense  decline  of  the  power  of 
France.  Of  all  the  grand  schemes  which  Belleisle  had  proposed  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war  not  one  had  been  realised.  No  territories 
had  been  acquired  and  no  military  glory  had  been  won.  The  only 
successes  gained  by  the  French  arms  were  due  to  the  genius  of 
foreigners.  Not  a  single  general  of  note  had  been  produced  by  a 
country  which  within  the  last  century  had  boasted  such  names  as 
those  of  Conde',  Turenne,  Luxemburg,  Vauban,  and  Villars.  The 
supremacy  at  sea  rested  with  the  English.  By  land  the  Bourbons 
are  henceforth  a  distinctly  weaker  power  than  the  Hapsburgs,  whom 
eight  years  ago  they  had  determined  to  annihilate.  Only  two 
powers  emerged  from  the  war  with  directly  increased  strength, 
Prussia  and  Sardinia.  Prussia  had  established  itself  as  a  first-rate 
European  power,  had  won  a  permanent  military  reputation,  and, 
whatever  the  rights  of  the  case,  had  kept  a  firm  hold  upon  Silesia. 
Sardinia  by  its  acquisitions  in  Lombardy  had  taken  another  step  in 
18* 


386  MODERN  EUROPE  Chap,  xviii. 

advance  towards  the  founding  of  an  Italian  monarchy.  In  a  certain 
sense  Austria  may  also  be  regarded  as  a  state  which  had  profited  by 
the  war.  It  is  true  that  she  had  suffered  territorial  losses,  but 
these  were  as  nothing  when  compared  with  the  dangers  that  had 
threatened  her  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  Fleury's  declaration 
that  "  the  house  of  Austria  has  ceased  to  exist "  had  some  founda- 
tion when  it  was  uttered ;  in  1748  its  absurdity  was  manifest  to  the 
world.  Of  the  immediate  results  of  the  war  the  most  important 
were  the  weakening  of  the  close  alliance  between  Austria  and 
England  which  had  been  formed  to  resist  the  aggressions  of  Louis 
XIV.,  and  had  now  lasted  more  than  seventy  years,  and  the  bitter 
personal  enmity  between  Maria  Theresa  and  Frederick  the  Great, 
which  becomes  for  a  time  the  centre-point  of  European  politics. 

VI.  Russia  and  the  Northern  States   during   the   War  of 
the  Austrian  Succession. 

§  25.  The  death  of  Peter  II.,  in  1730,  extinguished  the  male  des- 
cendants of  Peter  the  Great.  Two  of  his  daughters  by  his  second 
wife,  Catharine  I.,  were  still  living,  Anne  married  to  Charles 
Frederick  of  Holstein-Gottorp,  and  Elizabeth,  who  was  unmarried. 
But  these  were  both  passed  over  in  favour  of  the  descendants  of 
Peter's  elder  brother  Iwan.  I  wan  had  also  left  two  daughters, 
Anne  of  Courland,  and  Catharine,  duchess  of  Mecklenburg,  who 
had  died,  and  whose  daughter,  another  Anne,  was  married  to 
Antony  Ulric  of  Brunswick-Wolfenbiittel.  The  crown  of  the  Czars 
passed  in  1730  to  Anne  of  Courland,  who  pledged  herself  to  accept 
a  constitution  which  she  speedily  overthrew.  Anne's  reign  (1730 — 
1740)  is  remarkable  chiefly  for  the  subjection  of  Russia  to  German 
ministers.  The  chief  power  was  exercised  by  her  personal 
favourite,  Biren,  for  whom  she  obtained  the  duchy  of  Courland,  the 
rival  candidate  being  Maurice  de  Saxe.  In  every  department  Anne 
admitted  Germans  only  ;  foreign  affairs  were  entrusted  to  Ostermann, 
the  army  was  commanded  by  Lascy  and  Munnich.  The  rule  of  these 
foreigners  was  advantageous  so  far  as  it  carried  out  Peter  the  Great's 
policy  of  forcing  western  civilisation  upon  Russia,  but  it  was 
extremely  distasteful  to  the  natives.  In  foreign  politics  the 
closest  alliance  was  maintained  with  Austria  both  in  the  matter  of 
the  Polish  succession  and  in  the  Turkish  war,  and  Russia  was  the 
power  on  which  Charles  VI.  thought  lie  could  implicitly  rely  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction. 

But  in  1740,  just  as  the  great  question  came  up  for  decision, 
Anne  died  suddenly.  She  had  chosen  as  ber  successor  her  own 
grand-nephew  Iwan,  the  infant  son  of  Anne  of  Mecklenburg  and 


a.d.  1730-1741.  RUSSIA.  387 

Antony  Ulric.  The  Germans  were  terrified  lest  without  the  sup- 
port of  an  actual  sovereign  they  might  fall  victims  to  popular 
hatred.  To  secure  their  position,  Anne's  will  gave  the  regency 
during  the  minority  to  Biren,  who  would  naturally  continue  the 
policy  of  his  late  mistress.  But  this  arrangement  was  very  distaste- 
ful to  the  parents  of  the  Czar,  the  Germans  split  into  parties 
as  soon  as  the  immediate  danger  was  past,  and  Field-marshal 
Munnich  undertook  to  effect  a  revolution.  Before  the  end  of 
November,  Biren  was  imprisoned  and  banished  to  Silesia,  Anne  of 
Mecklenburg  was  acknowledged  as  regent,  and  her  husband  was 
appointed  commander-in-chief.  Munnich  was  now  all-powerful  at 
court,  and  he  had  been  alienated  from  Austria  by  the  latter's  conduct 
in  the  Turkish  war,  and  was  inclined  to  ally  hi ni self  with  Prussia. 
Not  only  were  Maria  Theresa's  demands  for  assistance  refused,  but 
Frederick,  who  had  now  entered  Silesia,  received  encouraging  letters 
from  the  marshal.  But  these  relations  were  not  destined  to  last 
long.  Munnich's  claim  to  supremacy  was  resented  by  the  other 
Germans,  and  especially  by  Ostermann,  who  was  inclined  to  support 
Austria.  The  regent  was  easily  induced  to  oppose  the  man  who 
had  conferred  power  upon  her.  Munnich,  haughtily  con  vino  d  that 
his  services  were  indispensable,  thought  to  overpower  opposition 
by  offering  his  resignation.  To  his  astonishment  the  offer  was 
accepted  in  March,  1741 ;  his  appointments  were  taken  from  him; 
and  though  he  retained  his  personal  liberty,  all  his  political  power 
was  gone.  This  second  revolution  involved  a  change  in  foreign 
policy.  Ostermann,  who  now  enjoyed  the  chief  influence  with  the 
regent,  prepared  to  render  active  assistance  to  Maria  Theresa.  It 
was  to  avert  this  danger  that  France  and  Prussia  instigated  the 
Swedes  in  the  summer  of  1741  to  declare  war  against  Russia,  in  the 
vain  hope  that  they  might  recover  some  of  the  territories  that 
Peter  the  Great  had  acquired  from  them  by  the  peace  of  NystBdt. 
In  September  the  war,  which  never  attained  any  serious  dimensions, 
was  commenced  by  an  encounter  at  Wilmanstrand  in  Finland, 
where  the  Russians  under  Lascy  won  a  complete  victory. 

In  the  winter  of  1741  a  new  plan  was  devised  for  breaking  off 
the  alliance  between  Russia  and  Austria.  The  French  envoy  at 
St.  Petersburg,  La  Chetardie,  gave  his  countenance  to  an  intrigue 
which  aimed  at  the  deposition  of  the  regent  and  the  elevation  to 
the  crown  of  Peter  the  Great's  surviving  daughter,  Elizabeth.  So 
careless  and  incompetent  was  Anne,  that  she  took  no  steps  to  foil  a 
conspiracy  which  was  hardly  a  secret  at  all  The  soldiers  were  won 
over  to  the  cause  of  Elizabeth,  aud  the  Russian  hatred  of  foreigners 
was  a  powerful  impulse  in  her  favour.  In  the  night  of  the  5th  of 
December  the  revolution  was  accomplished  without  difficulty  and 


388  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xviil 

without  bloodshed.  The  regent,  her  husband,  and  the  infant  Czar 
were  seized  in  their  beds.  All  the  ministers,  including  Ostermann 
and  Munnich,  were  imprisoned.  Elizabeth  was  proclaimed  Czarina 
on  the  spot,  and  the  whole  of  the  next  day  was  spent  in  the 
ceremony  of  doing  homage.  She  had  lived  a  careless  and  dissolute 
life,  but  she  had  one  great  merit — good-nature.  The  sentences  of 
death  which  were  passed  on  most  of  the  prisoners  were  commuted 
to  perpetual  banishment.  Anne  and  Antony  Ulric  never  returned 
to  Russia,  and  their  unfortunate  son  Iwan  VI.,  as  he  is  called  in 
Russian  history,  lived  in  solitary  confinement  till  1764,  when  he 
was  murdered  at  the  age  of  twenty-four.  Ostermann  died  in  exile ; 
but  Munnich,  whose  spirit  was  unbroken  by  adversity  and  who 
made  himself  quite  a  power  in  Siberia,  survived  Elizabeth,  and  was 
recalled  by  her  successor  to  St.  Petersburg. 

§  26.  Elizabeth's  accession  was  a  victory  of  the  national  party  in 
Russia  against  the  foreigners  who  had  been  introduced  by  Peter  the 
Great,  and  had  been  raised  to  supremacy  under  the  descendants  of 
Iwan.  In  order  to  exclude  the  latter  from  the  throne,  Elizabeth, 
who  refused  to  marry,  chose  as  her  successor  Charles  Peter  Ulrichof 
Hobtein-Gottorp,  the  son  of  her  elder  sister  Anne.  The  natural 
impulse  of  the  new  government  was  to  desert  Austria  and  to  throw 
itself  into  the  arms  of  France  and  Prussia.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
Bestoujef,  who  now  became  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  was  inclined 
to  an  Austrian  alliance,  and  France  had  compromised  itself  by  its 
relations  with  Sweden.  Elizabeth,  who  was  naturally  pacific, 
offered  to  renew  the  peace  of  Nystadt.  But  the  Swedes  thought 
that  the  recent  revolution  had  weakened  Russia,  and  not  only 
refused  the  offer,  but  demanded  the  restoration  of  southern  Finland 
with  the  town  of  Wiborg.  It  was  impossible  for  a  daughter  of 
Peter  the  Great  to  resign  any  of  her  father's  conquests,  and  the 
war  was  continued  through  1742.  A  Russian  army  prepared  to 
invade  Finland  with  General  Lascy  as  commander-in-chief,  and  as 
his  subordinates  Keith  and  Lowendahl,  both  of  whom  won  a  repu- 
tation afterwards,  the  one  in  Prussian  and  the  other  in  French 
service.  The  opening  of  the  campaign  was  delayed  by  a  mutiny. 
The  antipathy  against  foreigners,  which  had  just  been  so  successful 
in  the  capital,  naturally  extended  to  the  army,  where  hardly  any 
natives  were  admitted  to  offices.  It  was  not  without  great  danger 
and  difficulty  that  Keith's  resolute  measures  put  an  end  to  the 
mutiny.  In  June  the  Russians  entered  Finland,  and  carried  all 
before  them.  The  Swedes,  led  by  an  incapable  nobleman,  Lcewen- 
haupt,  made  no  resistance,  but  allowed  themselves  to  be  driven 
back  to  Helsingfors,  where  they  capitulated  to  an  army  of  about 
their  own  number.     Never  did  a  nation  sink  so  suddenly  and  utterly 


a.d.  1741-1743.         RUSSIA  AND  SWEDEN.  389 

from  that  military  reputation  which  had  made  the  Swedes,  under 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  Charles  X.,  and  Charles  XII.,  the  terror  of 
Europe.  The  blame  rests,  in  the  first  place,  with  the  oligarchical 
government  which  had  established  itself  in  Sweden  with  the  acces- 
sion of  Charles  XII.'s  sister  Ulrica  Eleanor.  She  had  died  childless 
in  1741,  and  the  crown  passed  to  her  husband  Frederick  of  Hesse- 
Cassel,  who  was  even  more  impotent  than  his  wife  had  been.  The 
nobles,  being  absolutely  supreme  in  the  State,  split  into  two 
parties,  which  were  known  as  the  "hats**  and  the  "caps."  Party 
rivalry  extended  itself  to  the  army,  and  rival  officers  and  soldiers 
eagerly  watched  for  an  opportunity  to  bring  accusations  against 
their  opponents.  In  these  circumstances  it  is  no  wonder  that  no 
unity  or  courage  was  displayed  by  the  Swedes,  and  that  the 
Russians  were  astounded  at  the  ease  with  which  their  conquests 
were  effected.  The  humiliation  of  the  Swedish  army  made  it 
absolutely  necessary  to  make  peace,  and  in  March,  1743,  negotia- 
tions were  opened  at  Abo.  The  great  difficulty  was  that  success 
had  induced  Elizabeth  to  demand  further  cessions  of  territory, 
and  that  she  also  wished  to  settle  the  succession  to  the  Swedish 
throne.  For  this  there  were  two  prominent  candidates,  Frederick, 
crown-prince  of  Denmark,  and  Peter  the  Great's  grandson,  Charles 
Peter  of  Holstein-Gottorp.  The  majority  of  the  Swedes,  especially 
the  lower  classes,  inspired  with  hitter  hatred  of  Russia,  wished  for 
the  elevation  of  the  Danish  prince.  They  hoped  that  the  union  of 
the  three  Scandinavian  kingdoms,  Sweden,  Denmark  and  Norway, 
might  be  able  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  their  powerful 
Slavonic  neighbour.  But  the  nobles  saw  the  only  chance  of 
retaining  their  authority  in  conciliating  Elizabeth,  and  therefore 
decided  to  offer  the  crown  to  her  nephew.  But  Charles  Peter, 
ambitious  of  succeeding  his  aunt  and  becoming  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
refused  the  offer.  Elizabeth  now  suggested  that  the  Swedes  should 
choose  Adolf  Frederick  of  Holsteiu-Eutin,  who  held  the  bishopric  of 
LUbeck.  The  will  of  Russia  was  accepted  without  further  resist- 
ance. By  the  peace  of  Abo  (1743)  Adolf  Frederick  was  recognised 
as  heir  to  the  throne,  and  Russia  acquired  the  whole  of  southern 
Finland  as  far  as  the  river  Kiiimen. 

§  27.  The  continuance  of  the  Swedish  war  foiled  all  the  efforts  of 
La  Uhetardie  to  ally  Russia  with  France  and  Prussia.  But  at  the 
same  time  the  chancellor  Bestoujef  was  unable  to  interfere  on 
behalf  of  Austria.  In  1743  another  complication  arose.  ^  con" 
spiracy  was  detected,  in  which  the  Austrian  envoy  Botta  was 
supposed  to  be  implicated.  The  conspirators  were  sentenced  to 
exile,  and  Elizabeth  imperatively  demanded  the  punishment  oi 
Botta.    As  Maria  Theresa  refused  to  treat  her  ambassador  as  a 


390  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xvra. 

criminal  until  his  guilt  was  established,  and  as  the  necessary  proofs 
were  not  forthcoming,  an  open  quarrel  broke  out  between  the 
courts  of  Austria  and  Russia.  Frederick  took  prompt  advantage  of 
this  to  restore  his  influence  at  St.  Petersburg.  Elizabeth  demanded 
one  of  his  sisters  in  marriage  for  her  nephew  and  heir,  Charles 
Peter  of  Holstein.  When  Frederick  refused  this,  the  Czarina  was  so 
far  from  being  irritated  that  she  asked  his  advice  as  to  the  choice 
of  some  other  princess.  The  king  suggested  the  daughter  of 
Christian  August  of  Anhalt-Zerbst.  The  suggestion  was  adopted, 
and  in  July,  1744,  the  betrothal  took  place.  The  piincess  was 
admitted  to  the  Greek  Church,  and  re-baptised  with  the  name  of 
Catharine,  under  which  she  was  destined  to  become  very  prominent 
in  the  history  both  of  Russia  and  of  Europe. 

But  this  good  understanding  between  Prussia  and  Russia  was 
not  destined  to  last  long.  The  first  cause  of  quarrel  was  Frederick's 
intervention  in  Sweden.  In  December,  1743,  Christian  VI.  of 
Denmark  had  cemented  a  close  alliance  with  England  by  marrying 
his  eldest  son  to  a  daughter  of  George  1 1.  The  Swedes,  in  order  to 
redress  the  balance  of  power,  sought  to  ally  themselves  with 
Prussia,  and  proposed  a  marriage  between  the  heir-apparent  to  the 
throne,  Ado!  f  Frederick,  and  Frederick's  sister  I  lrica  Eleanor.  The 
marriage  was  concluded  in  1744,  but  this  would  not  have  sufficed 
in  itself  to  alienate  Russia  if  Frederick  had  not  used  his  influence  in 
Sweden  to  foil  the  Russian  designs ;  and  reports  were  brought  to 
Elizabeth  that  in  his  familiar  conversation  the  king  was  in  the 
habit  of  using  scornful  language  about  her  and  her  lovers.  A 
personal  slight  the  Czarina  could  never  forgive,  and  from  this  time 
she  was  inspired  with  the  bitterest  hatred  against  Frederick.  It 
was  this  rather  than  any  political  motive  that  induced  her  to 
compromise  the  quarrel  about  Botta,  and  to  conclude  a  close 
alliance  with  Maria  Theresa  in  1747.  In  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  30,000  troops  were  despatched  to  Germany, 
where  they  arrived  only  to  find  that  peace  had  been  concluded, 
and  that  their  services  were  not  required.  But  Elizabeth's  enmity 
to  Prussia  was  not  cooled  by  this  ineffectual  act  of  hostility,  but 
remained  to  become  in  the  future  an  important  factor  in  European 
politics. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  SEVEN  YEARS*  WAR. 

The  Diplomatic  Revolution.— §  1.  Interval  of  peace;  foreign 
policy  of  Austria  ;  plan  of  Kaunitz.  §  2.  Kaunitz  goes  to  Versailles; 
the  French  court;  treaty  of  Aranjuez  between  Austria  and  Spain; 
Kaunitz  becomes  chief  minister  at  Vienna.  §  3.  Colonial  quarrels 
between  England  and  France ;  outbreak  of  war  in  America  ;  hugland 
negotiates  with  Austria  and  Russia ;  convention  of  Westminster  with 
Prussia;  French  conquest  of  Minorca.  §  4.  Negotiations  between 
Austria  and  France ;  treaty  of  Versailles  ;  Frederick  anticipates  attack. 
11.  Outbreak  of  the  War. — §  5.  Frederick's  motives  for  invading 
Saxony;  battle  of  Lobositz  ;  capitulation  of  Pirna.  §  6.  The  diet 
declares  against  Prussia;  alliance  between  Austria  and  Russia; 
negotiations  with  France;  change  in  the  French  ministry  ;  attitude  of 
England;  second  tieaty  of  Versailles.  HI.  The  War  prom  1757  to 
1760.— §  7.  The  Prussians  invade  Bohemia;  battle  of  Prague; 
Frederick's  defeat  at  Kolin;  evacuation  of  Bohemia.  §  8.  French 
attack  on  Hanover;  Convention  of  Closter-Sevt n ;  Prussia  threatened 
on  every  side;  Fredericks  victories  a>  Kossbach  and  Leuthen.  §  9. 
Policy  of  Pitt ;  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  drives  the  French  across  the 
Rhine;  renewed  treaty  between  England  and  Prussia.  §  10.  Russian 
conquest  of  East  Prussia;  dismi.-sal  of  Be*touj*f;  new  treaty  between 
Ebfcma  and  Austria.  §  11.  Frederick's  campaign  in  1758;  failure  at 
Olmiitz;  victory  over  the  Russians  at  Zorndorf;  defeated  by  Daun  at 
Hochkirch  ;  saves  Silesia  and  Saxony.  §  12.  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick's 
campaign  in  1758;  successes  of  the  English  by  tea,  in  India,  and  in 
Canada.  §  13.  Choiseul  becomes  chief  minister;  new  terms  with 
Austria.  §  14.  Frederick's  position  in  1759;  the  Russians  attack 
Brandenburg;  battle  of  Kunersdorf;  capture  of  Dresden  by  the 
Austrian*;  capitulation  of  Maxen.  §  15.  Campaign  of  1759  in 
W.stern  Germany;  battle  of  Minden  ;  naval  victories  of  England; 
Wolfe  takes  Quebec;  accession  of  Charles  HI.  in  Spain;  the  Schuwalow 
treaty.  §  16.  Campaign  of  1760  in  Silesia ;  disaster  of  Landshut ; 
battle  of  Liegnitz;  the  war  in  Saxony;  battle  of  Torgau.  §  17. 
Western  Germany  and  the  colonies  in  1760;  accession  of  (Jeorge  III. 
in  England.  IV.  Conclusion  of  the  War. — §  18.  Exhaustion  of 
the  combatants;  campaign  of  1761.  §  19.  Family  compact  between 
France  and  Spain;  fall  of  Pitt;  England  at  war  with  Spain.  §  20. 
England  withdraws  the  Prussian  subsidies ;  death  of  Elizabeth  of 
Russia;  Peter  HI.  allies  himself  with  Frederick;  accession  of  Catharine 
11. ;  Prussian  successes.  §  21.  Treaty  of  Paris  ;  treaty  of  Hubertsburg  ; 
results  of  the  war. 


392  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

I.  The  Diplomatic  Revolution  in  Europe. 

§  1.  The  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  produced  no  immediate  change 
in  the  relations  of  the  great  European  powers.  For  the  next  seven 
years  they  remained  divided  into  two  hostile  camps,  England  and 
Austria  against  France  and  Prussia.  This  division  appeared  to 
statesmen  of  the  old  school  so  natural  and  so  consonant  with 
political  traditions  as  to  be  completely  unalterable.  During  this 
period,  however,  a  great  revolution  was  working  itself  out,  and  was 
suddenly  consummated  in  1756  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Seven  Years' 
War.  This  was  no  less  than  the  cessation  of  the  long-standing 
rivalry  between  the  houses  of  Bourbon  and  Hapsburg,  the  breaking 
off  of  the  alliance  between  Austria  and  the  Maritime  States,  and 
the  formation  of  a  wholly  new  balance  of  European  forces,  France 
and  Austria  combining  against  England  and  Prussia.  The  indi- 
vidual who,  more  than  any  other,  is  responsible  for  this  novel 
combination  is  Count  Kaunitz,  recently  Austrian  plenipotentiary 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  who  returned  to  Vienna  in  1749  to  receive  a 
seat  in  the  Cabinet,  and  to  direct  the  policy  of  Austria  for  more 
than  forty  years.  He  was  at  this  time  thirty-seven  years  old,  and 
though  he  had  the  exterior  of  a  fop  and  the  habits  of  a  sybarite,  he 
must  be  regarded  as  the  most  successful  diplomatist  of  his  age. 

To  an  impartial  observer  it  appeared  that  Maria  Theresa  had 
reason  rather  to  congratulate  herself  than  to  complain  of  the 
results  of  the  succession  war.  She  had  escaped  the  annihilation 
that  at  one  moment  seemed  inevitable,  and  her  arms  had  been 
fairly  successful  except  when  opposed  to  the  invincible  Prussians. 
But  the  empress-queen  was  more  impressed  with  the  losses  she 
had  suffered  than  with  the  dangers  she  had  avoided.  Valuable 
territory  had  been  sacrificed  to  Prussia,  to  Sardinia,  and  to  Don 
Philip,  and  all  attempts  to  obtain  compensation  had  proved 
unsuccessful.  These  sacrifices,  and  this  is  a  point  which  was 
constantly  present  to  her  mind,  had  been  exacted  from  her  quite  as 
much  by  the  pressure  of  her  allies  as  by  the  victories  of  her 
opponents.  It  was  not  unnatural  that,  guided  as  she  was  rather 
by  feminine  impulses  than  by  statesmanlike  calculations,  Maria 
Theresa  felt  dissatisfied  with  the  results  of  the  war  and  inclined  to 
try  the  chances  of  a  new  course  of  policy.  In  1749  she  invited 
each  of  her  ministers  to  draw  up  an  independent  statement  of  their 
opinions  as  to  the  line  of  conduct  which  Austria  should  pursue  in 
the  future.  The  emperor  Francis  and  the  older  ministers  pointed 
out  that  there  were  three  chief  enemies  whom  Austria  had  to 
fear,  Prussia,  Turkey,  and  France,  while  several  lesser  powers, 
such   as  Sardinia  and  the  new  duke  of  Parma,  were  eager  to 


A.D.  1749.  POLICY  OF  KAUNITZ.  393 

aggrandise  themselves  at  her  expense.  To  obtain  security  in  this 
difficult  position,  the  first  essential  was  to  reform  the  finances  and 
to  strengthen  and  improve  the  army.  As  foreign  alliances  were 
also  necessary,  it  would  in  their  opinion  be  best  to  maintain  the 
old  connection  with  the  maritime  powers,  and  at  the  same  time 
scrupulously  to  observe  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  so  as  to  give  the 
king  of  Prussia  no  excuse  for  renewing  his  hostility.  K  aim  it/,  on 
his  part,  drew  up  a  very  different  and  more  aggressive  manifesto, 
which  is  important  as  the  first  clear  statement  of  the  future  policy 
of  Austria.  He  also  admitted  that  Austria  had  three  natural 
enemies  in  France,  Prussia  and  Turkey,  while  she  had  four  natural 
allies  in  England,  Holland,  Russia  and  Saxony.  Chief  among  the 
hostile  powers  he  placed  Prussia,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  declare 
that  the  first  object  of  Austrian  policy  must  be  the  recovery  of 
Silesia.  For  this,  however,  the  existing  alliances  were  insufficient. 
The  weakness  of  Saxony  had  been  clearly  demonstrated  in  174G, 
when  it  had  compelled  the  acceptance  of  the  treaty  of  Dresden. 
Russia  was  for  the  moment  a  devoted  friend,  but  no  reliance 
could  be  placed  on  a  country  where  everything  depended  on  the 
whims  of  a  despot.  England  was,  of  course,  the  foremost  ally  of 
Austria,  but  English  aid  could  never  be  expected  against  Prussia. 
George  II.,  as  elector  of  Hanover,  was  well-disposed  to  support  the 
Hapsburgs  against  the  Hohenzollerns,  but  that  in  itself  was  enough 
to  alienate  the  large  party  in  England  which  hated  the  Haix 
connexion  and  refused  to  accept  a  policy  which  favoured  Hanoverian 
interests.  At  the  same  time  community  of  religion  formed  a  close 
bond  between  England  and  Prussia.  In  the  late  war  the  English 
ministers  had  merely  used  Austria  as  an  instrument  to  humhle 
France,  and  had  never  ceased  to  urge  Maria  Theresa  to  buy  off 
Frederick  by  giving  up  Silesia.  This  conviction  that  the  English 
alliance  was  useless  against  Prussia  is  the  key-stone  of  the  jxilicy 
of  Kaunitz.  Holland,  which  always  followed  in  the  wake  of  its 
powerful  neighbour,  was  equally  out  of  the  question.  Therefore 
the  recovery  of  Silesia  was  absolutely  hopeless  unless  some  other 
ally  could  be  secured  in  addition  to  Russia  and  Saxony.  The  only 
power  which  would  be  of  any  service  in  this  matter  was  France, 
and  the  practical  conclusion  of  Kaunitz's  argument  was  that 
Austria  should  use  every  possible  means  to  disarm  the  enmity  of 
France  and  to  gain  her  over  as  an  ally.  The  difficulty  of  the 
problem  was  fully  recognised,  and  the  only  method  which  the 
minister  could  suggest  was  to  do  something  for  Don  Philip  of 
Parma,  who  was  Louis  XV.'s  son-in-law,  and  for  whom  the  French 
wished  to  secure  a  principality  near  their  own  border.  If  he  would* 
give  up  his  Italian  duchy  he  might  receive  either  Luxemburg  or 


394  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

possibly  Savoy.  In  the  latter  case  Austria  would  have  to 
compensate  the  king  of  Sardinia  by  resigning  the  Milanese  to  him. 
From  this  outline  the  motives  of  Kaunitz's  policy  are  fairly  obvious. 
He  thought  little  of  the  outlying  territories  in  comparison  with  the 
German  provinces  which  formed  the  kernel  of  the  Austrian 
monarchy.  He  was  willing  to  make  any  sacrifices  in  the 
Netherlands  if  only  he  could  recover  Silesia.  The  importance  of 
this  province  to  Austria  was  not  to  be  measured  merely  by  its 
wealth  or  its  population.  It  was  an  essential  part  of  the  German- 
speaking  provinces  which  formed  the  chief  civilising  element  in  the 
empire  of  mixed  races.  Any  decrease  of  the  Germans  in  proportion 
to  the  Slavs  was  a  distinct  danger  to  Austria.  At  the  same  time 
the  loss  of  so  extensive  a  province  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  power 
and  prestige  of  the  Hapsburgs,  as  heads  of  the  empire.  Its 
recovery  was  essential  if  the  imperial  power,  immensely  weakened 
by  the  recent  crisis,  was  ever  to  return  to  its  old  proportions. 
Another  point,  which  had  perhaps  more  weight  with  the  empress 
than  with  Kaunitz,  was  that  the  acquisition  of  Silesia  by  a 
Protestant  king  was  a  great  blow  to  the  Roman  Catholic  influence 
in  Europe. 

§  2.  From  this  time  we  can  trace  two  parties  in  the  Austrian  govern- 
ment ;  on  the  one  side,  the  adherents  of  the  old  policy,  including  the 
emperor  and  the  chief  ministers,  and  on  the  other,  Kaunitz  and  his 
partisans.     Maria  Theresa,  to  whom  the  recovery  of  Silesia  was 
naturally  an  object  of  ardent  desire,  was  won  over  to  the  views  of 
Kaunitz  and  determined  to  give  him  the  opportunity  of  realising 
them.     In  1750  he  was  appointed  Austrian  envoy  at  Versailles. 
There  he  was  brought  face  to  face  with  the  enormous  d  faculties 
which  confronted  him.     The  French  government  was  in  a  state  of 
hopeless  confusion.     Louis  XV.,  a  slave  to  the  most  degrading 
vices,  had  altogether  lost  the  popularity  that  had  once  given  him 
the  name  of  bien-aime,  and  in  1750  a  revolt  broke  out  in  Paris 
which  was  the  precursor  of  future  disorders.     Madime  de   Pom- 
padour, though  she  was  no  longer  actually  the  king's  mistress,  was 
all-powerful  at  court,  and  secured  her  influence  by  ministering  to 
the  king's  pleasures.     Most  of  the  ministers  were  her  creatures,  and 
they  were  changed  with  a  frequency  that  makes  it  almost  impos- 
sible  to  remember   the  order  of  succession.     The  department  if 
foreign  affairs  was   transferred  in    1751  from  Puysieux  to  Saint- 
Contest,  and  on  the  death  of  the  latter  in  1754  was  given  to  Rouille', 
who  had  previously  had  charge  of  the  marine.     But  these  ministers 
had  only  a  slight  control  over  the  conduct  of  affairs.     Louis  XV., 
averse  as  he  was  to  the  burden  of  business  and  incapable  of  forming 
a  serious   decision,  took  a  puerile  interest  in    the  minutiae    of 


A.D.  1750-1753.      KAUNITZ   AT  VERSAILLES.  395 

diplomacy.  It  pleased  him  to  carry  on  private  negotiations  without 
any  reference  to  his  responsible  ministers.  Most  of  the  French 
envoys  at  foreign  courts  had  a  double  set  of  instructions,  one  from 
the  government  and  the  other  from  the  king  himself,  and  they  ofteu 
found  it  difficult  or  impossible  to  harmonise  their  conduct  to  both. 
This  secret  diplomacy,  which  has  only  rtcently  ben  investigated 
with  any  thoroughness,  makes  the  French  history  of  this  period  an 
almost  traekless  labyrinth.  One  of  the  king**  objects  was  to  secure 
the  succession  in  Poland  to  ihe  prince  de  Conti,  who  was  at  this 
time  his  chief  confidant.  Kaunitz  found  it  im|H)ssible  to  con. e  to 
any  deinltg  understanding  wiih  the  Frendi  government,  although 
he  succeeded  so  far  as  to  pain  the  pergonal  favour  of  the  kin-  and 
Madame  de  Pompadour.  Hut  while  he  wns  at  Pans,  Austria  was 
able  to  come  to  terms  with  one  at  least  of  the  Dour  Don  states. 
Spain,  which  under  Philip  V.  hnd  been  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
Hapsburgs,  now  took  the  lead  in  pr< •  posing  an  alliance.  In  1752 
the  treaty  of  Aranjuez  was  concluded, and  was  accepted  also  by  the 
kings  of  Sardinia  and  Naples  and  the  duke  of  Pannn.  Spain  and 
Austria  guaranteed  to  each  other  all  their  Kuropean  possessions. 
A  similar  guarantee  was  arranged  with  the  other  |>owers,  but  only 
extended  to  the  Italian  provinces  of  the  Austrian  monarchy.  It 
was  h«'p<d  that  this  treaty  might  influence  the  court  of  Versailles, 
but  since  tho  accession  ol  Ferdinand  VI.  Spain  had  seven  d  itself  so 
entirely  from  the  Family  Contact  with  France  that  the  expectation 
was  baulked.  Kaunitz  left  Pari>  in  1769  and  was  at  once  promoted 
by  Maria  Theresa  to  be  her  chief  minister.  Dut  the  promotion  of 
Kaunitz  by  no  means  implied  the  immediate  adoption  of  the  new 
policy.  On  the  contrary,  his  residence  in  France  seemed  to  have 
convinced  him  that  his  scheme  was  hopeless.  He  was  now  pre- 
pared to  leave  Prussia  in  undisturbed  possession  of  Silesia  and  to 
maintain  the  most  intimate  relations  with  the  maritime  powers. 
Dut  circumstances  worked  for  him  in  an  unex|«ct«d  manner,  and 
before  long  he  was  able  to  resume  his  plaus  with  a  better  prospect 
of  success. 

In  spite  of  the  alliance  which  had  lasted  for  half  a  century,  and 
of  the  undoubted  services  which  England  had  it  ndered  to  Austria 
in  the  recent  war,  the  relations  between  the  two  countries  were  by 
no  means  harmonious.  The  Austrian  government  was  displeased 
with  the  part  which  England  had  played  in  negotiating  the  treaiies 
of  Berlin,  Dresden,  and  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  with  the  hectoring 
tone  that  was  so  often  adopted  by  English  ministers  at  Vienna.  It 
was  in  vain  that  George  II.  sought  to  make  his  peace  by  joining  in 
1750  the  alliance  between  Austria  and  Russia,  and  by  proposing  the 
election  of  the  archduke  Joseph  as  King  of  the  Romans.     The  Aust  ro- 


396  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

Russian  alliance  had  been  concluded  in  1746  really,  though  not 
ostensibly,  against  Prussia,  but  England  was  resolute  in  refusing  to 
accept  it  in  that  sense.  And  the  proposed  election  of  the  archduke 
proved  a  source  rather  of  discord  than  agreement.  Only  three  votes 
could  be  reckoned  upon  with  security,  Hanover,  Saxony  and 
Bohemia.  Prussia,  backed  up  by  France,  was  openly  hostile  to  the 
election  of  a  minor.  The  other  neutral  electors  might  possibly 
have  been  purchased,  but  only  by  concessions  which  Maria  Theresa 
refused  to  make.  The  negotiations  were  carried  on  for  two  years, 
but  ultimately  George  II.  had  to  abandon  the  project  on  account  of 
the  lukewarm  support  he  received  from  the  very  power  in  whose 
interests  it  had  been  conceived.  At  the  same  time  there  were  more 
substantial  grounds  of  difference  between  the  two  powers.  By  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht,  England  and  Holland  had  procured  the  cession  of 
the  Netherlands  to  Austria,  but  only  for  their  own  security  against 
France.  Special  provisions  were  made  for  the  occupation  of  the 
fortresses  by  Dutch  troops,  and  for  preventing  any  possible  com- 
mercial rivalry.  The  attempt  of  Charles  VI.  to  form  the  Ostend 
Company  had  given  a  clear  illustration  of  the  selfish  jealousy  with 
which  the  Maritime  States  were  determined  to  uphold  their  mon- 
opoly. The  old  provisions  about  the  fortresses  and  trade  were  re- 
newed in  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Maria  Theresa  was 
disinclined  to  sacrifice  her  own  subjects  to  their  overbearing  neigh- 
bours. She  refused  to  pay  the  subsidies  to  Holland,  and  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Charles  of  Lorraine,  the  governor  of  the  Netherlands,  she 
began  to  take  measures  for  the  revival  of  commerce.  This  at  once 
provoked  vehement  remonstrances,  both  from  the  English  and 
Dutch,  which  were  in  the  hiihest  degree  displeasing  to  a  sovereign 
who  was  accustomed  to  absolute  rule  in  her  territories. 

§  3.  If  the  hostility  between  Austria  and  Prussia  is  the  most  con- 
spicuous point  in  European  politics,  the  quarrel  between  England 
and  France,  which  arose  out  of  conflicting  colonial  interests,  was 
equally  deep-seated  and  important.  The  vagueness  which  neces- 
sarily existed  about  the  rights  of  discoverers  and  settlers  in  the 
vast  continents  of  America  and  Asia  was  certain  to  lead  to 
disputes,  and  in  the  eighteenth  century  these  proved  a  most  fertile 
source  of  international  contests.  It  was  easy  to  admit  the  right  of 
the  first  settler  to  a  small  island,  but  if  a  man  planted  a  flag  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  America,  it  was  impossible  to  allow  that  he  had 
thereby  established  a  right  to  the  whole  territory  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific.  In  two  opposite  hemispheres  the  English  and 
French  found  themselves  face  to  face.  In  India  the  open  war 
between  them  had  been  stayed  by  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
but  it  speedily  broke  out  again  in  a  new  form  as  the  two  nations 


a.d.  1754.  FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND.  397 

mixed  themselves  up  in  the  quarrels  of  the  native  princes.  This 
time  the  genius  of  Dupleix  was  met  and  foiled  by  the  courage  of 
Robert  Clive,  and  in  1754  the  French  government  decided  to  recall 
their  enterprising  but  unsuccessful  representative.  In  America  the 
quarrel  was  more  complicated  and  was  less  easily  settled.  The 
first  dispute  arose  about  the  boundaries  of  Acadia  or  Nova  Scotia, 
which  had  originally  been  a  French  colony,  but  had  been  ceded  to 
England  at  Utrecht.  Commissioners  had  been  appointed  to  decide 
the  question,  but  no  settlement  had  been  agreed  upon.  And  still 
more  serious  questions  were  raised  about  the  general  limits  of  the 
rival  colonies.  By  this  time  the  English  had  established  them- 
selves firmly  along  the  east  coast  of  what  is  now  the  United 
Hut  the  French  held  Canada  and  Louisiana,  and  they  now 
sought  to  unite  the  two  provinces  by  claiming  the  two  great 
valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi.  Their  object  was 
to  coop  the  English  up  within  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  to 
it  any  further  extension  of  their  settlements.  The  governor 
of  Canada,  Duquesne,  sent  troops  to  seize  the  territory  of  the  Ohio, 
where  they  built  Fort  Duquesne.  The  Virginians  and  Pennsyl- 
vanians  were  ordered  by  the  home  government  to  resist  this 
-sion.  In  1754  George  Washington  at  the  head  of  the 
Virginian  militia  cut  a  French  detachment  to  pieces,  but  was 
himself  defeated  by  a  superior  force  at  Great  Meadows.  So  far  the 
quarrel  was  purely  colonial,  but  it  soon  extended  to  the  mother- 
countries.  Public  opinion  was  profoundly  excited  both  in  England 
and  France.  Hegular  troops  were  despatched  to  America  under 
General  Braddock,  but  he  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  into  an 
ambuscade  and  his  whole  force  was  annihilated.  The  French,  on 
their  side,  sent  a  fleet  into  the  Atlantic,  and  a  great  naval  battle 
was  only  avoided  through  a  fog,  which  enabled  the  French  vessels 
to  escape  from  the  English  with  the  loss  of  two  of  their  number. 
War  had  not  yet  been  declared,  but  the  English  privateers  did  not 
scruple  to  attack  the  French  shipping,  on  which  they  inflicted 
serious  damage. 

War  between  England  and  France  was  now  inevitable,  and 
George  II/s  fears  were  at  once  aroused  for  the  safety  of  Hanover. 
The  French  were  not  likely  to  have  the  best  of  the  naval  war,  and 
they  were  certain  to  avenge  their  losses  on  the  sea  by  attacking 
the  continental  possessions  of  the  English  king.  The  treaty  by 
which  Hesse  supplied  troops  in  return  for  a  subsidy  had  recentl) 
expired,  and  was  at  once  renewed,  in  spite  of  the  outcry  of  the 
anti-Hanoverian  party  in  Parliament.  But  a  more  powerful  ally 
was  needed  to  oppose  France,  and  there  were  only  two  powers 
which  could  give  the  requisite  security,  Austria,  as  mfstress  of  the 


398  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

Netherlands,  and  Prussia.  Naturally  George  II.  made  his  first 
appeal  to  Austria.  Now  was  the  time  for  Maria  Theresa  and 
Kaunitz  to  decide  definitely  on  the  policy  they  intended  to  adopt. 
If  they  refused  to  assist  England,  the  old  alliance  must  be  finally 
abandoned.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  acceded  to  George's 
demand,  they  must  resign  all  hope  of  an  agreement  with  France, 
and  therefore  of  recovering  Silesia.  For  a  moment  they  hesitated. 
They  pointed  out  to  the  English  ministers  that  Hanover  might 
also  be  attacked  by  Prussia  as  the  ally  of  France,  and  advised 
them  to  hire  Russian  troops  with  a  subsidy.  The  advice  was 
followed,  and  negotiations  were  at  once  commenced  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, which  resulted  in  a  treaty  (September,  1755),  by  which  an 
annual  payment  of  £100,000  was  promised  to  the  Czarina  Elizabeth, 
and  she  undertook  to  send  55,000  men  to  the  assistance  of  Hanover 
if  attacked.  The  English  government  now  renewed  its  demand 
that  the  Austrian  forces  in  the  Netherlands  should  be  strengthened, 
so  as  to  oppose  the  threatened  passage  of  the  French.  But  Kaunitz 
and  Maria  Theresa  decided  to  refuse  the  demand  on  the  ground 
that  the  sending  of  troops  to  so  distant  a  province  would  leave  the 
Austrian  territories  exposed  to  invasion  from  Prussia.  Thus  the 
first  step  was  taken  in  the  great  change  of  diplomatic  relations. 
The  alliance  between  England  and  Austria,  which  had  been  called 
into  being  by  the  ambition  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  had  been  cemented 
by  the  exploits  of  Eugene  and  Marlborough,  was  at  an  end. 

Nothing  now  remained  for  England  but  to  appeal  to  Prussia,  and 
Lord  Holderness  was  despatched  as  envoy  to  Berlin.  Ever  since 
the  treaty  of  Dresden,  Frederick  had  been  absorbed  in  the  cares  of 
domestic  government.  He  had  reformed  the  judicial  administra- 
tion with  the  help  of  Cocceji,  he  had  improved  the  finance^,  and 
above  all  he  had  strengthened  his  army.  But  there  is  no  ground 
for  charging  him,  as  the  Austrian  ministers  did,  with  cherishing 
new  schemes  of  aggrandisement,  like  the  conquest  of  Silesia.  On 
the  contrary,  his  chief  wish  in  1755  was  to  remain  at  peace,  and 
the  approaching  war  between  England  and  France  filled  him  with 
dismay.  He  regarded  France  as  his  natural  ally,  but  he  had  never 
guaranteed  her  American  colonies,  and  he  was  not  willing  to 
sacrifice  his  own  interests  for  them.  Moreover,  neither  party  was 
very  firmly  attached  to  the  alliance.  France  was  not  likely  to 
forget  that  Frederick  had  twice  deserted  her  cause  in  the  late  war. 
Frederick,  on  his  side,  resented  the  way  in  which  the  court  of 
Versailles  treated  Prussia  as  a  subordinate  power,  and  was  extremely 
unwilling  to  allow  the  French  to  make  themselves  supreme  in 
Germany.  They  were  now  about  to  attack  Hanover,  and  would 
certainly  call  upon  him  for  assistance.     If  he  supported  them  he 


a.d.  1755-1756.      CONVENTION  OF  WESTMINSTER.        399 

would  be  exposed  to  a  triple  attack,  from  England  through  Hanover, 
from  Russia,  and  from  Austria.  Tke  French  would  very  likely 
involve  him  in  the  war,  and  then  leave  him  to  his  fate.  At  this 
moment  came  the  overtures  from  England,  and  a  little  later  the 
news  of  the  treaty  which  England  had  concluded  with  Russia. 
The  latter  decided  Frederick's  conduct.  By  accepting  the  overtures 
he  could  rid  himself  at  once  of  two  formidable  enemies,  and  at  the 
same  time  keep  the  war  outside  the  limits  of  Germany.  Russia 
was  bitterly  hostile  to  him,  but  then  Russia  would  never  go  to  war 
without  ample  subsidies,  and  the  money  which  had  been  promised 
by  England  could  never  be  supplied  ban  the  exhausted  treasury  of 
Austria.  Accordingly,  on  the  16th  of  January,  1756,  the  Conven- 
tion of  Westminster  was  agreed  upon.  England  and  Prussia 
confirmed  the  previous  treaties  between  them,  and  guaranteed  each 
other's  territories.  They  also  agreed,  in  case  any  foreign  troops 
should  invade  Germany,  to  combine  their  forces  for  their  expulsion. 
This  was  the  essence  of  the  com|»act ;  Prussia  was  to  protect 
Hanover  from  France,  and  in  return  England  was  to  give  up  the 
design  of  bringing  the  Russians  on  to  German  soil. 

Hitherto  the  French  government  had  carefully  avoided  any  overt 
act  of  hostility  against  England.  But  early  in  1756  an  edict  was 
issued  confiscating  all  English  property  in  France,  and  at  the  same 
time  extensive  military  and  naval  preparations  were  commenced  at 
Brest  and  Dunkirk.  The  English  government,  which  was  headed 
at  this  time  by  the  feeble  duke  of  Newcastle,  believed  that  the 
intention  was  to  invade  this  country.  Gnat  tflbrta  were  made  to 
induce  the  Dutch  to  support  their  old  ally.  William  IV.,  who  had 
been  made  stadtholder  during  the  last  war,  had  died  in  1751,  and 
the  government  was  now  in  t  e  hands  of  his  widow  Anne,  a 
daughter  of  George  II.  But  the  republican  party  was  still 
numerous,  and  strong  enough  to  carry  a  resolution  by  which 
Holland  remained  neutral.  The  government,  conscious  that  the 
national  defences  were  in  a  lamentable  condition,  took  the  unpopular 
step  of  summoning  Hanoverian  and  Hessian  troops  into  England. 
In  the  end  the  panic  proved  groundless.  The  preparations  at  Brest 
and  Dunkirk  were  only  a  blind  to  call  off  attention  from  an 
expedition  which  was  being  fitted  out  at  Toulon  to  attack  Minorca. 
The  duke  of  Richelieu,  the  vicious  companion  of  the  king's 
pleasures,  was  appointed  to  command,  and  the  fleet  sailed  from 
Toulon  early  in  April.  The  island  was  entirely  unprepared  for 
resistance,  and  General  Blakeney  was  forced  to  withdraw  the 
garrison  from  Port  Mahon,  and  to  throw  himself  into  Fort 
St.  Philip,  where  he  was  besieged  by  the  French.  It  was  not  till  a 
month  had  elapsed  that  Admiral  Byng  advanced  to  relieve  Minorca, 


400  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

and  then,  after  an  indecisive  conflict  with  the  French  fleet,  he 
retired  without  having  effected  anything.  Fort  St.  Philip  had  to 
surrender  in  May,  and  Minorca,  one  of  the  most  important  acqui- 
sitions of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  was  lost  to  England.  The  govern- 
ment, whose  incapacity  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  disaster,  trid  to 
throw  the  blame  upon  Byng,  and  he  was  condemned  by  a  court- 
martial,  and  shot  in  the  next  year.  The  attack  upon  Minorca  at 
last  extorted  from  the  belligerents  a  formal  declaration  of  war, 
which  was  issued  by  England  in  May,  and  by  France  in  June,  1750. 
§  4.  Meanwhile  the  imminent  outbreak  of  a  continental  war  had 
forced  Austria  to  come  to  an  all-important  decision.  If  France 
carried  out  its  intention  of  attacking  Hanover,  the  Netherlands 
could  not  possibly  escape  becoming  a  field  for  military  operations. 
Maria  Theresa  had  refused  to  support  England  by  strengthening 
her  forces  in  the  Netherlands.  Neutrality  would  have  suited  the 
interests  of  Austria,  but  it  was  impossible  for  a  great  power  to 
remain  neutral  while  one  of  its  provinces  wis  occupied  by  foreign 
troops.  The  only  possible  way  out  of  the  difficulty  lay  in  an 
alliance  with  France,  which  opened  the  additional  prospect  of 
revenge  ag  unst  Prus>i  i.  Now  or  never  Kaunitz  must  carry  out  the 
grand  scheme  which  he  had  propounded  in  1 749,  but  which  had 
hitherto  proved  impossible  of  achievement.  The  Austrian  minister 
was  equal  to  the  occasion.  In  August,  1755,  he  drew  up  a  state- 
ment of  the  offers  which  were  to  be  made  to  France.  Louis  XV.'s 
son-in-law,  Don  Philip,  was  to  exchange  Parma,  Piacenza  and 
Guastalla,  for  a  more  extensive  principality  in  the  Netherlands. 
Austria  would  undertake  to  support  Conti  in  his  candidature  for 
the  Polish  throne,  and  to  bring  France  into  cordial  relations  with 
Russia,  Spain  and  Naples.  The  allies  of  France,  Sweden,  Saxony 
and  the  Palatinate,  were  to  receive  advantages  at  the  expense  of 
Prussia,  and  that  state  was  to  be  reduced  to  the  position  which  it 
had  held  before  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  so  that  it  should  be  power- 
less in  the  future  to  disturb  the  peace  of  Europe.  France,  for  its 
part,  was  to  renounce  the  alliance  with  the  Prussian  king,  and  to 
share  with  Austria  the  expense  of  the  undertaking.  The  plan  was 
approved  by  Maria  Theresa  without  consultation  with  the  other 
ministers,  and  was  embodied  in  instructions  to  Count  Stahremberg. 
who  had  succeeded  Kaunitz  as  envoy  at  Paris.  The  magnitude  of 
the  scheme,  which  involved  a  complete  revolution  in  the  politics  of 
Europe,  is  best  expressed  in  Kaunitz's  own  words  :  "  A  great  power 
was  to  be  convinced  that  the  whole  political  system  which  it  had 
hitherto  pursued  was  in  direct  opposition  to  its  true  interests.  It 
was  to  be  persuaded  that  what  it  regarded  as  the  only  means  for 
overcoming  the  difficulties  with  England,  were  really  unsuited  to 


..d.  1756.  FRANCE  AND  AUSTRIA.  401 

the  purpose,  and  that  it  was  pursuing  a  ladically  false  policy  when 
it  made  the  support  of  Prussia  the  central  object  of  all  its  alliances. 
Nothing  less  was  aimed  at  than  to  root  up  the  old  rivalry  of  France 
against  the  house  of  Austria,  and  to  completely  alter  the  national 
character  of  a  whole  ministry."  The  plan  would  hardly  have 
escaped  failure  but  for  an  unexpected  combination  of  favouring 
circumstances. 

On  the  29th  of  August,  Stahremberg  received  his  instructions,  and 
two  days  later  he  made  his  first  overtures  to  the  court  of  Versailles 
through  Madame  de  Pompadour.  It  was  a  great  point  in  his  favour 
that  the  all-jK.w-rful  mistress,  like  Elizabeth  of  Russia,  was  bitterly 
enraged  by  the  reports  that  had  reached  her  of  insulting  expressions 
used  by  Frederick  in  private  conversation.  Throughout  this  period 
she  is  the  chief  opponent  of  the  Prussian  alliance  and  the  most 
influential  supplier  of  the  Austrian  policy.  She  induced  Louis  XV. 
to  conceal  the  matter  from  his  ministers  for  a  time,  and  to  entrust 
the  negotiations  with  Stahremberg  to  one  of  her  own  favourites,  the 
Abbe  de  Bernis.  On  the  3rd  of  September  the  two  diplomatists 
held  their  first  conference  in  a  country  house  at  Sevres.  The 
answer  to  the  Austrian  proposals  was  by  no  means  encouraging. 
Tii.  French  king  definitely  refused  to  agree  to  any  enterprise 
against  Prussia  unless  conclusive  proofs  were  given  of  a  secret 
understanding  between  Prussia  and  England.  At  the  same  time 
he  called  upon  the  empress  to  combine  with  him  against  England 
as  a  disturber  of  European  peace.  The  decision  expressed  in  this 
answer  forced  Kaunitz  to  change  his  attitude.  French  assistance 
against  Prussia  was  out  of  question.  But  it  would  be  absurd  for 
Austria  to  make  war  upon  England  when  the  only  reward  which 
made  such  an  enterprise  worth  undertaking  was  withheld.  Kaunitz 
therefore  fell  back  upon  the  idea  of  neutrality,  and  proposed  a 
defensive  treaty  with  France,  by  which  the  war  should  be  kept 
outside  Germany.  On  these  terms  Stahremberg  recommenced 
negotiations,  this  time  not  with  Bernis  alone,  but  with  several  of 
the  ministers,  Rouille,  Machault  and  Sechelles.  From  d'Argenson 
and  Belle  isle,  who  were  regarded  as  enemies  of  Austria,  the  affair 
was  still  kept  secret.  But  it  was  obvious  from  the  first  that  the 
new  proposals  had  a  very  slight  prospect  of  success.  The  object  of 
France  was  to  humiliate  England:  in  a  naval  war  England  was 
certain  to  win  in  the  end:  the  French  must  seek  compensation  by 
land,  and  this  could  only  be  done  by  attacking  Hanover.  Therefore 
the  proposed  neutrality  of  Germany  was  directly  opposed  to  French 
interests.  At  the  same  time,  if  the  choice  lay  between  two  possible 
allies  against  England,  Prussia  could  render  vastly  greater  services 
than  Austria.  The  Litter  had  not  only  no  naval  force,  but  it  was 
19 


402  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xrx. 

so  distant  from  Hanover  that  armed  intervention  there  was  almost 
impossible.  Without  rejecting  the  Austrian  proposals,  the  French 
ministers  determined  to  send  the  duke  de  Nivernois  to  Berlin  to 
conclude  a  definite  alliance  with  Frederick.  Nivernois  arrived  in 
January,  1756,  just  in  time  to  receive  the  first  news  of  the  Conven- 
tion of  Westminster.  This  was  the  turning-point  in  the  negotiations 
between  France  and  Austria.  The  French  king  and  ministers  were 
furiously  indignant  that  the  prince  whom  they  regarded  as  their 
natural  and  necessary  ally  should  have  concluded  a  treaty  with 
their  hated  enemy,  and  guaranteed  that  very  neutrality  of 
Germany  which  would  foil  the  military  designs  of  France.  It  was 
France  which  now  took  the  lead  in  demanding  the  revival  of 
Kaunitz's  original  scheme  for  an  alliance  against  Prussia.  The 
negotiations  between  Stahremberg  and  Bernis  were  resumed  on  the 
old  basis.  But  there  were  still  considerable  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  a  complete  understanding.  The  French  representative  insisted 
on  reciprocity  of  action  as  an  essential  preliminary  of  the  alliance ; 
that  is,  France  was  not  to  do  more  against  Prussia  than  Austria 
would  undertake  to  do  against  England.  But  Austria  was  unable, 
from  its  position,  to  take  any  direct  share  in  a  war  with  England, 
therefore  France  would  not  join  in  any  attack  upon  Prussia. 
Moreover  France  was  willing  to  allow  the  recovery  of  Silesia,  but 
was  opposed  to  a  complete  humiliation  of  Prussia,  which  would 
restore  to  Austria  its  supremacy  in  Germany.  Kaunitz  saw  that 
time  alone  could  overcome  these  difficulties ;  that  when  once  war  had 
begun,  France  would  have  to  do  more  than  fulfil  the  bare  stipulations 
of  a  treaty,  and  therefore  instructed  Stahremberg  to  urge  the 
conclusion  of  the  general  alliance,  and  to  leave  the  details  for  future 
settlement.  Accordingly  on  the  1st  of  May  three  distinct  treaties 
between  France  and  Austria  were  signed  at  Versailles.  By  the 
first,  which  was  a  treaty  of  neutrality,  Austria  undertook  to  remain 
neutral  during  the  war  between  France  and  England,  and  France 
pledged  itself  on  no  account  to  attack  the  Netherlands  or  any  other 
territory  of  Maria  Theresa.  The  second  was  a  defensive  alliance. 
Both  powers  guaranteed  each  other's  possessions,  and  in  case  they 
were  attacked  by  any  foreign  state,  agreed  to  raise  an  auxiliary 
force  of  24,000  men,  or,  if  required,  to  furnish  an  equivalent  sum  of 
money.  This  engagement  was  not  binding  as  regards  the  war 
between  England  and  France.  The  third  treaty  contained  five 
secret  articles.  (1.)  Although  the  war  between  England  and 
France  had  been  expressly  excluded  from  the  previous  treaty, 
Austria  undertook  to  send  the  stipulated  assistance  to  France  if 
attacked  by  any  foreign  power  as  an  auxiliary  of  England ;  and 
France  made  the  same  pledge  to  Austria.     (2.)  The  allies  who  were 


a.d.  1756.  TREATIES  OF  VERSAILLES  403 

to  be  invited  to  join  the  defensive  alliance  were,  the  emperor  as 
grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  the  kings  of  Spain  and  Naples,  Philip  of 
Parma,  and  such  other  princes  as  might  be  subsequently  agreed 
upon.  (4.)  The  two  powers  pledged  themselves  not  to  conclude  any 
new  alliance  nor  to  confirm  an  old  one  without  mutual  agree- 
ment. The  third  and  fifth  articles  were  merely  formal.  The  treaty 
of  Versailles  was  regarded  by  both  parties  only  as  a  preliminary 
to  a  more  definite  alliance.  In  the  months  of  May  and  June 
Stahremberg  pushed  on  the  negotiations  with  great  vigour.  On 
the  French  side  Bernis  pointed  out  that  the  principality  in  the 
Netherlands  for  Don  Philip  WU  a  very  small  price  for  Austria  to 
pay  for  the  recovery  of  Silesia  and  Glatz  and  the  duchy  of  Parma. 
To  induce  France  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  war  it  would  be 
necessary  to  cede  to  her  all  the  Netherlands,  except  the  portion  set 
apart  for  the  Spanish  Infant.  Kaunitz  was  quite  willing  to 
sacrifice  the  Netherlands,  but  he  was  conscious  that  such  an  increase 
of  the  power  of  France  would  excite  the  bitier  hostility  of  the  Mari- 
time States,  and  would  probably  alienate  those  powers  that  might 
otherwise  be  allies.  He  offered  therefore  to  cede  the  whole  of  the 
Netherlands  to  Don  Philip,  with  the  exception  of  those  provinces 
which  had  at  any  previous  period  belonged  to  France.  But  he 
insisted  that  none  of  these  promises  should  be  fulfilled  until  Silesia 
and  Glatz  were  actually  recovered  for  Austria,  and  he  demanded 
that  France  should  earn  such  great  advantages  by  sending  an  army 
into  Germany,  and  by  paying  ample  subsidies  to  Austria  and  her 
allies.  Although  Louis  XV.  and  Madame  de  Pompadour  had 
practically  decided  to  accept  the  offers  of  Kaunitz,  a  definite 
agreement  was  postponed  on  account  of  the  prepossession  in  favour  of 
Prussia  which  existed  among  the  French  people  and  was  shared  by 
several  of  the  ministers.  The  Austrian  government,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  impelled  to  haste  by  the  attitude  of  Russia.  The  Czarina 
Elizabeth  had  concluded  the  alliance  with  England  simply  out  of 
hostility  to  Prussia,  and  in  ratifying  the  treaty  she  had  expressly 
stated  that  her  troops  should  be  employed  against  no  other  power. 
The  Convention  of  Westminster,  therefore,  at  once  annulled  the 
treaty  of  St.  Petersburg :  Elizabeth  not  only  refused  the  English 
subsidies,  but  was  filled  with  bitter  indignation.  She  determined 
to  have  revenge  at  any  rate,  and  offered  to  join  Maria  Theresa  with 
80,000  men  against  Prussia,  and  not  to  lay  down  her  arms  until 
Silesia  and  Glatz  had  been  conquered.  Nor  was  this  the  only 
loss  to  which  the  Czarina  wished  to  subject  Frederick.  Prussia 
proper  was  to  return  to  Poland,  with  the  exception  of  Courland  and 
Semgallen,  which  Russia  demanded  for  itself.  Saxony  was  to 
have  Magdeburg,  Sweden  Prussian  Pomerania,  and  Frederick  was  to 


404  MODEEN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

be  left  with  little  besides  the  original  marks  of  Brandenburg. 
Kaunitz  was  encouraged  by  so  favourable  an  offer,  but  he  was 
compelled  to  moderate  the  ardour  of  his  ally,  lest  any  permature 
aggression  on  the  part  of  Russia  should  induce  France  to  break  off 
the  negotiations.  Elizabeth  was  urged  to  wait  patiently  until  the 
alliance  had  been  concluded.  Nothing  could  contribute  more  to 
this  result  than  that  Frederick  should  put  himself  in  the  wrong  by 
breaking  the  peace. 

Meanwhile  Frederick,  by  means  that  were  characteristic  of  the 
employer,  had  obtained  sufficient  if  not  complete  information  of  the 
designs  that  were  being  formed  against  him.  The  result  was  seen 
in  energetic  military  preparations  and  the  massing  of  troops  on 
the  Prussian  frontier.  Austria  was  extremely  alarmed  at  this. 
Bohemia  was  defenceless,  and  any  attempt  to  increase  the  forces  in 
that  province  might  induce  Frederick  to  attack  it.  Moreover  the 
government  desired  to  postpone  active  operations  until  the  next 
year,  when  the  arrangements  with  France  would  be  completed. 
But  Frederick,  with  his  accustomed  audacity  of  resolution,  wns 
determined  to  strike  the  first  blow.  With  great  reluctance  Austria 
had  at  last  followed  the  example  of  Prussia,  and  commenced  to  put 
Bohemia  and  Moiavia  into  a  posture  of  defence.  Frederick  at  once 
instructed  Count  Klinggraff,  his  envoy  at  Vienna,  to  demand  the 
meaning  of  these  preparations,  and  to  ask  whether  it  was  true  that 
an  alliance  with  Russia  had  been  concluded  against  himself.  The 
demand  was  intended  merely  to  obtain  a  decent  pretext  for 
hostilities.  It  was  replied  that  Prussia  had  begun  to  arm  itself 
long  hefore  Austria  had  done  so,  and  that  no  such  alliance  with 
Russia  had  existed  or  did  exist.  On  the  25th  of  August,  1756, 
Frederick  received  this  answer  from  Vienna.  On  the  next  day  he 
commenced  the  Seven  Years'  War  by  advancing  with  his  army,  not 
as  was  expected  into  Bohemia,  but  into  Saxony. 

II.   OUTBKEAK   OF   THE   WAR. 

§  5.  That  Frederick  was  justified  in  beginning  hostilities  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  Although  it  was  literally  true  that  no  alliance  had  as 
yet  been  concluded  between  Austria  and  Russia,  yet  those  powers 
and  France  were  diligently  concerting  measures  which  threatened 
Prussia  with  annihilation.  If  Frederick  had  remained  inactive,  the 
war  would  only  have  been  postponed  till  next  year,  when  his  enemies 
could  have  attacked  him  at  their  leisure.  It  was  by  the  help  of  a 
traitor  that  Frederick  had  obtained  his  knowledge  of  these  hostile 
designs.  Ever  since  1753,  Menzel,  a  clerk  in  the  Saxony  Chancery, 
had  been  in  Prussian  pay,  and  had  sent  copies  to  Berlin  of  all  the 


a.d.  1756.  THE  PRUSSIANS  IN  SAXONY.  405 

important  documents  that  passed  through  his  hands.  Among 
these  was  the  proposal  for  a  partition  of  Prussia  which  had  been 
communicated  by  the  Russian  chancellor,  Hestoujef,  to  the  Saxon 
minister  at  St.  Petersburg.  But  while  this  oiscovery  justified 
Frederick  in  attacking  Austria,  the  same  cannot  be  said  for  his 
invasion  of  Saxony.  H?  was  doubtless  aware  that  Augustus  III. 
and  his  minister  Briihl  re-jardod  him  wiih  bitter  animosity,  and  tliat 
neither  they  nor  their  subjects  had  forgotten  the  humiliations  of 
1746.  But  nevertheless  Saxony  wm  i,  t  a  |  a;tner  to  the  projected 
alliance  against  Prussia.  Though  both  Austria  and  Russia  had 
suggested  that  some  share  of  the  spoil  might  ho  given  to  Saxony, 
the  consent  of  the  government  at  Dresden  had  nev^r  been  asked  nor 
given.  The  motive  for  Frederick's  action  must  be  found  in  military 
considerations.  In  the  last  war  he  had  ample  experience  of  the 
danger  of  invading  Bohemia  while  Saxony  was  left  free  to  act 
behind  him,  and  he  had  also  convinced  himself  that  that  country 
offered  the  best  base  of  operations  for  an  attack  on  the  Austrian 
territories.  He  had  also  another  motive.  In  Dresden  were  the 
originals  of  those  documents  whose  contents  had  been  divulged  to 
him  by  Menzel.  If  he  could  i  i/.e  and  publish  them  he  might  con- 
vince Europe  of  the  rectitude  of  his  conduct,  and  prove  th»t  he  was 
not  the  unprovoked  robber  and  aggressor  that  his  enemies  loved  to 
paint  him. 

Frederick's  intention  was  to  march  through  Saxony  into  Bohemia 
before  the  Austrians  had  time  to  arrange  any  effectual  resistance. 
But  to  avoid  leaving  a  hostile  army  in  the  rear,  he  demanded  that 
the  Saxon  troo|>s  should  take  an  oath  of  fealty  to  him  and  combine 
with  the  Prussians  against  Austria.  He  relit d  on  the  well-known 
weakness  of  Augustus  III.  and  the  tenor  inspired  by  a  sudden 
attack  to  lend  force  to  this  outrageous  request.  But  the  Saxon 
king  had  not  fallen  so  low  as  to  surrender  his  army  without  a  blow. 
Acting  on  the  advice  of  the  Fiench  envoy,  the  Count  de  Broglie,  he 
threw  his  troops  into  Pirna,  an  almost  impregnable  mountain 
fortress  on  the  Elbe  a  few  miles  above  Dresden.  Here  he  could 
hold  out  until  assistance  came  from  Austria,  or  possibly  also  from 
Russia.  This  step,  undoubtedly  the  best  under  the  circumstances, 
was  resented  at  Vienna.  The  Austrian  ministers  had  wished  the 
Saxon  troops  to  retreat  into  Bohemia,  and  to  join  the  army  that  had 
been  collected  there  under  Marshal  Browne.  They  were  afraid  that 
the  occupation  of  Pirna  would  prove  only  a  preliminary  to  an  under- 
standing with  Prussia.  The  demands  for  assistance  were  therefore 
very  coolly  received.  Browne  refused  to  quit  Bohemia,  for  fear  of 
leaving  that  province  exposed  to  a  Prussian  attack.  When  at  last 
he  consented  to  march  to  the  relief  of  Pirna,  it  was  only  to  effect  a 


406  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

junction  with  the  Saxons  so  as  to  facilitate  their  retreat  into 
Bohemia.  Frederick  was  well  informed  of  his  intentions,  and 
leaving  half  of  his  army  to  watch  Pima,  he  advanced  with  the  rest 
to  meet  Browne.  At  Lobositz  the  two  armies  came  into  conflict 
(October  1st).  For  once  the  Prussians  failed  to  gain  a  victory, 
although  they  kept  possession  of  the  batlfle-neld.  The  Austrians, 
who  had  displayed  distinguished  courage,  were  able  to  continue  their 
march  without  further  opposition.  As  the  left  bank  of  the  Elbe 
was  occupied  by  the  enemy,  they  had  to  take  the  right  bank,  and  it 
was  arranged  that  the  Saxons  should  cross  the  river  to  join  them. 
The  latter  failed  to  perform  their  share  of  the  operations,  and 
Browne  pave  up  the  enterprise  and  retreated  into  Bohemia. 
Nothing  now  remained  for  the  Saxons  but  to  capitulate,  which  they 
did  on  the  16th  of  October.  The  officers  were  released,  after  giving 
their  word  not  to  serve  against  Prussia  in  the  present  war,  but  the 
common  soldiers  were  compelled  to  join  Frederick's  army.  Augus- 
tus II T.  retired  to  his  second  capital,  Warsaw,  leaving  his  wife  behind 
in  Dresden.  The  unfortunate  queen  was  compelled,  not  without 
threats  of  personal  violence,  to  surrender  the  Saxon  archives,  from 
which  Frederick  compiled  a  memoire  raisonne  in  justification  of  his 
conduct,  which  was  sent  round  to  all  the  European  courts.  The 
season  was  now  too  late  for  an  invasion  of  Bohemia,  and  that  enter- 
prise had  to  be  postponed  till  next  year.  By  holding  out  in  Pima 
the  Saxons  had  rendered  an  inestimable  service  to  Austria 

§  6.  The  unexpected  outbreak  of  hostilities  forced  Austria  to  hurry 
on  the  formation  of  the  great  anti-Prussian  alliance.  The  first 
power  that  was  gained  over  was  the  Empire.  In  September,  1756, 
the  emperor  Francis  issutd  a  formal  declaration  that  Frederick  by 
invading  Saxony  had  broken  the  imperial  constitution,  and  exposed 
himself  to  the  penalties  of  such  an  act.  But  the  personal  authority 
of  the  emperor  counted  for  little  unle.-s  it  was  backed  up  by  the 
formal  adhesion  of  the  German  states.  This  was  not  difficult  to 
obtain.  France  and  Austria,  which  on  previous  occasions  had 
pulled  different  ways,  were  now  on  the  same  side.  This 
combination  of  influence  was  irresistible,  and  in  January,  1757,  the 
diet  of  Ratisbon  issued  a  recess  authorising  the  emperor  to  take 
measures  for  the  compensation  of  Saxony  and  the  defence  of 
Austria  and  Bohemia,  and  promising  to  support  him  with  an 
imperial  army.  The  recess  was  opposed  by  Prussia  and  Hanover, 
but  was  carried  by  a  majority  in  all  three  chambers. 

This  manifesto  of  the  diet  gave  more  moral  than  practical 
assistance  to  the  Austrian  cause.  The  military  organisation  of  the 
Empire  was  as  distracted  and  powerless  as  ever,  and  for  real  help  in 
the  war  Austria  relied  chiefly  upon   Russia  and  France.    With 


a.d.  1756.  AUSTRIA  AND  RUSSIA.  407 

Russia  there  was  little  beyond  details  to  settle.  Elizabeth,  who 
had  been  raised  to  the  throne  in  1741  in  opposition  to  Austria,  had 
completely  changed  her  original  policy,  and  since  1746  had  become 
the  close  ally  of  Maria  Theresa  and  a  bitter  enemy  of  Frederick  the 
Great.  All  her  ministers,  especially  Woronzow  and  the  powerful 
Schuwalow  family,  were  on  the  same  side.  The  only  persons  from 
whom  opposition  might  be  dreaded  were  the  Chancellor  Bestoujef, 
who  was  known  to  have  been  corrupted  by  English  bribes,  and  the 
heir-apparent,  Peter  of  Holstein,  who  was  a  devoted  admirer  of 
Frederick.  There  was  a  constant  risk  that  hlizabeth's  death  might 
bring  about  a  complete  change  in  the  attitude  of  Russia.  This  was 
an  additional  reason  for  hastening  the  negotiations.  On  the  11th 
of  January,  1757,  the  Convention  of  St.  Petersburg  was  signed,  by 
which  Russia  accepted  the  defensive  treaty  of  Versailles  between 
Austria  and  France,  although,  to  satisfy  the  scruples  of  the  latter 
power,  its  provisions  were  not  to  be  enforced  in  case  of  a  war  with 
Turkey  or  Persia.  Three  weeks  later,  on  the  2nd  of  February,  an 
offensive  alliance  against  Prussia  was  arranged  between  Russia  and 
Austria.  Both  powers  pledged  themselves  to  bring  80,000  men 
into  the  field,  and  not  to  lav  down  their  arms  until  Silesia  and 
Glatz  had  been  wrested  from  Frederick.  They  also  agreed  to 
reduce  the  power  of  Prussia  within  such  limits  that  it  should  no 
longer  be  formidable  to  the  peace  of  Europe.  Sweden  and 
Denmark  were  to  be  induced  to  join  the  alliance  by  the  offer  of 
territorial  advantages,  and  Saxony  wan  to  receive  as  compensation 
the  district  of  Magdeburg.  Maria  Theresa  undertook  to  pay  to 
Russia  an  annual  subsidy  of  a  million  roubles  during  the 
continuance  of  the  war.  An  army  had  already  been  assembled  at 
Rua  under  Apraxin,  but  military  affairs  wero  so  ill-organised  in 
Russia  that  it  was  doubtful  whether  it  could  commence  operations 
with  any  promptness. 

It  now  only  remained  for  Austria  to  bring  its  negotiations  with 
France  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion.  The  whole  situation  was 
altered  by  Frederick's  invasion  of  Saxony.  The  court  of  Versailles 
was  extremely  indignant,  especially  as  the  injured  king  was  the 
father-in-law  of  the  dauphin.  The  outbreak  of  war  at  once 
brought  into  operation  the  defensive  alliance  that  had  been 
concluded  in  May,  and  Louis  XV.  offered  to  send  the  stipulated 
24,000  troops  to  the  assistance  of  Austria.  But  at  the  same  time 
the  chief  obstacle  was  removed  in  the  way  of  the  offensive  alliance 
which  was  already  being  negotiated  by  Stahremberg.  France  was 
no  longer  unwilling  to  impose  further  losses  upon  Prussia  besides 
Silesia  and  Glatz.  The  negotiations  were  pressed  on  with 
redoubled  rigour,  but  there  were  still  endless  difficulties,  in  the 


408  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chai>.  xix. 

discussion  of  which  several  valuable  months  were  spent.  One  of 
these  lay  in  the  relations  into  which  France  was  necessarily 
brought  with  Russia.  If  the  Russian  troops  attacked  Prussia  they 
would  have  to  march  through  Poland,  and  for  some  time  it  had 
been  a  prominent  object  of  French  policy  to  oppose  the  growth  of 
Russian  influence  in  that  country.  That  Louis  XV.  gave  way  on 
this  point  exposes  him  to  considerable  responsibility  for  the 
subsequent  partition  of  Poland.  Another  considerable  dispute 
arose  about  that  part  of  the  Netherlands  which  was  to  be  cut  off 
from  the  principality  of  Don  Philip  and  ceded  to  France.  The 
French  demanded  that  the  two  ports  of  Ostend  and  Nieuport 
should  be  included,  to  which  Austria  was  opposed  on  the  ground 
that  it  would  excite  most  vehement  hostility  on  the  part  of 
England  and  Holland.  But  the  great  source  of  difficulty  lay  in  the 
divergent  objects  of  the  two  powers.  To  Austria  the  chief  enemy 
was  Prussia,  for  whose  humiliation  every  effort  was  to  be  made. 
French  hostility,  on  the  other  hand,  was  directed  in  the  first  place 
against  England.  It  was  proposed  that  the  French  army,  instead 
of  marching  to  the  assistance  of  Saxony  or  Bohemia,  should  first 
attack  Hanover,  and  thence  invade  Prussia  from  the  west.  This 
was  extremely  distasteful  at  Vienna.  In  the  first  place  the  treaty 
of  Versailles  had  expressly  excluded  the  war  between  France  and 
England,  so  that,  while  France  was  bound  to  oppose  Prussia, 
Austria  had  undertaken  no  such  stipulation  with  regard  to 
England.  Besides,  there  were  very  grave  arguments  against  the 
attack  upon  Hanover.  The  very  crime  of  which  Frederick  was 
accused,  the  attack  upon  a  member  of  the  empire,  would  then 
be  committed  by  the  Hapsburgs,  whose  position  bound  them  to 
enforce  the  imperial  laws.  And  it  was  probable  that  the  French 
troops  would  find  sufficient  occupation  in  Hanover  to  prevent  them 
from  taking  any  part  in  the  combined  attack  upon  Prussia.  Maria 
Theresa's  object  was  to  induce  George  II.  to  arrange  for  the 
neutrality  of  Hanover  as  he  had  done  in  the  former  war,  and  this 
not  unnaturally  provoked  a  suspicion  in  France  that  Austria  was 
still  inclined  to  favour  English  interests. 

External  events  helped  to  remove  some  of  these  obstacles. 
While  the  Hanoverian  ministers  were  inclined  to  fall  in  with  the 
suggestions  of  Austria,  public  opinion  in  England,  always  hostile  to 
the  connection  with  Hanover,  was  eager  to  throw  the  country 
definitely  on  to  the  side  of  Prussia.  In  November,  1756,  the  feeble 
ministry  of  Newcastle  retired,  and  the  king  was  compelled  to 
confide  in  William  Pitt,  the  representative  of  the  popular  voice  and 
the  greatest  war  minister  that  England  has  ever  produced.  The 
result  of  the  ministerial  change  was  seen  in  the  tone  of  the  king's 


a.d.  1756-1757.     SECOND  TREATY  OF  VERSAILLES.     409 

speech  at  the  opening  of  Parliament  in  February.  It  expressed  the 
most  bitter  antipathy  to  France,  and  the  determination  to  support 
Prussia  at  all  costs.  This  declaration  of  English  policy  exasperated 
Maria  Theresa,  and  rendered  her  willing  to  comply  with  the  wishes 
of  France.  Matters  were  still  more  facilitated  by  a  change  in  the 
French  ministry.  In  January  a  madman  named  Damiens  stabbed 
Louis  XV.  with  a  knife.  The  wound  was  never  dangerous,  but  the 
king  was  terrified  lest  the  weapon  might  have  been  poisoned,  and 
took  to  his  bed.  The  court  at  once  deserted  Madame  de 
Pompadour  to  surround  the  dauphin,  and  though  the  king's 
recovery  speedily  restored  her  to  her  old  position,  she  had  seen  the 
weakness  of  her  position  and  determined  to  strengthen  it  by 
removing  those  ministers  she  could  not  fully  trust.  Both 
d'Argenson,  who  had  always  ranked  as  her  opponent,  and  Machault, 
the  minister  of  marine,  who  had  hitherto  been  one  of  her 
supporters,  received  their  dismissal.  The  latter  was  sacrificed  to 
the  enmity  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris  which  had  been  aroused  by 
his  daring  financial  reforms  and  his  attack  upon  antiquated 
privileges.  One  result  of  these  changes  was  the  admission 
into  the  ministry  of  the  Abbe*  de  Bernis,  who  had  played  the  most 
prominent  part  in  conducting  the  negotiations  with  Stahremberg. 
From  this  time  he,  with  Madame  de  Pompadour  and  Belleisle,  who 
had  now  completely  abandoned  his  policy  of  antagonism  to  Austria, 
exercised  the  chief  influence  on  the  direction  of  French  policy. 

These  two  events,  the  avowal  of  England's  determination  to 
support  Prussia,  and  the  changes  in  the  French  ministry,  facilitated 
the  work  of  Stahremberg,  and  enabled  him  to  conclude  the  second 
treaty  of  Versailles  on  the  1st  of  May,  1757.  France  undertook 
to  pay  to  Austria  a  subsidy  of  twelve  million  gulden  a  year,  to 
take  into  her  service  6000  Wurtembergers  and  4000  Bavarians, 
and  to  bring  into  the  field  105,000  troops  of  her  own.  These 
exertions  were  to  be  continued  not  only  till  Silesia  and  Glatz  had 
been  conquered,  but  until  Prussia  had  definitely  given  them  up  by 
a  formal  treaty.  Other  provinces  were  to  be  extorted  from  Prussia, 
but  were  not  equally  insisted  upon.  The  principality  of  Crossen 
and  some  other  territory  not  definitely  specified  were  to  be  added 
to  the  Austrian  share  ;  Magdeburg,  Halle  and  Halberstadt  were  to 
be  given  to  Saxony  ;  Pomerania  to  Sweden ;  Prussian  Cleve  to  the 
Elector  Palatine ;  Gelderland  to  Holland.  The  obvious  intention 
was  to  deprive  Brandenburg  of  all  the  acquisitions  that  had  been 
made  by  the  Great  Elector  and  his  successors.  Austria,  on  her 
side,  promised  to  hand  over  to  Don  Philip  in  exchange  for  his 
Italian  duchy  the  whole  of  the  Netherlands,  except  Osfcend, 
Nieuport,  Ypres,  and  other  districts,  which  were  to  go  to  France ; 
19* 


410  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

but  this  obligation  was  not  binding  until  Silesia  and  Glatz  were 
acquired.  Ostend  and  Nieuport  were  to  be  placed  in  French  occu- 
pation directly  the  first  subsidy  was  paid,  but  were  to  be  restored 
if  the  enterprise  proved  unsuccessful.  Also  Austria  renounced  all 
previous  alliances  with  England,  as  France  did  with  Prussia.  If 
the  duke  of  Parma  accepted  the  Netherlands,  his  claims  to  the 
Two  Sicilies  were  to  revert  to  the  descendants  of  the  present  king 
of  Naples,  who  was  to  resign  the  Tuscan  stato  degli  presidii  to 
Austria. 

Thus  was  compk-ted  the  great  diplomatic  revolution  which 
Kaunitz  had  been  the  first  to  suggest,  but  which  had  appeared  for 
years  to  be  a  chimerical  dream.  France  had  at  last  given  up  its 
traditional  enmity  to  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  had  allied  itself 
with  Austria  against  a  German  power,  which  it  had  hitherto  been 
the  grand  object  of  French  policy  to  support.  The  Abbe  de  Bernis 
had  reversed  all  the  plans  of  Richelieu.  The  treaty  had  not  been 
concluded  without  a  considerable  strife  of  interests,  but  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  ultimate  terms  were  to  the  advantage  of 
Austria.  It  is  usual  to  assert  that  in  the  alliance  against  Prussia 
religious  motives  regained  an  ascendency  in  Europe  which  they 
had  lost  since  the  treaty  of  Westphalia.  But  this  aspect  of  the 
Seven  Years'  War  has  unquestionably  been  exaggeraied,  mainly 
through  the  influence  of  Frederick  himself,  who  loved  to  represent 
himself  as  the  champion  of  Protestantism  against  Catholic  in- 
tolerance. Louis  XV.  and  Maria  Theresa  were  both  superstitious 
and  bigoted  enough  to  have  embarked  upon  a  war  of  persecution. 
But  Kaunitz,  the  real  author  of  the  alliance,  was  a  philosopher 
rather  than  a  devotee,  and  it  is  absurd  to  regard  as  essentially 
Roman  Catholic  a  league  which  included  Russia  and  Sweden,  as 
well  as  several  of  the  Protestant  states  of  Germany.  All  that  can 
be  said  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  is  that  religion  had  some  influence 
in  directing  the  partiality  of  states  for  one  side  or  the  other,  but 
the  real  guiding  motives  were  as  purely  political  and  secular  as  in 
the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession. 

III.  The  War  from  1757  to  1760. 

§  7.  Great  preparations  were  made  by  Frederick  and  his  opponents 
to  make  the  campaign  of  1757  decisive.  In  Vienna  it  was  deemed 
certain  that  a  concerted  attack  upon  Prussia  from  Bohemia  by  the 
Austrians,  from  Westphalia  by  the  French,  from  the  south  by  the 
army  of  the  Empire,  and  from  the  north  by  the  Swedes  and 
Russians,  must  force  Frederick  to  relinquish  his  hold  on  Silesia  and 
Saxony,  and  to  make  peace  on  humiliating   terms.     England,  at 


A.D.  1757.  PRAGUE  AND  KOLIN.  411 

most,  could  only  ward  off  the  French  attack  by  holding  Hanover 
against  invasion.  As  usual,  Frederick's  superior  activity  enabled 
bim  to  disconcert  his  enemies.  Instead  of  standing  on  the  defensive, 
he  determined  to  resume  the  enterprise  of  the  last  year  and  invade 
Bohemia.  By  the  end  of  April  the  Prussian  army  had  crossed  the 
frontier.  The  defence  of  the  province  was  no  longer  in  the  hands 
of  Marshal  Browne.  The  bitter  experience  of  the  succession  war 
had  not  sufficed  to  overcome  Maria  Theresa's  partiality  for  her 
brother-in-law,  and  Charles  of  Lorraine  was  allowed  to  give  new 
proofs  of  his  incapacity.  By  his  oiders  Browne  made  no  opposition 
to  the  Prussians,  but  retreated  from  point  to  point  upon  Prague. 
Here  at  last  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  stand,  and  the  position 
seemed  favourable  enough  to  ensure  success.  Frederick,  who  had 
marched  steadily  after  the  retreating  enemy,  was  determined  on  a 
battle,  and  without  allowing  any  rest  to  his  troops,  he  attacked  the 
Austrian  intrenchments  on  the  6th  of  May.  The  engagement 
was  the  bloodiest  that  had  been  fought  in  Europe  since  Malplaquet. 
Schwerin,  the  hero  of  Mollwitz,  was  killed  on  the  field,  and  Bcowm 
received  a  wound  that  proved  mortal.  The  losses  on  each  side 
were  nearly  equal,  but  the  Prussians  carried  the  day.  The  larger 
part  of  the  Austrian  army  sought  refuge  within  the  walls  of  Prague, 
and  the  rest  escaped  southwards  to  join  Dann,  who  was  bringing  up 
reinforcements. 

Frederick  at  once  laid  siege  to  Prague,  and  if  he  could  have  taken 
it  at  once  might  have  defeated  Daun,  and  crushed  all  opposition  in 
Bohemia.  But  the  large  number  of  defenders  made  a  storm 
hopeless,  and  it  was  necessary  to  resort  to  the  slower  process  of 
blockade.  Twenty  thousand  men  were  detached  under  the  duke 
of  Brunswick-Bevern  to  prevent  any  attempt  to  relieve  the  city. 
But  Prague  held  out,  and  the  delay  enabled  Daun  to  receive  reinforce- 
ments. When  his  army  was  about  54,000  strong,  he  turned  upon 
Bevern,  before  whom  he  had  hitherto  retreated.  Frederick  had  now 
to  decide  whether  he  wotdd  raise  the  siege  or  wait  to  be  attacked, 
or  whether  he  would  stick  to  his  enterprise,  and  also  meet  Daun 
in  the  field.  Unfortunately  he  chose  the  latter  alternative.  Leaving 
the  bulk  of  his  forces  to  maintain  the  blockade,  he  hurried  off  to 
join  Bevern  with  only  14,000  men.  His  recent  success  had  inspired 
him  with  contempt  for  his  foes.  At  Kolin  (June  18)  the  superior 
numbers  of  the  Austrians  gave  them  a  complete  victory.  Frederick 
had  to  give  up  his  enterprise  as  hopeless.  The  siege  of  Prague  was 
raised,  and  in  two  detachments  the  Prussian  army  quitted  Bohemia. 
Frederick  himself  made  g«>od  his  retreat  into  Saxony;  but  the  other 
portion  of  his  army,  which  was  led  by  his  brother  Augustus 
William,  suffered  very  serious  loss  on  its  march  into  Lausitz. 


412  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

Charles  of  Lorraine  followed  him  across  the  frontier,  and  took  the 
town  of  Zittau.  But  here  the  Austrian  advance  was  checked. 
Charles  ought  to  have  completely  crushed  the  detachment  which 
he  was  content  to  pursue.  Frederick  now  joined  his  brother,  and 
the  Prussians  regained  their  numerical  superiority.  The  Austrians 
had  to  stand  on  the  defensive  at  Zittau,  but  their  position  was  too 
strong  for  Frederick  to  attack  them.  The  victory  of  Kolin,  decisive 
as  it  was,  produced  no  other  immediate  result  than  the  expulsion  of 
the  Prussians  from  Bohemia. 

§  8.  But  the  victory  had  more  important  indirect  results.  On  every 
side  Frederick's  enemies  were  encouraged  to  attack  him,  and  his 
destruction  seemed  almost  certainly  imminent.  Early  in  the  year 
a  large  French  army  under  Marshal  d'Estrees  had  marched  upon 
Hanover,  with  the  intention  of  invading  Brandenburg  from  the 
west.  They  were  opposed  by  a  mixed  force  of  English,  Hanoverians 
and  Hessians,  under  the  duke  of  Cumberland,  who  had  won  a 
reputation  at  Culloden,  but  had  never  been  otherwise  than  unfortu- 
nate on  the  continent.  At  Hastenbeck  (July  26)  he  was  defeated, 
though  indecisively,  by  the  French,  and  retreated  northwards  to 
Stade.  D'Estrees  was  superseded  by  the  incompetent  duke  de 
Richelieu,  who  reaped  the  profit  of  his  predecessor's  victory  in  the 
Convention  of  Closter-Seven  (September  10),  by  which  Cumberland 
undertook  to  disband  his  army,  and  thus  surrendered  Hanover  and 
Brunswick  to  the  French.  The  Hanoverian  ministers  were  anxious 
to  induce  George  II.  to  act  as  he  had  done  in  the  previous  war,  and 
to  stipulate  for  the  neutrality  of  his  German  territories.  There  was 
now  nothing  to  prevent  Richelieu  from  invading  Halberstadt  and 
striking  at  the  heart  of  the  Prussian  monarchy.  But  the  duke's 
incapacity,  and  the  want  of  discipline  in  his  army,  allowed  the 
opportunity  to  slip. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  danger  which  Frederick  had  to  face. 
The  battle  of  Kolin  had  hastened  the  collection  of  an  imperial 
army,  which  was  to  carry  out  the  decrees  of  the  Ratisbon  diet  and 
was  placed  under  the  command  of  the  prince  of  Hildburghausen. 
A  French  force  under  Soubise  advanced  from  Alsace  to  co-operate 
with  the  Germans.  Numerically  the  army  was  formidable,  but  the 
military  organisation  of  the  Empire  had  for  centuries  been  in- 
efficient, and  it  was  soon  proved  that  the  old  defects  were  as 
prominent  as  ever.  There  was  no  unity  among  troops  collected 
from  various  provinces,  most  of  which  had  no  direct  interest  at 
stake,  and  the  junction  of  the  French,  instead  of  being  an  advantage, 
only  increased  the  confusion.  But  the  situation  was  sufficiently 
threatening  to  Frederick.  A  Russian  army  under  Apraxin  entered 
East   Prussia,   defeated    Marshal     Lehwald    at    Gross-Jagersdorf 


a.d.  1757.  ROSSBACH.  413 

(August  30)  and  devastated  the  province  with  relentless  barbarity. 
At  the  same  time  Swedish  troops  were  sent  to  Stralsund,  and 
prepared  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  their  former  possessions  in 
Pomerania. 

It  was  impossible  for  Frederick  to  remain  inactive  while  his 
territories  were  exposed  to  invasion  at  four  different  points.  All 
his  efforts  to  force  the  Austrians  to  give  him  battle  had  proved 
unavailing.  Leaving  Bevern  to  oppose  Charles  of  Lorraine  and 
Daun  as  best  he  might,  he  himself  marched  to  Thuringia  to  oppose 
the  armies  of  France  and  the  empire.  On  the  news  of  his  approach, 
Soubise  compelled  Hildburghausen  to  retire  against  his  will  to 
Eisenach.  Frederick's  march  was  interrupted  by  the  news  that 
Hadik,  a  Hungarian  officer,  had  led  a  body  of  light  cavalry  to 
Berlin,  and  had  even  levied  a  contribution  on  the  capital.  But 
the  affair  proved  to  be  a  mere  raid,  and  had  no  political  or  military 
importance.  The  slight  retrograde  movement  of  the  Prussians  was 
to  some  extent  advantageous,  as  it  emboldened  the  enemy  to  leave 
the  hilly  country  round  Eisenach  and  to  risk  an  engagement. 
They  had  received  reinforcements  from  Richelieu  under  the  duke  de 
Broglie.  At  Rossbach  (November  5)  Frederick  with  22,000  men 
utterly  routed  the  allied  army,  which  was  more  than  twice  as  large 
as  his  own.  The  battle  was  a  turning-point  in  the  history  of 
Europe.  The  projected  humiliation  of  Prussia,  which  so  lately 
seemed  inevitable,  was  in  a  moment  rendered  almost  impossible. 
On  every  side  the  tide  of  victory  turned.  The  Russian  general 
Apraxin  retired  from  East  Prussia,  probably  because  the  Czarina's 
illness  offered  the  prospect  of  a  change  of  rulers,  and  the  heir,  Peter 
of  Holstein,  was  certain  to  desert  the  Austrian  alliance.  Lehwald 
was  now  enabled  to  employ  his  forces  against  the  Swedes,  who  were 
speedily  driven  from  all  their  possessions  in  Pomerania  except 
Stralsund.  Still  more  encouraging  to  Frederick  was  the  news  from 
England.  Pitt,  who  had  been  driven  from  office  by  royal  dislike  in 
April,  was  restored  three  months  later  by  the  popular  favour.  He 
at  once  undertook  the  supreme  control  of  the  war.  The  Convention 
of  Closter-Seven  was  disavowed,  and  Frederick  was  requested  to 
allow  prince  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  to  take  Cumberland's  place 
at  the  head  of  the  army  in  Hanover. 

There  was  still  one  enemy  to  be  faced  before  Prussia  could  bo 
regarded  as  secure.  Directly  Frederick  had  marched  to  Thuringia 
the  Austrians  gave  up  their  inactivity,  forced  Bevern  to  retire,  and 
drove  him  before  them  into  Silesia,  where  he  took  up  his  position 
under  the  walls  of  Breslau.  While  the  main  army  kept  watch  upon 
his  movements,  a  detachment  undertook  the  siege  of  Schweidnitz. 
At  last  it  seemed  likely  that  Maria  Theresa  would  recover  the 


414  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

province  whose  loss  had  been  her  greatest  and  most  keenly  felt 
disaster.  Eight  days  after  his  victory  at  Rossbach,  Frederick  set  out 
to  recover  the  ground  that  had  been  lost.  But  the  news  that 
reached  him  on  his  march  seemed  to  prove  that  he  came  too  late. 
Schweidnitz  surrendered,  and  Charles  of  Lorraine,  spurred  to 
activity  by  reproaches  from  Vienna,  at  last  attacked  and  defeated 
Bevern  at  Breslau,  and  the  Silesian  capital  fell  into  his  hands. 
Liegnitz,  another  important  fortress,  fell,  Bevern  was  taken  prisoner, 
and  the  Austrians  seemed  secure  of  winter-quarters  in  the  heart  of 
Silesia.  But,  in  spite  of  their  successes,  they  were  guilty  of  serious 
mistakes.  They  ought  never  to  have  allowed  the  junction  of 
Bevern 's  troops  with  Frederick,  which  took  place  at  Parchwitz  on  the 
28th  of  November.  The  victors  of  Rossbach  inspired  their  defeated 
comrades  with  their  own  jubilant  confidence.  On  the  5th  of 
December  Frederick  won  the  greatest  of  his  victories  at  Leuthen. 
The  rout  of  the  Austrian  army  was  so  complete  that  no  one  thought 
of  further  resistance.  Breslau  and  Liegnitz  surrendered  before  the 
end  of  December,  and  the  whole  of  Silesia  was  recovered  to  Prussia 
with  the  exception  of  Schweidnitz.  It  had  been  a  very  critical 
year  for  Frederick  the  Great.  His  aggressive  campaign  had  been 
ruined  by  the  defeat  of  Kolin,  and  tbc  Prussian  monarchy  had 
been  threatened  with  annihilation.  But  two  great  battles  had  re- 
moved the  danger,  and  restored  the  contending  powers  to  their 
original  position. 

§  9.  It  is  obvious  that  the  war  was  as  far  from  an  end  as  ever. 
Various  schemes  of  pacification  were  proposed,  but  nothing  came  of 
them.  On  the  contrary,  the  two  hostile  alliances  were  more  closely 
cemented.  It  was  all-important  for  Frederick  to  retain  the  support 
of  England,  and  this  was  assured  by  the  accession  to  power  of 
William  Pitt.  The  English  interests  in  the  war  were  purely  colonial, 
and  English  hostility  was  directed  against  France,  not  against 
Austria.  But  Pitt  saw  clearly  that  the  only  chance  of  success  in 
America  and  India  lay  in  occupying  the  energies  of  France  in 
Europe.  This  he  determined  to  do,  not  by  employing  the  chief 
forces  of  England  on  the  continent,  because  they  were  required  else- 
where, but  by  subsidising  the  king  of  Prussia,  and  thus  enabling 
him  to  carry  on  the  war  after  his  own  resources  had  been  exhausted. 
This  determination  frustrated  the  schemes  of  Maria  Theresa,  who 
hoped  to  emphasize  the  division  of  interest  between  England  and 
Hanover,  and  to  induce  the  latter  province  to  assume  a  neutral 
attitude.  This  was  rendered  hopeless  by  the  successes  of  the 
general  whom  Frederick  had  sent  to  Hanover  at  Pitt's  request, 
Ferdinand  of  Brunswick.  At  the  1  eginning  of  1758  the  French 
held  a  commanding  position  in  northern  Germany  stretching  from 


ad.  1757-1758.     FERDINAND  OF  BRUNSWICK.  415 

Bremen  to  Brunswick.  This  position  Ferdinand  was  determined  to 
attack.  His  task  was  facilitated  by  the  incompetence  of  his  enemies. 
Richelieu  had  been  recalled  to  Versailles,  but  his  successor, 
Clermont,  was  still  more  incai  able  and  inexperienced.  By  a  series 
of  masterly  movements  the  prince  of  Brunswick,  who  was  backed 
up  by  the  appearance  of  Henry  of  Prussia  in  the  territory  of 
Hildesheim,  forced  the  French  to  retreat  from  one  line  of  defence  to 
another,  until  they  finally  crossed  the  Rhine  near  Emmerich  on  the 
27th  of  March.  In  less  than  six  weeks,  Hanover,  Westphalia  and 
Hesse  had  been  freed  from  foreign  occupation.  These  events,  fol- 
lowing as  th«y  did  upon  Rossbach  nnd  Leut hen,  excited  the  greatest 
enthusiasm  in  England,  and  removed  all  danger  of  opposition  to 
Pi  t's  policy  in  parliament.  On  the  11th  of  April,  1758,  a  new 
convention  was  concluded  between  England  nnd  Prussia,  in  which 
the  terms  agreed  upon  at  Westminster  were  confirmed,  England 
promised  an  annual  sulttidy  of  £670,000,  and  both  par! ics  agreed  not 
to  come  to  terms  with  the  enemy  without  mutual  consent. 

§  JO.  The  expulsion  of  the  French  from  northern  Germany  con- 
vinced the  Austrian  Government  that  the  desired  humiliation  of 
Prussia  could  not  be  effected  by  Austria  and  France  alone.  This  had 
in  fact  been  proved  by  the  events  of  1757.  The  victory  of  II  as  ten  - 
beck  and  the  Convention  of  Closter-Seven  had  brought  no  propor- 
tionate advantage  to  the  Austrian  cause.  This  conviction  led 
naturally  to  another,  that  the  chief  reliance  must  henceforth  U> 
placed  upon  Russia.  Already,  directly  after  ihe  battle  of  Lent  hen, 
an  urgent  request  had  been  made  at  St.  Petersburg  not  only  that 
the  Russian  attack  upon  Prussia  should  be  conducted  with  greater 
energy,  but  also  that  a  large  contingent  of  Russian  troops  should  be 
sent  to  join  the  main  Austrian  army.  Both  these  demands  were 
approved  by  Elizabeth,  who  had  recovered  from  her  recent  illness, 
and  whose  enmity  against  Frederick  blazed  as  fiercely  as  ever.  In 
January,  Apraxin  was  superseded  by  Fermor,  who  at  once  advanced 
from  Memel.  look  Konigsberg,  and  by  the  end  of  February  compelled 
the  whole  of  Prussia  proper  to  do  homage  to  the  Czarina.  Other 
events  raised  still  more  sanguine  expectations  at  Vienna.  The  great 
obstacle  to  the  efficient  interference  of  Russia  in  the  war  had  been 
the  chancellor,  Bestoujef,  who  wis  suspected  with  justice  of  having 
been  bribed  with  English  gold  But  in  the  inquiry  that  was 
instituted  into  the  conduct  of  Apraxin  disclosures  were  made 
which  implicated  the  chancellor.  He  was  proved  to  have  been 
privy  to  a  plot  not  only  to  dethrone  the  Czarina,  but  also  to  exclude 
her  heir  Peter  of  Holstein,  and  to  transfer  the  government  to  Peter's 
wife,  Catharine,  as  regent  for  her  infant  son.  This  discovery, 
which  alienated  from  him  both  the  chief  parties  at  court,  ruined 


416  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

Bestoujef.  He  was  arrested,  deprived  of  all  his  offices,  and 
condemned  to  death,  a  sentence  which  Elizabeth  commuted  to 
perpetual  banishment.  But  his  dismissal  brought  few  of  the 
expected  advantages  with  it.  Woronzow,  who  succeeded  to  the 
chief  direction  of  affairs,  was  more  slavishly  devoted  to  his  mistress's 
will,  but  he  had  little  of  Bestoujef  s  capacity  with  a  large  share  of 
his  dishonesty.  The  chief  result  of  the  change  was  the  conclusion 
of  a  new  treaty  between  Austria  and  Russia,  almost  exactly  contem- 
porary with  the  convention  between  Prussia  and  England. 

§  11.  Meanwhile  Frederick  had  made  great  preparations  for  the 
coming  campaign.  His  strength  lay  in  the  concentration  of  his  forces, 
which  made  him  unable  to  resist  invasion  at  different  points,  but  on 
the  other  hand  enabled  him  by  rapid  marches  to  inflict  successive 
blows  upon  his  enemies.  His  first  act  was  to  lay  siege  to  Schweid- 
nitz,  which  surrendered  on  the  16th  of  April,  and  thus  the  recovery 
of  Silesia  was  completed.  But  Frederick  was  not  content  to  maint;iin 
the  integrity  of  his  own  territories.  In  spite  of  the  odds  against 
him,  he  determined  once  more  to  assume  the  aggressive,  in  the  hope 
that  a  conspicuous  success  would  force  the  court  of  Vienna  to  come 
to  terms.  Accordingly  he  astounded  the  Austrians  by  suddenly 
invading  Moravia,  and  on  the  5th  of  May  he  commenced  the  siege 
of  Olmiitz.  But  he  met  with  a  more  determined  resistance  than 
he  had  anticipated.  Maria  Theresa  had  at  last  been  induced  to 
withdraw  her  confidence  from  Charles  of  Lorraine,  and  the  command 
of  the  Austrian  army  was  entrusted  to  Daun.  A  bold  attack  might 
have  crushed  the  Prussian  forces,  but  Daun  adhered  to  the  cautious 
tactics  in  which  he  excelled.  Advancing  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
Olmiitz,  he  threatened  Frederick's  communications  with  Silesia,  and 
endeavoured  in  this  way  to  compel  him  to  raise  the  siege.  But  the 
king  obstinately  persevered  in  his  enterprise,  until  the  destruction  of 
an  important  convoy  by  Laudon,  who  founded  a  great  reputation 
in  this  engagement,  rendered  it  hopeless.  On  the  1st  of  July  he 
quitted  Olmiitz,  and  marched  into  Bohemia  and  thence  to  Silesia. 
This  march,  which  he  conducted  in  the  face  of  a  vastly  superior 
forces  and  without  disaster,  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  his  greatest 
military  achievements.  But  he  had  failed  to  carry  out  the  plan  he 
had  formed,  and  this  failure  forced  him  to  accept  the  English 
subsidies,  which  he  had  hitherto  hoped  to  dispense  with. 

The  Prussian  army  was  not  allowed  any  rest  after  its  arduous 
services.  The  Russians,  having  completed  the  conquest  of  Prussia, 
had  occupied  Poland,  thus  dealing  a  final  blow  to  French  influence 
in  that  kingdom,  and  now  threatened  to  invade  Brandenburg  and  to 
march  upon  Berlin.  To  oppose  them  there  were  no  troops  except 
those  which,  under  Lehwald,  had  held  Pomerania  against  the  Swedes, 


a.d.  1758.  ZORNDORF  AND  HOCHKIRCH.  417 

and  which  were  now  commanded  by  Dohna.  Frederick  determined 
to  march  in  person  against  the  Russians  who  were  beeiegjng 
Ciistrin.  His  intimate  knowledge  of  the  country  served  him  in 
good  stead,  but  he  found  the  enemy  more  formidable  than  he  had 
anticipated.  At  Zoradorf  a  great  battle  was  fought  on  the  25th  of 
August.  The  Russians  were  badly  led,  but  they  fought  with  dogged 
courage,  and  it  was  only  the  great  superiority  of  the  Prussian 
cavalry  under  Seydlitz  that  decided  the  day  after  ten  hours'  hard 
lighting.  The  Prussians  had  suffered  great  losses,  but  they  had 
gained  their  object.  Fermor  retreated  to  Poland  and  gave  up  all 
idea  of  co-operating  with  the  Swedes.  Brandenburg  was  secured 
from  invasion  on  this  side. 

No  sooner  had  Frederick  overcome  one  danger  than  he  had  to  face 
another.  Daun  had  taken  advantage  of  his  absence  to  enter 
Lausitz,  and  had  received  orders  to  crush  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia 
and  to  recover  Dresden.  He  was  to  be  assisted  by  the  army  of  the 
Empire,  of  which  Hildburghausen  had  surrendered  the  command  to 
the  prince  of  Zweibriicken.  A  second  Austrian  army  under  1 1 
had  entered  Silesia  and  invested  Neiase  and  Cosel.  Daun's 
invincible  sluggishness  allowed  the  favourable  moment  to  escape. 
By  a  march  of  marvellous  rapidity  Frederick  was  able  to  join  his 
brother  before  the  decisive  blow  bad  been  struck.  A  series  of 
manoeuvres  followed,  in  which  Frederick  sought  to  entice  Daun  from 
his  impregnable  position  at  Stolpen.  At  last  after  a  month's 
inactivity  Daun  left  Stolpen  on  the  5th  of  October,  only  to  occupy 
an  equally  strong  position  at  Kittlitz.  loosing  all  patience  at  the 
delay,  and  anxious  to  decide  matters  before  the  Silesian  fortresses 
could  be  taken,  Frederick  disregarded  the  ad v  ice  of  his  generals,  and 
exposed  his  troops  under  the  Austrian  camp  by  the  village  of 
Hochkirch.  Daun  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportu- 
nity given  him,  and  attacked  the  enemy  in  the  early  morning. 
Although  taken  by  surprise,  the  Prussians  fought  with  desperate 
courage,  and  it  was  only  after  enduring  great  losses  that  the 
Austrians  could  claim  the  victory.  As  regards  results,  the  battle 
was  more  advantageous  to  Frederick  than  Daun.  The  latter  thought 
tint  lie  had  done  enough  if  he  excluded  the  Prussians  from  Silesia. 
But  Frederick,  who  re-formed  his  army  with  great  celerity,  deter- 
mined on  a  bold  move  when  he  found  that  Daun  declined  to  follow 
up  his  success.  Marching  right  round  the  Austrians,  he  hurried  off 
to  Silesia,  and  forced  Harsch  to  raise  the  siege  of  Neisse  and 
Cosel.  Meanwhile  Daun  had  advanced  upon  Dresden,  which  was 
defended  with  admirable  skill  by  Schwettau.  By  another  forced 
march  Frederick  re-appeared  in  Saxony,  and  Daun,  giving  up  the 
enterprise  as  hopeless,  retired   into  winter-quarters  in   Bohemia. 


418  MODERN  EUROPE  Chap.  xix. 

The  Prussian  successes  were  completed  bv  the  repulse  of  the 
Swedish  attack  on  Pomerania. 

§  12.  Frederick  could  hardly  have  been  so  successful  in  1758  but 
for  the  fact  that  he  had  nothing  to  dread  from  the  French.  This 
danger  was  averted  by  the  successes  of  the  allied  army  under  Ferdi- 
nand of  Brunswick.  After  his  first  achievement  in  driving  the  French 
back  to  the  Rhine,  Ferdinand  had  rested  for  a  time  to  recruit  his 
exhausted  troops.  Meantime  great  efforts  were  made  by  France 
to  redeem  the  recent  disasters.  The  experienced  Marshal  Belleisle 
was  appointed  minister  of  war,  and  he  took  great  pains  to  reform  the 
military  administration.  It  was  determined  that  Clermont  should 
advance  at  the  beginning  of  July  to  recover  the  lost  territory. 
But  Ferdinand  was  the  first  to  move.  Early  in  June  he  crossed 
the  Rhine,  and  on  the  26th  he  defeated  the  French  at  Crefeld.  It 
seemed  probable  that  the  war  would  be  transferred  to  the  old 
battle-ground,  the  Netherlands.  So  great  was  the  danger,  that 
Maria  Theresa  released  the  French  government  from  its  engage- 
ment to  send  Soubise  with  a  second  French  army  into  Bohemia. 
Soubise,  with  Broglie  as  second  in  command,  now  invaded  Hesse- 
Cassel.  The  latter  defeated  the  defending  force  at  Sangershausen, 
and  the  province  was  once  more  occupied  by  the  French.  At  the 
same  time  Clermont  was  superseded  by  the  more  capable  de 
Contades.  Ferdinand  found  it  impossible  to  continue  his  advance, 
and  in  August  he  re-crossed  the  Rhine,  followed  by  the  French. 
The  arrival  of  reinforcements  from  England  enabled  the  prince 
to  maintain  a  defensive  attitude,  and  the  campaign  ended  without 
either  side  gaining  further  advantages.  Ferdinand  had  rendered 
conspicuous  service  to  Prussia,  and  had  established  his  reputation 
as  a  general. 

Meanwhile  France  had  entirely  lost  that  superiority  at  sea 
which  had  been  obtained  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Pitt  main- 
tained that  his  share  in  the  continental  struggle  was  wholly 
subordinate  to  the  naval  and  colonial  interests  of  England.  He 
organised  a  series  of  attacks  on  the  French  coast  which  were  very 
expensive  in  proportion  to  their  results,  but  which  were  sufficiently 
galling  to  a  great  power,  and  inflicted  considerable  damage  on  the 
French  shipping.  More  important  were  the  losses  inflicted  upon 
French  commerce,  and  the  interruption  of  the  connection  between 
France  and  its  colonies.  But  it  was  in  the  colonies  themselves 
that  the  chief  English  successes  were  won.  In  India  the  founda- 
tions of  a  new  empire  were  laid  by  Robert  Clive,  who  took  the 
French  settlement  of  Chandernagore,  and  won  a  great  victory  at 
Plassy  (July,  1757)  over  the  Nabob  Surajah  Dowlah.  In  Madras 
a  great  effort  was  made  to  revive  the  French  power  by  Lally 


a.d.  1757-1758.         INDIA  AND   ABtERICA.  419 

Tollendal,  who  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  in  1758.  He 
captured  Fort  St.  David,  the  most  important  of  the  English 
fortresses,  and  razed  it  to  the  ground.  But  his  overbearing  temper 
alienated  his  colleagues,  and  his  ignorant  disregard  of  Indian 
customs  exasperated  the  natives.  He  failed  in  an  attack  upon 
Madms,  and  in  1759  the  struggle  was  finally  decided  in  favour  of 
the  English  by  Coote's  victory  at  Wandewash. 

It  was  in  the  American  war  that  the  greatest  interest  was  felt 
both  by  English  and  French.  In  1757  Montcalm  with  inferior 
forces  had  successfully  defended  Canada  against  General  Loudoun. 
But  Pitt's  accession  to  office  entirely  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs. 
Loudoun  was  replaced  by  Abercrombie,  with  whom  were  sent  out 
Amherst,  Wolfe,  Howe,  and  other  officers  chosen  for  their  fcl  ilities 
rather  than  iheir  standing.  In  June,  1758,  the  fortress  of  Louislmrj, 
with  almost  the  whole  of  Cape  Breton,  was  raptured,  and  thus  the 
way  into  Canada  was  laid  open.  Abercrombie  was  repulsed  I  rum  an 
attack  upon  Ticonderoga,  but  this  failure  was  more  than  made  up  for 
by  the  capture  of  Fort  Duquesne  (November  25),  which  received  the 
name  of  Pittsburg.  The  loss  of  this  fortress  cut  off  the  connection 
between  the  French  territories  in  Canada  and  on  the  Mississ  |]i, 
and  destroyed  the  greatest  danger  that  had  threatened  the  English 
colonies. 

§  13.  The  results  of  the  year  1758  were  sumu.ed  up  by  Frederick  the 
Great :  "  Our  campaign  is  ended,  and  neither  side  has  gained  any- 
thing except  the  loss  of  many  brave  soldiers,  the  ruin  of  several 
provinces,  the  plundering  and  burning  of  several  flourishing  towns." 
A  French  minister  said  the  same  thing  in  different  words: 
"  Whether  through  ill-luck  or  through  errors,  the  powers  of  a  great 
league  like  ours  have  no  advance  to  show  for  the  last  two  years. 
This  is  as  humiliating  to  us  as  it  is  honourable  to  our  enemies." 
The  Prussian  king  had  more  than  held  his  own.  His  defeat  at  Hoch- 
kirch  had  served  only  to  show  off  his  brilliant  qualities  as  a  leader 
and  the  sterling  merit  of  his  troops.  Against  the  occupation  of 
East  Prussia  by  the  Russians  and  of  Hesse  by  the  French  were  to 
be  set  the  retention  of  Saxony  by  Frederick,  the  conquest  of  the 
Westphalian  bishoprics  by  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick,  and  the 
colonial  successes  of  the  English.  Of  the  allies  the  greatest  sufferer 
was  undoubtedly  France,  which  had  the  least  interest  at  stake,  and 
which  had  in  fact  been  involved  in  the  European  war  by  the  mere 
whim  of  an  incompetent  king  and  his  mistress.  The  French 
treasury  was  empty,  and  the  loss  of  colonial  trade  made  it  especially 
difficult  to  refill  it.  It  was  no  wonder  that  these  considerations  had 
a  depressing  effect  upon  the  chief  minister,  Bernis,  who  had  been  a 
prominent  agent  in  concluding  the  treaty  of  Versailles.     Through- 


420  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

out  the  year  he  had  insisted  upon  the  necessity  of  making  peace. 
But  Maria  Theresa  and  Kaunitz  refused  to  listen  to  such  a  pro|  osal, 
and  their  obstinacy  carried  the  day  with  Louis  XV.  and  Madame  de 
Pompadour.  Conscious  that  he  was  incapable  of  confrontim  the 
difficulties  of  the  situation  and  that  his  vacillation  was  losing  him 
his  favour  at  court,  Bernis  petitioned  that  the  ministry  of  foreign 
affairs  might  be  entrusted  to  Stainville,  the  French  envoy  at 
Vienna,  who  had  lately  been  created  due  de  Choiseul.  The 
request  was  granted,  but  Bernis  soon  discovered  that  he  had 
introduced  a  rival  rather  than  a  colleague.  In  December  he  was 
not  only  removed  from  office,  but  banished  from  Paris,  and  Choiseul 
became  chief  minister.  The  new  appointment  was  as  unpopular 
among  the  French  people,  who  had  always  hated  the  war,  as  it  was 
welcomed  at  Vienna.  Choiseul  was  a  native  of  Lorraine,  his  father 
was  in  the  service  of  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  and  his  accession 
to  office  was  regarded  as  a  proof  that  the  close  alliance  between 
Fiance  and  Austria  was  to  remain  intact.  But  these  expectations 
were  not  exactly  fulfilled.  Choiseul  was  too  able  and  ambitious  to 
follow  slavishly  the  policy  of  Bernis  or  the  wishes  of  Madame  de 
Pompadour.  While  he  was  still  envoy  at  Vienna,  he  had  not 
disguised  his  conviction  that  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Versailles 
were  far  too  favourable  to  Austria,  and  his  first  act  as  minister  was 
to  insist  on  its  being  revised.  Kaunitz  was  naturally  anxious 
to  retain  the  old  provisions,  but  he  was  compelled  to  authorise 
Stahremberg  to  open  fresh  negotiations.  The  result  was  the 
conclusion  of  two  new  treaties,  one  public  and  the  other  secret, 
which  were  dated  the  30th  and  31st  December,  1758,  but  were  not 
really  signed  until  March,  1759.  By  them  the  former  secret  treaty 
was  altogether  abrogated,  and  thus  France  freed  itself  from  the 
obligation  not  to  make  peace  until  Silesia  and  Glatz  had  been 
recovered.  At  the  same  time  France  engaged  to  do  all  in  its 
power  to  assist  in  the  recovery  of  these  provinces,  and  to  continue 
the  payment  of  subsidies  to  Austria  and  its  allies.  Nothing  was 
said  of  any  further  partition  of  Prussia  in  favour  of  Saxony  or 
Sweden.  Neither  party  was  to  conclude  a  separate  peace  with- 
out the  other.  The  scheme  of  dividing  the  Netherlands  was 
abandoned.  At  the  same  time  the  family  alliance  between  the 
Hapsburgs  and  Bourbons  was  strengthened  by  an  agreement  that 
the  archduke  Joseph  should  marry  a  princess  of  Parma,  and  that  the 
second  archduke,  who  was  destined  to  succeed  his  father  in  Tuscany, 
should  marry  a  Neapolitan  princess.  The  new  terms  were  more 
equitable  than  those  of  1757,  but  the  advantage  was  still  decidedly 
on  the  side  of  Austria.  France  was  bound  to  continue  its  exhaust- 
ing efforts  in  a  continental  war  which  ruined  its  colonial  power  and 


a.d.  1758-1759.      CONDITION  OF  PRUSSIA-  421 

the  object  of  which  was  to  make  acquisitions  for  Austria.  It  was 
impossible  even  to  come  to  terms  with  England  without  the 
consent  of  the  empress-queen.  It  was  no  wonder  that  the  Austrian 
alliance  was  cordially  detested  by  the  French,  and  that  the  continu- 
ance of  the  war  weakened  the  hold  of  the  monarchy  on  its  subjects. 

§  14.  Successful  as  Frederick  had  been,  the  prospect  of  affairs  iu 
1759  was  by  no  means  encouraging.  His  territories  were  so  com- 
paratively small  that  victory  was  far  more  exhausting  to  him  than 
defeat  was  to  his  enemies,  He  contrived  to  raise  his  army  to  its 
old  numbers,  but  the  new  recruits  were  by  no  means  equal  to  the 
veterans  he  had  lost.  The  military  sui>eriority  of  the  Prussian 
troops  was  a  thing  of  the  past ;  his  own  genius  and  the  ability  of 
the  officers  he  had  trained  were  the  only  advantages  left.  And  he 
was  in  serious  straits  for  want  of  money.  His  father's  hoards  had 
long  been  consumed,  the  English  subsidies  and  the  ordinary  taxes 
were  insufficient  to  defray  his  enormous  expenses.  To  raise  supplies 
he  had  to  resort  to  the  debasement  of  the  coinage,  and  other 
measures  which  could  only  be  excused  by  extreme  necessity.  In 
1759  he  realised  for  the  first  time  that  it  was  impossible  for  him 
to  act  on  the  offensive.  He  must  wait  for  his  enemies,  and  then  do 
all  in  his  power  to  resist  invasion.  But  he  allowed  himself  one 
blow  again>t  the  enemy.  Prince  Henry  made  a  successful  inroad 
into  Bohemia,  destroyed  the  Austrian  magazines,  and  then  turning 
into  Franconia,  he  drove  the  army  of  the  empire  back  to  Bamberg 
and  Wiirzhurg,  whence  he  was  recalled  to  the  defence  of  Saxony. 
Daun  had  collected  a  large  army  with  which  he  hoped  to  reduce 
Silesia  and,  if  jKMssible,  to  recover  Saxony,  but  he  refused  to  move 
until  the  Russians  had  advanced  to  the  Oder,  and  for  two  months 
Frederick  remained  inactive  on  the  Silesian  frontier. 

Elizabeth  of  Russia  had  transferred  the  command  of  her  army 
from  Fermor  to  the  inexperienced  Soltykoff,  who  delayed  the 
opening  of  the  campaign  till  the  summer.  At  last  he  marched 
from  the  Vistula  through  the  unfortunate  Poland,  and  at  Ziillichau 
he  crushed  a  detachment  of  Prussian  troops  under  Wcdell.  The 
Russians  now  laid  siege  to  Frankfort-on-the-Oder,  and  Frederick  saw 
that  he  must  march  against  them  in  person  unless  he  wished  to 
give  up  Brandenburg  and  Berlin  to  the  enemy.  Before  he  could 
arrive,  the  Russians  had  been  reinforced  by  20,000  Austrians  under 
Laudon,  so  that  their  numbers  were  now  80,000  to  Frederick's  50,0X0. 
In  spite  of  his  inferior  forces  the  king  did  n<»t  hesitate  to  attack 
their  strong  position  at  Kunersdorf  (August  12th,  1759).  At  first 
the  headlong  valour  of  the  Prussians  carried  all  before  them,  and 
the  battle  might  have  been  won,  if  Frederick  had  only  desisted  from 
further   hostilities.      But   he   was  determined   to    annihilate   the 


422  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

enemy,  and  forced  his  exhausted  troops  to  attack  the  last  intrench- 
ments.  The  attack  was  repulsed,  and  a  well-judged  charge  of  the 
Austrian  cavalry  under  Laudon  turned  the  defeat  into  an  utter  rout. 
Frederick,  who  had  recklessly  exposed  his  life  on  the  field,  was  with 
difficulty  induced  to  fly.  For  a  short  time  he  fell  into  complete 
despair  and  even  meditated  suicide.  But  he  was  saved  by  the 
action  of  the  enemy.  The  Russians  might  have  advanced  into  the 
heart  of  Brandenburg,  but  they  thought  that  they  had  done  enough 
for  their  allies,  and  determined  to  leave  the  completion  of  their  work 
to  Daun.  Frederick  soon  found  himself  once  more  at  the  head  of  a 
considerable  force,  and  the  return  of  the  Russians  to  the  Vistula  re- 
moved the  most  immediate  danger  that  threatened  him.  The  only 
direct  result  of  the  battle  of  Kunersdorf  was  the  loss  of  great  part  of 
Saxony.  There  were  no  troops  to  defend  the  province,  and  the 
imperialists  had  no  difficulty  in  compelling  Leipzig,  Torgau,  and 
even  Dresden  to  capitulate.  The  Prussians  hastened  to  repair  these 
losses,  but  they  were  unable  to  take  Dresden,  which  Daun  under- 
took to  defend.  To  harass  the  Aust.ians,  Frederick  sent  12,000  men 
under  Finck  to  cut  off  their  communications  with  Bohemia.  The 
expedition  was  as  unlucky  as  it  was  ill-judged.  Daun  surrounded 
Finck's  troops  with  vastly  superior  numbers,  and  forced  him  to 
capitulate  at  Maxen  (November  21st).  This  was  a  final  blow  to 
Frederick,  whom  the  events  of  1759  had  brought  to  the  verge  of 
ruin. 

§  15.  It  was  fortunate  for  Frederick  that  the  war  was  more  successful 
in  the  west  of  Germany  than  in  the  east.  Choiseul  had  conceived  the 
bold  scheme  of  recovering  the  French  colonies  by  invading  England 
itself  and  by  conquering  Hanover.  The  latter  project  was  foiled  by 
Ferdinand  of  Brunswick.  The  French  had  two  armies  in  the  field, 
one  under  Contades,  and  the  other  under  the  duke  de  Broglie, 
who  had  succeeded  Soubise.  Ferdinand  determined  to  anticipate 
attack,  and  marched  into  Hesse  against  Broglie.  But  at  Bergen 
(April  13th)  he  was  defeated  and  compelled  to  retire  into  Westphalia. 
The  two  French  armies  were  now  united,  and  their  combined 
strength  carried  all  before  it.  Minden  was  taken,  and  Ferdinand 
saw  that  the  only  way  of  saving  Hanover  was  to  fight  a  battle.  By 
masterly  manoeuvres  he  enticed  the  enemy  into  the  open  country, 
and  won  a  complete  victory  on  the  1st  of  August.  The  French  only 
escaped  annihilation  through  the  extraordinary  refusal  of  Lord 
George  Sackville  to  lead  the  cavalry  into  action.  For  this  conduct 
he  was  subsequently  tried  by  court-martial  and  dismissed  from  the 
service.  The  battle  of  Minden  secured  to  the  allies  the  possession  of 
Westphalia,  and  further  operations  drove  the  French  from  Hesss. 

Still  more  conspicuous  was  the  failure  of  Choiseul's  other  grand 


a.d.  1759-1760.  ENGLISH  VICTORIES.  423 

scheme,  the  direct  invasion  of  England.  Never  did  the  English 
vindicate  their  claim  to  naval  supremacy  more  convincingly  than  in 
1579.  The  Toulon  fleet  was  destroyed  by  Boscawen  in  the  battle 
of  Lagos  (August  17),  and  three  months  later  Hawke  gained  a  still 
more  complete  victory  over  the  Brest  fleet  off  Quiberon  (No- 
vember 20).  But  the  greatest  English  success  was  the  capture  of 
Quebec,  an  enterprise  which  cost  the  life  of  the  two  rival  com- 
manders, Wolfe  and  Montcalm.  With  the  latter  perished,  the  last 
hope  of  maintaining  Canada  for  France.  These  disasters  forced 
upon  Choiseul  the  conviction  that  peace  was  an  absolute  necessity. 
It  had  been  a  great  disadvantage  to  France  that  no  help  was  to  be 
obtained  from  Ferdinand  VI.  of  Spain.  But  in  August,  1759, 
Ferdinand  died,  and  the  crown  passed  to  Charles  of  Naples,  who  was 
married  to  a  daughter  of  Augustus  of  Saxony,  and  who  had  never 
forgotten  the  way  in  which  England  had  treated  him  during  the 
Austrian  succession.  He  was  also  under  an  obligation  to  Maria 
Theresa,  who  had  enabled  him  to  leave  Naples  and  Sicily  to  his 
younger  son,  whereas  by  previous  treaties  they  ought  to  have 
passed  to  his  brother  Philip  of  Parma.  These  were  substantial 
grounds  for  expecting  that  he  would  give  cordial  support  to  France. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  Charles  III.  was  vividly  impressed  with 
the  traditional  hostility  of  the  Bourbons  to  the  Hapsburgs,  and  he 
resented  the  new  French  policy  of  alliance  with  Austria.  It  was 
unadvi8able  for  a  new  king  to  excite  the  hostility  of  England,  and 
Charles  contented  himself  at  first  with  offering  his  services  as  a 
mediator.  Choiseul  was  anxious  to  conclude  a  separate  treaty  with 
England  which  should  detach  that  power  from  the  continental  war. 
But  Pitt,  in  his  loyalty  to  his  ally,  rejected  the  proposal  with 
decision.  Prussia  and  England,  however,  proved  their  desire  for 
peace  by  issuing  a  joint  declaration  at  Ryswick  (October,  1759)  in 
which  they  suggested  the  summons  of  a  European  congress  to  settle 
all  dispute.  But  the  suggestion  was  taken  as  a  proof  of  weakness, 
and  Russia  and  Austria  refused  to  lint  en  to  it.  Maria  Theresa  had 
to  pay  a  heavy  price  for  the  faithfulness  of  her  northern  ally.  The 
Czarina  demanded  some  compensation  for  her  exertions  in  the  war, 
and  Austria  was  compelled  with  great  unwillingness  to  sign  the 
Schuwalow  treaty  (March  21,  1760),  by  which  Russia  was  to  retain 
permanent  possession  of  Prussia  proper  and  Danzig.  This 
arrangement  was  in  the  highest  degree  irritating  to  France,  which 
had  always  posed  as  the  opponent  of  Russian  influence  in  northern 
Europe,  and  it  threatened  ruin  to  the  smaller  powers  on  the  Baltic, 
Sweden  and  Denmark. 

§  16.  1760  was  the  last  great  year  of  the  war,  the  last  in  which 
pitched  battles  were  fought  and  strenuous  exertions  made  by  the 


424  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

various  powers.  The  main  armies  of  Prussia  and  Austria  had 
wintered  side  by  side  in  Saxony.  As  usual,  Daun  was  inert  and 
sluggish,  and  the  campaign  was  opened  in  Silesia  by  his  more  active 
colleague  Laudon.  Laudon  was  opposed  by  one  of  Frederick's 
favourite  generals,  Fouque,  who  left  his  position  at  Landshut  on 
the  approach  of  the  Austrians.  Frederick  ordered  him  to  hold  the 
position  at  all  hazards,  and  Fouque  obeyed  with  the  blind  obedience 
that  was.  required  of  Prussian  generals.  The  result  was  a  disaster 
hardly  inferior  to  that  of  Maxen.  Fouque's  troops  refused  to 
surrender,  and  fought  with  the  courage  of  despair  against  three 
times  their  number  (June  23).  In  the  end  they  were  annihilated, 
Fouque  was  captured,  and  Laudon  was  enabled  to  take  the  fortress 
of  Glatz.  But  Breslau,  which  he  next  attacked,  made  a  resolute 
and  successful  resistance.  Silesia  now  became  the  chief  scene  of 
hostilities.  A  large  Russian  force  crossed  the  Oder  and  entered  the 
province.  Frederick  himself  hurried  up  from  Saxony,  and  Daun 
followed  hard  upon  him.  A  junction  of  the  three  hostile  armies 
must  have  resulted  in  the  loss  of  Silesia.  Ihit  Frederick  was  saved 
by  Daun's  inactivity,  which  enabled  him  to  fall  upon  Laudon  and 
to  defeat  him  at  Liegnitz  (August  15)  before  assistance  arrived. 
The  victory  averted  the  danger  for  the  moment.  The  king  could 
march  to  Breslau,  the  Russians  retired  without  effecting  anything, 
and  a  junction  was  impossible.  But  Frederick's  position  was  not 
encouraging.  A  large  force  of  Russians  and  Swedes  were  besieging 
Kolberg,  the  key  of  Pomerania,  and  an  Austrian  and  Russian 
detachment  had  entered  Brandenburg,  marched  upon  Berlin,  and  for 
the  second  time  levied  contributions  upon  Frederick's  capital.  And 
the  campaign  in  Silesia  had  left  Saxony  undefended.  This  was 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  imperial  troops,  who  took  the  strong 
fortress  of  Torgau  and  almost  drove  the  Prussians  from  the  whole 
electorate.  These  dangers  forced  the  king  to  quit  Silesia,  and  again 
Daun,  whose  Fabian  tactics  were  wholly  unsuited  to  existing  cir- 
cumstances, marched  after  him.  But  on  the  news  of  Frederick's 
approach  the  enemy  evacuated  Berlin,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
garrison  of  Kolberg  succeeded  in  repulsing  the  besiegers. 
Frederick  now  turned  fiercely  upon  Daun,  who  occupied  an  almost 
impregnable  position  near  Torgau,  and  here  the  last  pitched  battle  of 
the  war  was  fought  (November  3).  The  Prussians  stormed  the 
entrenchments  with  devoted  courage,  but  the  tremendous  cannonade 
of  the  Austrians  forced  them  to  retreat  each  time.  Daun  had  even 
sent  tidings  of  his  victory  to  Vienna,  when  Ziethen  with  the 
reserves  joined  Frederick,  and  a  last  assault  was  ordered.  After  a 
contest  in  which  each  side  suffered  terribly,  the  Austrian  position 
was  carried,  and  Daun  retreated  upon  Dresden,  where  he  went  into 


a.d.  1760.  DEATH  OP  GEORGE  II.  425 

winter-quarters.  The  campaign  had  been  exhaustive  to  all  the 
combatants,  but  it  had  made  no  essential  'differences  in  their 
relative  positions.  Frederick  had  not  been  driven  out  of  Silesia  or 
of  Saxony,  but  neither  had  the  Austrian*. 

§  17.  In  western  Germany  the  events  of  1760  were  equally  inde- 
ci*i  w.  The  French  under  Broglie,  the  ablest  of  their  rather  inferior 
commanders,  recovered  their  hold  on  the  unfortunate  province  of 
rJesse-Cassel ;  but  all  attempts  to  reduce  Westphalia  and  Hanover 
were  repulsed  by  the  superior  strategy  of  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick, 
who  gained  a  small  success  at  Warburg  (July  31).  The  exertions 
of  the  French  were  absolutely  resultless,  except  so  far  as  they 
exhausted  the  retources  of  the  government  and  made  it  more 
anxious  to  conclude  a  peace.  In  the  colonies  England  continued  its 
uninterrupted  successes,  and  the  surrender  of  Montreal  (September  8, 
1760)  and  of  PondicheVy  (January  26,  1761)  finally  established 
English  rule  in  Canada  and  in  India.  But  the  most  important 
event  in  English  history  was  the  death  of  George  II.  (October  25, 
1760)  and  the  accession  of  his  grandson,  George  III.  The  new  king, 
who  had  been  brought  up  under  the  influence  of  his  mother  and  of 
her  favourite  Lord  Bute,  was  anxious  before  everything  to  over- 
throtV  the  Whig  domination,  and  as  a  first  step  to  get  rid  of  the 
present  ministry  of  Pitt  and  Newcastle.  To  effect  this  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  end  the  war,  as  the  nation  would  not  entrust 
its  conduct  to  any  one  but  Pitt.  No  immediate  change  was  made  in 
foreign  policy,  but  from  this  time  influences  were  at  work  which  had 
a  distinct  influence  on  the  continental  war. 


IV.  Conclusion  of  the  Wab. 

§  18.  The  winter  was  spent  in  discussing  a  proposal  to  hold  a  con- 
gress at  Augsburg,  but  nothing  came  of  it,  and  the  war  had  to  be  re- 
sumed. All  the  powers  were  exhausted  by  the  efforts  they  had  made. 
Even  Austria  found  it  necessary  to  diminish  its  military  establish- 
ment. The  general  exhaustion  is  evident  in  the  conduct  of  the 
various  campaigns,  which  cease  to  have  any  notable  importance.  In 
Silesia  Frederick  held  his  own  against  an  Austrian  army  under  Laudon 
and  the  Russians  under  Buturlin.  The  two  commanders  found  it 
impossible  to  agree,  and  the  Prussians  reaped  the  benefit  of  their  dis- 
union. But  in  October  Laudon  succeeded  in  taking  Schweidnitz,  and 
this  success  enabled  the  enemy  to  take  up  their  winter-quarters  in 
Silesia.  In  Saxony  Prince  Henry  commanded  for  his  brother,  and 
contrived  to  hold  his  own  without  fighting  a  battle  against  Daun, 
whose  caution  seemed  to  increase  as  the  war  made  on.  In  the  west 
a  great  effort  was  made  by  the  French,  and  Broglie  was  reinforced 
20 


426  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

by  a  second  army  under  Soubise.  The  joint  numbers  were  now 
nearly  150,000,  but  they  made  little  progress.  Ferdinand  of 
Brunswick  defeated  them  at  Bellinghausen  and  foiled  all  Broglie's 
attempts  to  advance  beyond  Hesse.  In  the  north  the  siege  of 
Kolberg  was  recommenced  by  the  Russians,  who  took  the  fortress  in 
December  after  an  obstinate  defence,  and  thus  established  their  hold 
upon  eastern  Pomerania.  But  they  failed  to  reduce  Stettin,  and  the 
advance  of  the  Swedes  was  checked  by  the  Prussians  under  Belling. 
In  June,  1761,  the  English  captured  Dominique  in  the  West  Indies, 
and  Belleisle  on  the  coast  of  France. 

§  19.  Throughout  the  year  negotiations  had  been  carried  on  be- 
tween England  and  France.  But  Pitt's  demands  were  very  exorbitant, 
and  it  was  evident  that  he  aimed  at  the  complete  annihilation  of 
the  French  naval  power.  Choiseul  now  redoubled  his  endeavours 
to  drag  Spain  into  the  war.  Charles  III.'s  indignation  against 
England  had  been  constantly  increasing,  and  in  June  the  French 
envoy  demanded  on  behalf  of  Spain  the  restoration  of  some  prizes 
taken  by  the  English,  the  acknowledgment  of  Spanish  rights  to 
the  fishing  in  Newfoundland,  and  the  withdrawal  of  English 
settlements  from  Honduras.  These  demands  were  rejected  by  Pitt, 
and  in  August  a  new  Family  Compact  was  arranged  between  the 
two  Bourbon  powers.  It  was  agreed  that  Spain  should  declare  war 
against  England  if  peace  were  not  arranged  by  May,  and  France 
and  Spain  guaranteed  to  each  other  their  respective  possessions. 
The  existence  of  this  treaty  was  suspected  in  England,  and  Pitt 
proposed  to  anticipate  hostilities  by  declaring  war  against  Spain, 
and  by  sending  expeditions  to  Havannah  and  Martinique.  But  the 
enemies  of  the  minister  seized  this  opportunity  to  effect  his 
downfall.  The  proposal  was  rejected  by  the  council,  and  on  the 
5th  of  October  Pitt  resigned.  Newcastle  remained  nominally 
prime  minister,  but  Bute  became  the  real  head  of  the  government. 
Circumstances,  however,  forced  the  minister  to  follow  Pitt's  policy. 
In  January,  1762,  war  was  formally  declared  with  Spain,  which  had 
already  prepared  an  expedition  into  Portugal.  The  successes  of 
the  English  arms  were  as  brilliant  as  ever.  Martinique  was  taken 
in  February,  and  in  August  Havannah  was  captured.  English 
auxiliaries  helped  to  expel  the  Spaniards  from  Portuguese  territory. 
In  Germany  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  took  the  aggressive  against 
the  French,  who  were  commanded  by  d'Estrees  and  Soubise,  drove 
them  out  of  Hesse  to  the  Rhine,  and  recovered  Cassel. 

§  20.  In  spite  of  these  successes  Bute  clung  obstinately  to  his 
desire  for  a  peace,  without  which  his  ministry  was  insecure.  He 
declined  to  continue  the  Prussian  subsidies,  and  left  Frederick  face 
to  face    with   the    European   coalition.      This    desertion   inspired 


a.d.  1761-1763.  PEACE  OF  PARIS.  427 

Frederick  with  a  permanent  distrust  of  England  and  its  parliamen- 
tary constitution.  He  was  only  saved  from  destruction  by  a  stroke 
of  extraordinary  good  foitune.  On  the  5th  of  January,  1762, 
Elizabeth  of  Russia  died,  and  Peter  of  Holstein  became  czar  as 
Peter  III.  He  had  always  been  a  devoted  admirer  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  and  he  signalised  his  accession  by  breaking  with  Austria  and 
withdrawing  his  troops  from  Silesia.  Not  content  with  this,  he 
proposed  a  defensive  and  offensive  alliance  with  Prussia,  which  was 
concluded  on  the  5th  of  May.  Without  Russian  support  the 
S.v«des  were  powerless,  and  they  also  made  peace  at  Hamburg 
(May  22).  For  a  moment  the  prospect  was  opened  to  Frederick 
of  revenging  himself  upon  his  enemies.  Leaving  his  brother  to 
continue  the  war  in  Saxony,  he  marched  into  Nlesia  to  attempt 
the  recovery  of  Schweidnitz.  The  Russian  troops  umler  Czernit- 
scheff,  which  had  so  lately  opposed  him,  now  returned  to  his 
assistance.  But  these  favouring  circumstances  were  not  of  long 
duration.  In  less  than  six  months  Peter  succeeded  in  alienating 
every  class  and  every  interest  in  Russia.  His  wife,  Catharine,  who 
had  long  aspired  to  rule,  seized  the  opportunity  of  effecting  a 
revolution  at  St.  Peter*>burg.  On  the  9th  of  July  Peter  was 
deposed,  imprisoned,  and  soon  afterwards  murdered.  Catharine 
ascended  the  throne,  and  naturally  abandoned  her  husband's  policy. 
The  Russian  troops  were  recalled,  and  Fredei  iek  was  left  once  more 
to  his  own  resources.  But  Catharine  resolutely  refused  to  renew 
the  alliance  with  Austria,  and  accepted  the  peace  which  Peter  had 
arranged  with  Prussia.  Frederick  was  more  than  a  match  for 
Austria  alone.  In  October  he  forced  Schweidnitz  to  surrender,  and 
thus  recovered  some  of  the  lost  ground  in  Silesia.  At  the  same 
time  Prince  Henry  defeated  the  imperial  army  at  Freiburg,  and 
Prussian  troops  made  another  raid  against  the  German  states  which 
had  helped  Maria  Theresa,  took  Bamberg  and  Nuremberg,  and 
terrified  the  diet  at  Ratisbon  into  making  a  formal  declaration  of 
neutrality.  A  truce  was  arranged  both  for  Silesia  and  Saxony,  and 
this  practically  terminated  open  hostilities. 

§  21.  Meanwhile  the  negotiations  between  England,  Franco  and 
Spain  had  been  hurried  on  and  brought  to  a  conclusion  in  November 
in  the  preliminaries  of  Fontainebleau,  which  were  converted  into 
the  final  Peace  of  Paris  on  the  10th  of  February,  1763.  The  terms 
were  extremely  favourable  to  England,  but  not  so  favourable  as  the 
events  of  the  war  would  have  justified  or  as  might  have  been 
obtained  if  Pitt  had  been  still  in  office.  For  instance,  Manilla  and 
the  Philippine  Islands,  which  were  captured  before  the  preliminaries 
were  signed,  were  surrendered  without  any  compensation  whatever. 
The  islands  which  were  restored  to  France  and  Spain  were  more 


428  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xix. 

valuable  than  those  which  were  retained.  Some  of  Bute's 
colleagues  remonstrated  against  the  way  in  which  lawful  advantages 
were  thrown  away  in  the  determination  to  effect  a  peace.  But, 
with  all  deductions,  the  treaty  was  a  triumph  for  England  and 
marks  a  great  era  in  the  history  of  her  maritime  and  colonial 
power.  France  restored  Minorca,  the  first  and  greatest  of  her 
conquests,  and  surrendered  the  whole  of  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  and 
Cape  Breton.  The  Mississippi  was  fixed  as  the  boundary  of  English 
territory  in  the  west,  and  Spain  purchased  the  restoration  of 
Havannah  by  ceding  Florida.  The  Spanish  claim  to  share  in  the 
Newfoundland  fisheries  was  withdrawn,  but  France  retained  its 
rights.  England  kept  Senegal,  Grenada,  St.  Vincent,  Dominique 
and  Tobago,  but  restored  to  France  Belleisle,  Goree,  Guadaloupe, 
Martinique  and  St.  Lucia.  In  India,  all  conquests  made  since  1749 
were  restored,  but  the  French  possessions  were  to  be  merely 
commercial  factories,  and  they  were  forbidden  to  erect  fortifications 
or  to  maintain  troops.  Dunkirk,  an  old  bone  of  contention,  was 
to  be  placed  in  the  condition  required  by  the  treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle. 

The  treaty  of  Paris  terminated  the  war  in  western  Germany,  as 
the  allied  army  was  broken  up  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  English 
contingent,  and  the  French  agreed  to  evacuate  all  their  conquests. 
Prussia  and  Austria  were  now  left  face  to  face,  and  it  was  obvious 
that  peace  could  not  be  long  delayed.  Maria  Theresa  could  expect 
nothing  but  loss  from  the  continuance  of  the  war  under  existing 
conditions,  and  she  was  forced  to  abandon  the  scheme  of  reducing 
Prussia  to  powerlessness.  Augustus  of  Saxony  was  eager  for  a 
peace  which  should  restore  to  him  the  electorate  from  which  he 
had  been  excluded  for  six  years.  The  diplomatists  met  at  his 
castle  of  Hubertsburg,  where  the  treaty  was  signed  on  the  15th  of 
February,  1763.  Maria  Theresa  had  demanded  at  first  that  she 
should  retain  Glatz,  and  that  some  compensation  should  be  given  to 
Saxony.  But  Frederick  was  determined  not  to  sacrifice  an  inch  of 
territory,  and  his  iron  will  prevailed.  The  suggestion  that  the 
fortifications  of  Glatz  should  be  dismantled  he  also  rejected. 
Ultimately  the  treaty  restored  matters  exactly  to  their  position 
before  the  war.  Maria  Theresa  resigned  all  territorial  claims,  and 
practically  renewed  the  previous  treaties  of  Berlin  and  Dresden. 
By  a  secret  article  Frederick  pledged  himself  to  give  his  vote  for  the 
election  of  the  archduke  Joseph  as  King  of  the  Romans.  To 
Augustus  III.  Frederick  promised  to  evacuate  Saxony,  and  the 
demand  for  compensation  was  dropped. 

From  a  purely  European  point  of  view  the  great  result  of  the 
war  was  the  elevation  of  Prussia  to  an  equality  with  Austria,  and 


A.  d.1763.  RESULTS  OF  THE  WAR.  429 

the  consequent  establishment  of  a  dual  leadership  in  Germany. 
This  was  entirely  due  to  the  marvellous  endurance  and  military 
genius  displayed  by  Frederick,  who  had  held  his  own  against  t  e 
three  great  powers  of  Europe  and  emerged  from  the  struggle  without 
loss,  and  with  a  well-merited  reputation.  But  regarding  the  war  as 
an  episode  in  the  world's  history,  its  great  significance  lies  in  the 
decWoo  of  the  quarrel  between  England  and  France  for  the  New 
World  in  the  east  and  west.  The  definite  establishment  of  the 
English  power  in  India  and  the  exclusive  assumption  of  North 
America  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  are  events  of  the  most  far- 
reaching  and  stupendous  importance.  At  the  same  time  the  English 
conquest  of  Canada  prepared  the  way  for  another  great  event,  the 
revolt  of  the  American  colonies.  By  Mooring  all  dangers  from  the 
French  it  destroyed  the  one  great  motive  for  dependence  upon 
England,  while  the  expenses  incurred  in  the  war  necessitated  those 
schemes  of  taxation  which  proved  the  ultimate  occasion  of  the  revolt 
There  is  one  other  result  of  the  war  which  ought  not  to  be  over- 
looked, the  humiliation  of  France,  which  for  a  time  loses  its  place 
among  the  great  powers,  and  the  alienation  of  the  French  people 
from  the  monarchy.  The  Austrian  alliance  was  the  work  of 
Louis  XV.  and  Madame  de  Pompadour,  and  it  is  significant  of  the 
change  of  popular  sentiment  that  this  in  itself  was  enough  to  make 
the  war  hateful  to  the  nation. 


430  MODERN  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  XX 
EUROPE  AFTER  THE  PEACE  OF  HUBERTSBURG. 

Southkrn  Europe  and  the  Fall  of  the  Jesuits. — §  1.  Influence 
of  Literature  in  the  18th  century.  §  2.  Choiseul's  ministry  in 
France;  Madame  du  Barry;  fall  of  Choiseul;  the  Parlement  Maupeou; 
death  of  Louis  XV.  §  3.  Spain  under  Charles  III. ;  Pombal's  ministry 
in  Portugal  ;  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits.  §  4.  Expulsion  of  the  Jesuits 
from  France  and  Spain ;  attitude  of  the  papacy ;  suppression  of  the 
Order  by  Clement  XIV. ;  subsequent  history  of  Spain  and  Portugal. 
II.  Eastern  Europe  and  the  First  Partition  of  Poland. — §  5. 
Austria  after  the  war ;  accession  of  Joseph  II.  to  the  empire.  §  6. 
Frederick's  administration  in  Prussia.  §  7.  Policy  of  Catharine  II. 
§  8.  Constitution  of  Poland  ;  question  of  the  succession ;  interests  of 
the  European  states.  §  9.  Death  of  Augustus  III. ;  election  of 
Stanislaus  Poniatowski.  §  10.  Russian  supremacy  in  Poland ;  proposal 
of  religious  toleration ;  Confederation  of*  Radom ;  reforms.  §  11. 
Indignation  of  the  Poles;  Confederation  of  Bar;  Russia  at  war  with 
Turkey  ;  policy  of  Frederick  ;  Russian  successes  against  the  Turks. 
§  12.  Interviews  between  Frederick  and  Joseph  II. ;  Prussian  proposals 
at  St.  Petersburg;  the  treaty  of  partition;  treaty  of  Kutschuk 
Kainardji.  III.  The  Bavarian  Succession. — §  13.  Aggressive 
policy  of  Joseph  II.  §  14.  Extinction  ot  the  Bavarian  line ;  claims  of 
Joseph  II. ;  opposition  of  Prussia  ;  treaty  of  Teschen.  IV.  Joseph  II. 
and  the  League  of  Princes. — §  15.  Administration  of  Maria 
Theresa  ;  accession  of  Joseph  II. ;  his  domestic  reforms ;  his  policy  in 
Germany ;  discontent  of  the  princes.  §  16.  Attitude  of  Prussia ; 
alliance  between  Austria  .and  Russia;  Catharine's  aggressions  in 
Turkey.  §  17.  Project  to  exchange  the  Netherlands  for  Bavaria  ;  the 
Furstenbund;  death  of  K''nlerick  II.  V.  The  Eastern  Question, 
1786-1792.— §  18.  Char^oj.  0f  Frederick  William  II.  of  Prussia: 
intervention  in  Holland  :  trebles  of  the  Hague.  §  19.  Relations  of 
Joseph  II.  and  Catharine  u. ;  renewal  of  Russo-Turkish  war ; 
Hertzberg's  policy.  §  20.  The  eastern  war  ;  Sweden  attacks  Russia ; 
treaty  of  Werela.  §  21.  Prussia  at  the  head  of  a  great  coalition ; 
question  of  war  with  Austria;  death  of  Joseph  II.;  skilful  administra- 
tion of  Leopold  II.;  treaty  of  Reichenbach  ;  treaties  of  Sistowa  and 
Jassy.  VI.  The  Second  and  Third  Partitions  of  Poland.—  §  22. 
Alliance  of  Poland  and  Prussia;  reform  of  the  Polish  constitution; 
attitude  of  the  neighbouring  states;  the  Confederation  of  Targowicz  ; 
death  of  Leopold  II.;  the  new  constitution  abolished.  §  23.  Catha- 
rine II.  negotiates  the  Second  Partition  vith  Prussia;  indignation  of 
Austria ;  diet  of  Grodno.  §  24.  Revolt  of  Kosciusko ;  failure  of 
Prussian  intervention ;  Russia  puts  down  the  revolt ;  the  Third 
Partition ;  finis  Poloniae. 


INFLUENCE    OF  LITERATURE.  431 

I.  Southern  Europe  and  the  Fall  of  the  Jesuits. 

§  1.  A  period  of  comparative  peace  followed  the  treaties  of  Paris 
and  Hubertsburg,  and  at  the  same  time  the  history  of  Europe  loses 
the  unity  that  has  characterised  it  since  the  formation  of  the  great 
league  against  Louis  XIV.  England  abdicates  the  commanding 
position  which  it  had  assumed  under  Pitt,  and  its  energies  are 
absorbed  in  domestic  questions,  such  as  the  Wilkes  quarrel,  or  in 
attempting  to  suppress  the  rising  liberties  of  the  American  colonies. 
On  the  continent  the  great  powers  divide  themselves  into  two  great 
leagues ;  in  the  south  the  Bourbon  states  held  together  by  the  Family 
Compact,  in  the  north  and  east,  Russia,  Prussia  and  Austria.  In  the 
north,  the  all-absorbing  question  is  the  succession  to  tho  Polish 
crown,  which  we  must  consider  subsequently.  In  the  south, 
historical  interest  centres  rather  in  the  men  of  letters  than  in 
political  events.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  literature  had  for  tho  first 
time  become  a  living  force,  had  broken  through  the  trammels  of 
mediaeval  ideas,  and  had  given  birth  to  the  Reformation.  The  idea 
of  individual  liberty  then  established  had  never  been  developed  to 
its  logical  extent.  With  the  Catholic  reaction  and  the  splitting  up 
of  the  Protestants  into  rival  sects  a  period  of  stagnation  had  set  in. 
In  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe  absolute  governments  had  been 
set  up,  and  literature  had  become  subservient  and  therefore  degraded. 
In  France  there  had  been  one  conspicuous  movement  of  opposition, 
that  of  Jansenism.  But  the  Jansenists  were  only  partially  pro- 
gressive, and  their  opinions  never  emancipated  themselves  from  the 
bonds  of  sect  and  class.  One  country  alone,  England,  had  main- 
tained the  struggle  for  liberty,  and  had  thus  preserved  the  indepen- 
dence of  literature.  With  the  English  philosophers,  especially 
Hobbes  and  Locke,  originated  most  of  the  ideas  which  spread  to 
France  in  the  eighteenth  century  and  there  became  productive  of 
vast  political  results.  It  is  impossible  here  to  treat  of  the  great 
philosophic  movement  which  connects  itself  with  the  names  of 
Voltaire,  Montesquieu,  and  Rousseau.  Voltaire  was  the  great 
distinctive  teacher  of  the  new  school.  In  almost  every  form  of 
literature  he  excelled  his  contemporaries,  and  in  all  his  numerous 
writings  he  brought  the  keen  edge  of  his  satire  to  bear  upon  the 
ordinary  conceptions  of  religion,  politics,  and  society.  The  lesson 
for  which  posterity  owes  him  gratitude  is  one  which  he  vindicated 
in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory,  that  philanthropy  ought  to  be  one 
of  the  aims  of  government,  that  the  welfare  of  the  subjects  is  higher 
than  even  the  interests  of  a  ruling  family  or  the  privileges  of  a  class. 
Montesquieu,  in  his  Lettres  Persanea,  struck  a  vein  of  satire  as 
effective  though  more  genial  than  Voltaire's,  and  in  his  Esprit  dt% 


432  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

Lois  he  introduced  the  historical  method  of  enquiry  which  was 
destined  to  prove  the  most  powerful  solvent  of  traditional  errors. 
But  the  most  influential  teacher  of  the  century  was  Rousseau,  who 
inspired  men  with  a  passion  for  the  old  free  life  of  nature,  and  who 
developed  as  the  basis  of  a  new  social  organisation  the  theory  of 
Hobbes,  that  royal  authority  originated  in  a  contract  between  king 
and  people.  The  new  spirit  inspired  by  these  writers  found  ready 
acceptance  in  the  literary  coteries  that  were  so  prominent  a  feature 
of  Parisian  society.  In  every  department  of  learning  their  influence 
was  visible.  Buffon  begins  a  new  era  in  natural  science.  Condillac 
and  Helvetius  develop  the  philosophy  of  mind  and  morals.  Diderot, 
d'Alembert  and  the  Encyclopaedists  apply  the  new  doctrines  to  every 
subject.  Of  special  practical  importance  are  the  advances  made  in 
political  economy.  The  mercantile  system,  which  had  so  long 
regulated  the  relations  of  Europe,  received  a  fatal  blow  from  the 
teaching  of  Quesnai,  Turgot,  and  Adam  Smith.  Nor  was  the  new 
spirit  confined  to  men  of  letters.  Frederick  of  Prussia,  Catharine  of 
Russia,  and  Joseph  II.,  with  a  number  of  smaller  sovereigns  and 
statesmen,  prided  themselves  on  being  the  leaders  of  a  new 
movement.  The  attempt  to  force  enlightenment  upon  their 
subjects  by  a  paternal  government  was  naturally  not  altogether 
successful,  but  it  produced  indirect  results  which  were  not  without 
influence  upon  the  subsequent  course  of  history.  Even  in  the  states 
of  southern  Europe,  where  the  Catholic  reaction  had  fully  worked 
itself  out,  the  new  ideas  found  at  any  rate  temporary  admission. 
Their  most  conspicuous  achievement  was  the  destruction  of  the 
order  of  the  Jesuits,  the  aggressive  champions  of  Catholicism.  In 
the  last  century  the  Jesuits  had  had  to  face  a  bitter  and  resolute 
attack  from  the  Jansenists,  and  though  they  had  emerged  successfully 
from  the  contest,  their  credit  and  influence  had  been  seriously 
impaired.  The  renewal  of  the  onslaught  in  the  eighteenth  century 
was  not  solely  due  to  the  progress  of  enlightenment.  The  Jesuits 
had  mixed  themselves  up  in  commerce,  had  employed  their  influence 
to  obtain  privileges  and  monopolies,  and  had  thus  become  possessed 
of  enormous  wealth.  They  had  utilised  their  position  as  missionaries 
to  acquire  political  power  in  the  colonies,  and  in  some  cases,  as  in 
Paraguay,  they  had  formed  a  state  in  complete  practical  indepen- 
dence of  the  home  government.  These  commercial  and  colonial 
establishments  brought  them  into  collision  with  the  secular  power 
even  in  countries  where  the  desire  for  reform  was  altogether  non- 
existent. 

§  2.  The  most  important  of  the  southern  states  were  France  and 
Spain,  both  ruled  by  Bourbon  princes.  France  remained  after  the 
conclusion  of  the  peace  under  the   domination  of   Madame  de 


a.d.  1763-1770.      MINISTRY  OF  CHOISEUL.  433 

Pompadour  and  Choiseul,  and  when  the  king's  mistress  died  in 
1764,  the  minister's  position  was  unshaken.  Choiseui's  great  ambi- 
tion was  to  revive  the  naval  power  of  France,  so  as  to  recover 
what  had  been  lost  to  England  during  the  war.  Domestic  affairs  he 
was  willing  to  subordinate  to  foreign  politics.  But  his  designs  wect 
never  destined  to  be  realised.  As  a  minister  he  compares  very 
favourably  with  his  immediate  predecessors  and  successors,  and 
personally  he  was  honourable  and  patriotic,  but  he  did  very  little 
for  France.  At  home  he  was  worried  by  the  question  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  the  incessant  quarrels  with  the  Parliament  of  Paris 
which  fill  up  the  history  of  France  during  the  century.  The 
Parliament  set  itself  in  opposition  to  the  unlimited  exercise  of  the 
royal  power  in  taxation  and  in  the  administration  of  justice,  and 
especially  against  the  practice  of  arbitrary  imprisonment  by  means 
•  t  I,  ft  res  de  cachet.  But  unfortunately  its  opposition  was  dictated 
by  the  interests,  not  of  the  people,  but  of  the  privileged  classes,  and 
its  success  or  failure  was  a  matter  of  little  moment  to  the  bulk  of 
the  people.  Choiseul  tried  to  compromise  matters  by  making 
slight  concessions,  but  the  reconciliation  was  purely  temporary. 
Abroad,  France  made  two  acquisitions  of  territory  during  his 
ministry.  Lorraine  fell  in  to  the  crown  on  the  death  of  Stanislaus 
Leczinski  in  176G,  and  in  1768  Genoa,  unable  to  put  down  the 
revolt  of  Pascal  Paoli,  sold  Corsica  to  the  French,  who  took  posses- 
sion in  the  next  year,  after  crushing  the  rebels  with  relentless 
severity.  J?oon  afterwards  Choiseul  was  deprived  of  office,  and  his 
fall  marks  a  new  degradation  in  the  history  of  France.  Louis  XV. 
lost  his  wife,  Marie  Leczinska,  in  1768,  and  after  a  brief  period  of 
remorse  fell  into  worse  debauchery  than  ever.  His  new  mistress, 
Madame  du  Barry,  was  a  degraded  woman  belonging  to  the  lower 
classes,  but  she  obtained  complete  ascendency  over  the  brutalised 
king.  Even  the  most  submissive  of  French  courtiers  shuddered 
with  horror  at  this  novel  infamy,  and  Choiseui's  pride  refused  to 
bend  before  the  new  favourite.  On  the  24th  of  December,  1770,  he 
received  a  curt  letter  from  the  king  dismissing  him  from  all  his 
offices,  and  ordering  his  immediate  retirement  to  his  estates. 

He  was  succeeded  by  a  triumvirate,  consisting  of  Maupeou,  the 
chancellor,  the  Abbe"  Terrai,  minister  of  finance,  and  d'Aiguillon, 
who  had  charge  of  foreign  affairs.  Maupeou,  the  guiding  genius  of 
the  government,  neglected  foreign  affairs  in  order  to  put  down 
discontent  at  home.  His  measures  were  characterised  by  brutality 
and  resolution.  As  the  Parliament  of  Paris  continued  its  opposition 
to  the  royal  will,  it  was  abolished,  and  the  provincial  parliaments 
shared  the  same  fate.  A  council  of  seventy-five  nominees  of  the 
crown  was  appointed  for  Paris,  and  received  the  nickname  of  the 
20* 


434  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

Parlement  Maupeou.  To  supervise  the  administration  of  justice  in 
the  provinces  six  conseils  superieurs  were  created  for  the  chief  local 
centres.  It  is  significant  to  notice  that  the  liberal  party  hesitated 
whether  to  deplore  or  welcome  the  change.  Voltaire  and  some  of 
his  associates  approved  the  action  of  Maupeou.  The  Parliament 
had  been  a  close  privileged  institution,  and  its  members  held  office 
by  the  payment  of  a  recognised  bribe.  The  new  judicial  system, 
if  less  independent,  was  more  prompt  in  action  and  less  expensive. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  mass  of  the  people  felt,  and  felt  rightly, 
that  it  was  better  to  have  some  restraint  upon  the  royal  power  even  if 
that  restraint  was  often  exercised  from  selfish  motives.  Louis  XV. 
had  entirely  lost  the  popularity  that  had  once  given  him  the 
name  of  the  Bien-aime.  His  death  was  now  as  eagerly  desired  as 
his  life  had  been  in  1744.  His  son,  a  gloomy  reactionary,  had  died 
in  1765,  leaving  three  sons,  all  of  whom  subsequently  came  to  the 
throne  as  Louis  XVL,  Louis  XVII I.,  and  Charles  X.  On  the  10th 
of  May,  1774,  Louis  XV.'s  death  gave  the  crown  to  his  eldest  grand- 
son, and  relieved  France  of  one  of  the  most  worthless  kings  the 
world  has  seen.  "  He  had  lived  64  years,  and  reigned  59 ;  he  had 
passed  his  life  in  destroying  little  by  little  the  prestige  which  thG 
two  great  Bourbon  kings,  Henry  IX.  and  Louis  XIV.,  had  given 
to  modern  royalty,  a  prestige  already  much  weakened  in  the  old  age 
of  Louis  the  Grand." 

§  3.  The  throne  of  Spain  had  been  occupied  since  1759  by 
Charles  III.,  who  had  learned  to  rule  in  his  previous  kingdom  of 
Naples,  and  who  carried  with  him  the  affection  and  respect  of  his 
former  subjects.  Charles  was  by  no  means  a  partisan  of  the  new  philo- 
sophical ideas;  he  was  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  church,  but  at  the 
same  time  he  had  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  royal  power  and  a  firm 
determination  to  maintain  and  advance  it.  In  Naples,  with  the  help 
of  his  minister  Tanucci,  he  had  restricted  the  exercise  of  the  papal 
supremacy,  forced  the  clergy  to  contribute  to  the  taxes,  and  struck 
a  blow  at  the  feudal  system  which  had  so  long  flourished  in  the 
kingdom.  When  the  death  of  his  half-brother,  Ferdinand  VJ., 
gave  him  the  Spanish  crown,  he  left  Naples  to  his  third  son, 
Ferdinand  IV.,  and  entrusted  the  government  during  the  minority 
to  Tanucci,  who  carried  it  on  on  the  old  lines.  In  Spain,  Charles  III. 
continued  the  same  policy  of  putting  an  end  to  those  exclusive 
privileges  and  pretensions,  whether  of  the  church  or  the  nobles, 
which  stood  in  the  way  of  royal  absolutism.  It  was  this  which 
brought  him  into  collision  with  the  Jesuits,  whom  he  would  other- 
wise have  been  unwilling  to  attack. 

But  the  first  blow  against  the  order  had  already  been  struck  in  a 
state  which  they  had  learnt  to  regard  as  their  special  property. 


a.d.  1750-1758.  POMBAL.  435 

Under  John  V.  (1706-1750)  Portugal  had  fallen  into  complete 
insignificance.  The  wealth  produced  by  its  commerce  passed 
mostly  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  The  government  was  carried 
on  by  ecclesiastics,  the  people  were  slaves  to  the  grossest  supersti- 
tions. John's  successor,  Joseph  I.  (1750-1777),  was  not  a  whit 
more  enlightened  than  his  father.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  absorbed 
in  vicious  pleasures,  and  left  the  cares  of  government  altogether  t<> 
a  minister  who  would  have  obtained  a  great  reputation  in  history  if 
he  had  belonged  to  one  of  the  more  important  states.  This  was 
Sebastian  Joseph  de  Carvalho,  better  known  by  his  later  title  of  the 
Marquis  de  Pombal.  He  obtained  such  complete  ascendency  over 
the  feeble  character  of  the  king  that  he  became  absolute  despot  at 
Lisbon.  He  employed  his  power  to  introduce  the  most  thorough 
reforms  into  every  department  of  government,  and  he  enforced  them 
by  means  that  stand  in  complete  contrast  to  the  liberal  spirit  in 
which  they  were  conceived.  The  great  obstacle  in  his  way  was  the 
opposition  offered  by  the  privileged  classes,  the  nobles  and  clergy, 
and  especially  by  the  Jesuits,  who  had  become  all-powerful  under 
the  late  king.  The  first  opportunity  for  attacking  the  order  arose 
from  events  in  South  America.  By  a  treaty  in  1760  Spain  and 
Portugal  agreed  to  exchange  their  respective  colonies  of  Paraguay 
and  San  Sacramento.  The  Jesuits,  who  had  made  themselves 
absolute  masters  of  Paraguay,  were  bitterly  hostile  to  the  transfer, 
and  induced  the  Indians  to  oppose  it  with  turns.  The  result  was  a 
war  which  lasted  several  years,  and  it  Has  not  till  175G  that  the 
resistance  of  the  natives  was  crushed.  The  expense  which  this 
entailed  upon  the  Portuguese  government  naturally  excited  enmity 
against  the  order  which  was  responsible  for  the  war.  At  the  same 
time  the  Jesuits  encouraged  the  popular  discontent  roused  by  the 
domestic  reforms  of  Pombal.  The  minister  resolved  on  their  des- 
truction. In  1757  the  Jesuits  were  forbidden  to  approach  the  court 
without  leave,  and  in  the  next  year  they  were  prohibited  from 
trading,  preaching,  and  the  confession  il.  Both  parties  appealed  to 
the  pope,  but  Benedict  XIV.  died  before  he  had  arrived  at  any 
decision.  His  successor,  Clement  XI II.,  was  a  devoted  adherent  of 
the  Jesuits,  and  Pombal  would  hardly  have  succeeded  as  he  did  if 
terror  had  not  given  him  the  unconditional  support  of  the  supersti- 
tious Joseph  I.  In  September,  1758,  as  the  king  was  returning 
from  a  visit  to  the  wife  of  the  Marquis  of  Tavora,  he  was  fired  upon 
and  wounded.  For  three  months  an  enquiry  was  conducted 
apparently  without  success.  Suddenly  all  members  of  the  two 
great  families  of  Tavora  and  Aveiro  were  seized,  and  in  their  papers 
evidence  was  supposed  to  be  found  of  a  conspiracy  against  the  king 
and  minister.     The  Jesuits  were  implicated  in  the  conspiracy,  and 


436  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xx 

when  the  nobles  were  put  to  death  application  was  made  to  the 
pope  to  permit  the  trial  and  punishment  of  the  priests.  As 
Clement  XIII.  hesitated  to  give  the  desired  permission,  Pombal 
took  the  decisive  step  of  seizing  all  the  Jesuits  and  transporting 
them  by  sea  to  Civita  Vecchia,  where  they  were  left  to  be  main- 
tained at  the  pope's  expense  (Sept.  1759).  The  property  of  the 
society  was  confiscated,  and  this  act  was  followed  by  a  complete 
breach  between  Portugal  and  Rome.  Those  Jesuits  who  had  been 
imprisoned  for  complicity  in  the  plot  were  tried,  and  Father 
Malagrida,  a  fanatical  enthusiast,  was  executed  in  1761.  Pombal 
employed  the  Inquisition  in  the  interests  of  the  crown,  and  was  thus 
led  to  prolong  the  existence  of  an  institution  which  otherwise  he 
would  probably  have  suppressed. 

§  4.  Meanwhile  the  example  of  Portugal  had  been  followed  by  other 
countries.  A  great  scandal  was  caused  by  the  bankruptcy  of  La 
Valette,  the  head  of  a  great  Jesuit  establishment  at  Martinique, 
who  had  involved  himself  in  considerable  mercantile  undertakings. 
The  credit  of  the  society  was  immensely  shaken  by  this  affair,  and 
Venice  and  Genoa  at  once  took  steps  to  restrict  their  privileges. 
In  France  the  Parliament  of  Paris  undertook  to  revise  the  consti- 
tutions of  the  order,  and  in  1761  issued  edicts  condemning  them  as 
inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  the  realm.  The  provincial  parlia- 
ments took  the  same  line,  and  were  supported  by  the  influence  of 
Choiseul  and  Madame  de  Pompadour.  Clement  XIII.  tried  in  vain 
to  stay  the  storm,  and  the  efforts  of  the  orthodox  party  headed  by 
the  dauphin  were  equally  fruitless.  In  1764  a  royal  edict  was 
issued  which  abolished  the  Jesuits  in  France. 

Clement  XIII.  answered  this  edict  by  issuing  the  bull  Apos- 
tolicurn  pascendi  munus,  which  renewed  the  confirmation  of  the  order 
and  denied  the  truth  of  the  recent  charges.  The  only  result  of  the 
bull  was  to  intensify  the  opposition  of  the  secular  governments, 
which  were  now  reinforced  by  the  support  of  Spain.  In  1766  a 
tax  imposed  by  the  finance  minister  Squillace  provoked  a  rising  in 
Madrid,  and  Charles  III.  was  compelled  to  satisfy  the  populace  by 
dismissing  the  unpopular  foreigner.  This  was  a  serious  affront  to  a 
king,  who  held  a  high  conception  of  his  prerogative,  and  when  the 
subsequent  enquiry  pointed  to  the  Jesuits  as  the  authors  of  the 
revolt,  Charles's  devotion  to  the  church  was  overcome  by  the  desire 
for  revenge.  In  April,  1767,  an  edict  was  issued  which  banished  all 
Jesuits  from  the  kingdom,  and  measures  were  at  once  taken  to  carry 
this  into  effect.  The  unfortunate  fathers  were  crowded  into  ships 
and  carried  to  Civita  Vecchia.  The  pope  refused  to  receive  them, 
and  it  was  not  until  two  months  of  hardship  had  elapsed  that 
Choiseul  allowed  them  to  land  in  Corsica.     The  Bourbon  states  in 


a.d.  1759-1777.      SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  JESUITS.  437 

Italy  followed  the  example  of  Spain,  and  the  Jesuits  were  expelled 
from  the  Two  Sicilies  and  from  Parma. 

Pombal  now  proposed  that  the  various  states  should  combine  to 
force  the  hand  of  the  pope,  and  a  rash  act  of  Clement  XIII.  gave 
additional  weight  to  his  representations.  The  weakt  st  of  the  hostile 
powers  was  Parma,  which,  since  the  death  of  Don  Philip  in  1765, 
was  governed  by  a  French  nobleman,  du  Tillot,  as  regent  for  the 
infant  duke  Ferdinand.  The  pope,  as  claiming  to  be  feudal 
superior  of  Parma,  excommunicated  the  duke  and  declared  his 
principality  confiscated.  The  insult  to  the  house  of  Bourbon  was 
promptly  avenged.  France  seized  Avignon  and  the  Venaissin, 
while  the  Neapolitans  invaded  Beneventum.  In  January,  1769,  the 
ambassadors  of  Spain,  Naples  and  France  demanded  the  suppression 
of  the  order.  Before  he  could  give  an  answer,  death  removed  the 
pope  from  the  difficulties  that  had  gathered  so  thickly  round  him. 
Great  efforts  were  made  by  both  parties  to  influence  the  new 
election,  and  the  Jesuits  nearly  succeeded  in  carry i<  g  their  candidate. 
Ultimately  the  choice  of  the  cardinals  fell  upon  Lorenzo  Gangaiu  Hi, 
a  moderate  man  who  had  declared  for  neither  side.  The  new  pope, 
who  took  the  name  of  Clement  XIV.,  hesitate*!  for  some  years 
about  his  decision.  On  the  one  side  was  the  persistence  or  the 
secular  powers,  on  the  other  the  undisguised  threats  of  the  vengeance 
which  the  Jesuits  would  take.  Ultimately  the  poj>e  hail  to  give 
way  when  Maria  Theresa,  orthodox  as  she  was,  declined  to  support 
the  order,  and  Bavaria,  the  stronghold  of  Catholicism,  expelled 
its  members.  In  July,  1773,  Clement  XIV.  issued  a  brief,  sup- 
pressing the  Jesuits,  to  the  intense  delight  of  the  progressive 
party  throughout  Europe.  But  Clement's  fears  proved  to  be 
well-founded.  In  the  next  year  he  was  suddenly  seized  by  a 
fatal  illness,  and  the  symptoms  left  little  doubt  that  he  perished 
of  poison.  The  fall  of  the  Jesuits  was  not  final.  The  reaction 
against  the  excesses  of  the  Revolution  gave  them  before  long  a  new 
lease  of  existence. 

Pombal  continued  his  reforming  activity  in  Portugal  until  the 
death  of  Joseph  I.  in  1777,  when  the  crown  passed  to  his  eldest 
daughter  Maria,  who  had  married  her  uncle  Don  Pedro.  The 
minister  who  had  rendered  such  services  to  his  country  was 
dismissed,  and  persecuted  by  hostile  accusations  till  his  death  in 
1782.  The  new  government  adopted  a  reactionary  policy,  and  Por- 
tugal relapsed  into  its  former  lethargy.  In  Spain  the  reforms  of 
Charles  III.  were  more  moderate  and  therefore  more  lasting.  Two 
ministers  belonging  to  the  liberal  party,  Campananes  and  Florida 
Blanca,  governed  the  state  during  his  long  reign,  and  after  his  death 
in  1788  the  latter  retained  his  power  for  four  more  years.     The 


438  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

outbreak    of  revolutionary  violence   in   Paris   was    fatal    to   the 
cause  of  reform  in  other  countries. 


II.  Eastern  Europe  and  the  First  Partition  of  Poland. 

§  5.  The  policy  of  Maria  Theresa  and  Kaunitz  was  unaltered  by  the 
disasters  of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  They  continued  to  uphold  the 
alliance  with  France  as  the  only  secure  means  of  counterbalancing 
Prussia.  But  Austria  had  suffered  one  very  severe  loss  in  the 
defection  of  Russia.  All  attempts  failed  to  induce  Catharine  II.  to 
adopt  the  same  attitude  as  Elizabeth  had  done.  This  compelled 
Austria  to  desist  from  its  projects  of  aggression  and  revenge,  and  to 
direct  its  efforts  to  avoid  the  outbreak  of  a  new  war.  In  1764.  the 
archduke  Joseph  was  unanimously  elected  King  of  the  Romans,  all 
difficulties  having  been  removed  by  the  withdrawal  of  Prussian 
opposition.  In  the  next  year  the  emperor  Francis  I.  died  suddenly. 
He  had  been  kept  in  the  background  by  the  superior  qualities  of  his 
wife,  and  had  distinguished  himself  only  in  reforming  the  Austrian 
finances,  a  task  for  which  his  business  capacities  and  tastes  admi- 
rably fitted  him.  Joseph  now  became  emperor,  and  was  appointed 
by  his  mother  joint-ruler  of  the  Austrian  states.  His  younger 
brother  Leopold  succeeded  to  the  grand  duchy  of  Tuscany.  From 
this  time  the  administration  at  Vienna  loses  much  of  its  unity. 
Maria  Theresa,  as  she  grew  older,  became  more  orthodox  and  con- 
servative, and  more  disinclined  to  commit  herself  to  an  energetic 
foreign  policy.  Joseph,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an  ardent  champion 
of  the  new  ideas,  eager  for  religious  toleration  and  domestic 
reforms,  and  ambitious  to  increase  the  power  that  had  fallen  to 
him. 

§  6.  In  Prussia  the  great  problem  which  Frederick  had  to  solve 
after  the  peace  of  Hubertsburg  was  to  repair  the  ruin  that  the  war 
had  brought  upon  his  kingdom.  He  grappled  with  the  difficulty 
with  characteristic  energy,  and  the  centralised  administration  which 
he  had  established  gave  him  great  advantages  in  carrying  out  the 
work.  Fortunately  he  had  avoided  running  into  debt,  and  had  even 
collected  money  for  a  new  campaign  should  it  be  necessary.  Re- 
gardless of  the  lessons  of  the  new  political  economy,  he  employed 
his  capital  in  subsidising  industry  of  all  kinds,  and  he  took  stringent 
measures  to  restrict  both  the  exportation  of  raw  produce  and  the 
importation  of  manufactured  goods,  so  as  to  make  his  country  self- 
supporting.  His  policy  was  wonderfully  successful  within  certain 
limits,  and  Prussia  owed  to  him  the  revival  if  not  the  creation  of  its 
industrial  prosperity.  But  he  could  never  have  done  this  if  he  had 
not  been  careful  to  maintain  the  peace  of  which  the  country  stood 


ad.  1763.  CATHARINE  II.  439 

in  such  earnest  need.  To  insure  peace  it  was  necessary  to  keep  his 
army  on  a  footing  that  would  inspire  respect,  and  to  raise  supplies 
for  this  purpose  he  incurred  great  unpopularity  by  imposing  an 
excise  and  by  introducing  French  officials  to  organize  and  collect 
the  tax.  But  he  also  needed  allies.  France  and  Austria  were  sus- 
picious and  their  friendship  was  not  to  be  relied  upon.  England 
was  distrusted  by  Frederick  ever  since  Bute  had  succeeded  in  ousting 
the  ministry  of  Pitt,  and  moreover  England  had  withdrawn  to  a 
great  extent  from  continental  politics.  It  was  therefore  a  great 
relief  to  the  king  when  Russia  proffered  her  support  He  eagerly 
accepted  the  overtures  made  to  him,  and  was  willing  to  risk  con- 
siderable sacrifices  to  maintain  an  alliance  on  which  the  security  of 
Prussia  and  the  duration  of  peace  equally  depended. 

§  7.  In  spite  of  the  ease  with  which  the  revolution  of  1762  had 
been  accomplished,  Catharine  II.  was  far  from  feeling  secure  upon 
the  Russian  throne.  She  was  anxious  to  carry  out  those  reforms, 
religious  and  political,  which  had  roused  such  a  storm  against  her 
husband.  The  result  was  wide-spread  disaffection,  and  the  foreign 
envoys  reported  that  the  new  government  was  not  likely  to  last  long. 
But  Catharine  had  gained  over  the  soldiers,  and  she  took  prompt 
measures  to  check  a  rising.  The  unfortunate  I  wan  VI.  had  been 
imprisoned  ever  since  1740.  Advantage  was  taken  of  a  conspiracy 
fur  his  release  to  put  him  to  death,  and  thus  a  pretender  whose 
birth  made  him  formidable  was  removed,  llu  Catharine  was  fully 
conscious  that  her  position,  as  a  foreigner,  could  never  be  really  safe 
until  she  could  identify  herself  with  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of 
the  national  party.  For  this  end  she  reverted  to  the  ambitious 
schemes  of  Peter  the  Great  and  endeavoured  to  distract  the  atten- 
tion of  her  subjects  by  a  vigorous  policy  of  aggrandisement. 
Russia  had  suffered  less  than  the  other  combatants  in  the  war,  and 
was  now  the  most  powerful  state  of  northern  Europe.  It  was 
Catharine's  task  to  make  this  power  felt  and  recognised,  and  she 
perceived  that  this  could  best  be  accomplished  by  an  alliance  with 
Prussia.  France  was  the  old  opponent  of  Russian  influence  in  the 
north,  and  though  this  duty  had  been  recently  neglected,  there  was 
no  doubt  that  it  would  be  resumed  now  that  the  connection  with 
Ku-sia  had  been  severed.  To  counterbalance  the  alliance  that 
t  \i-ted  between  the  Bourbon  states  and  Austria,  which  had  been 
cemented  by  several  intermarriages,  Catharine  was  anxious  to 
form  a  great  coalition  of  the  north  between  llussia,  Prussia  and 
England. 

§  8.  The  pivot  on  which  the  relations  of  the  eastern  states  turned  at 
this  period  was  the  fortunes  of  Poland.  The  time  had  long  passed 
since  Poland  had  been  an  object  of  terror  to  its  German  neighbours. 


440  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

Its  decline  was  due  in  the  first  place  to  internal  anarchy.  The  govern- 
ment was  nominally  a  monarchy,  but  really  a  republic,  in  which  the 
nobles  had  a  monopoly  of  power.  There  was  no  middle  class  to 
act  as  a  link  between  the  nobles  and  the  crowd  of  oppressed  and 
powerless  serfs.  The  constitution,  such  as  it  was,  rested  upon  a 
triple  basis;  the  elective  character  of  the  monarchy,  which  enabled 
the  nobles  to  make  their  own  terms  with  the  king  of  their  choice ; 
the  liberum  veto,  by  which  a  single  noble  could  frustrate  the 
decisions  of  the  diet;  and  the  right  of  confederation,  which  au- 
thorised any  number  of  nobles  to  combine  to  effect  an  object,  if 
necessary,  with  arms.  The  disorder  to  which  such  institutions 
naturally  gave  rise  were  complicated  by  religious  differences.  In 
the  latter  part  of  the  16th  century  Poland  had  become  the  northern 
centre  of  the  Catholic  reaction,  and  from  that  time  orthodoxy  had 
been  maintained  by  rigid  persecution.  In  1733  a  decree  was  passed 
which  declared  all  non-Catholics  incapable  of  holding  any  office  or 
even  of  sitting  in  the  diet.  The  "dissidents,"  as  they  were  called, 
consisted  of  two  chief  classes,  the  Protestants  in  the  western 
districts,  and  the  adherents  of  the  Greek  Church  in  the  east  near 
the  borders  of  Russia.  Both  had  been  treated  with  equal  injustice 
by  the  dominant  sect,  and  their  complaints  had  given  frequent 
excuses  for  intervention  on  the  part  of  foreign  powers.  For  two 
generations  Poland  had  been  ruled  by  members  of  the  Saxon  house, 
Augustus  H.  and  III.  If  another  member  could  obtain  the 
succession,  the  crown  might  possibly  be  rendered  hereditary.  But 
in  Poland  itself  there  was  a  strong  feeling  against  perpetuating  the 
Saxon  connection,  and  it  was  also  certain  that  too  many  foreign 
interests  were  involved  for  the  matter  to  be  regulated  as  a  purely 
domestic  question  for  the  Poles. 

Perhaps  the  interest  most  directly  involved  in  the  fate  of  Poland 
was  that  of  Prussia.  Frederick,  though  he  had  few  religious  convic- 
tions, had  found  it  advantageous  to  follow  the  example  of  his  father, 
and  to  pose  as  the  champion  of  Protestantism.  He  was  therefore 
the  natural  ally  of  a  large  number  of  the  Polish  dissidents,  and  was  in 
fact  bound  by  treaty  to  support  them.  Again,  Saxony  was  the 
rival  of  Prussia  in  northern  Germany,  and  the  two  states  had  recently 
been  engaged  in  a  bitter  quarrel.  It  was  a  natural  wish  of  Frederick's 
to  prevent  his  neighbours  from  obtaining  hereditary  possession  of 
the  Polish  crown.  But  he  had  still  more  vital  interests  at  stake. 
Prussia,  the  territory  from  which  his  kingdom  took  its  name,  the 
modern  East-Prussia,  had  been  a  Polish  fief;  and  though  it  had 
been  freed  from  dependence  by  the  Great  Elector,  it  was  cut  off 
from  Brandenburg  by  the  considerable  province  of  Polish-Prussia  on 
the  western  side  of  the  Vistula.     The  result  of  this  separation  was 


a.d.  1733-176a  POLAND.  441 

clearly  manifest  in  the  recent  war,  when  it  had  been  utterly 
impossible  to  defend  East  Prussia  against  the  Russians,  and  but  for 
Elizabeth's  death  the  province  might  have  been  annexed  to  the 
empire  of  the  Czars.  It  was  urgently  necessary  for  Prussia  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  intervening  territory,  and  Frederick  was 
from  the  first  eager  to  arrange  a  partition  of  Poland  by  which  he 
could  make  the  acquisition  without  exciting  alarm  and  jealousy. 
But,  as  matters  stood,  he  could  not  take  the  initiative,  and  was 
compelled  to  fall  in  with  the  designs  of  Russia  until  the  opportu- 
nity presented  itself  for  effecting  his  own  aims. 

Russia  was  almost  as  directly  interested,  and  was  more  determined 
to  execute  its  intentions.  In  the  Seven  Years'  War,  Poland,  in 
spite  of  its  nominal  neutrality,  had  served  as  a  convenient  base  of 
military  operations  for  the  Russians.  On  the  conclusion  of  the 
peace  the  troops  were  withdrawn,  but  Catharine  determined  to 
retain  her  hold  on  a  province  which  had  been  so  useful.  This 
could  no  longer  be  done  directly,  but  it  could  be  made  quite  as 
effective  by  indirect  means.  Catharine,  like  Frederick,  wished 
to  exclude  the  Saxon  house  from  the  throne.  Saxony  was  the 
ally  of  Austria  and  France,  the  two  powers  which  were  jealous 
of  the  progress  of  Russia.  Moreover  Catharine  had  already 
quarrelled  with  Saxony  about  Courland,  where  she  had  replaced  the 
exiled  Biren,  after  expelling  Prince  Charles,  one  of  the  sons  of 
Augustus  III.,  who  had  been  established  by  Elizabeth  in  1759. 
Her  plan  was  to  place  a  native  pia&t  on  the  throne,  who  should  be 
bound  to  her  by  gratitude  and  by  the  need  of  support,  and  through 
whom  she  could  practically  govern  Poland.  If  possible,  she  would 
have  preferred  to  annex  the  kingdom  altogether.  Parts  of  Poland, 
White  Russia,  Black  Russia  and  Little  Russia,  had  once  belonged 
to  the  territory  of  St.  Vladimir,  and  the  national  party  at  St. 
Petersburg,  which  the  Czarina  was  anxious  to  conciliate,  was  very 
eager  for  their  recovery.  But  Catharine  was  averse  to  a  partition, 
and  an  annexation  was  impossible  without  forcing  on  a  new 
European  war,  so  she  was  content  to  pursue  the  more  moderate 
plan,  and  to  wait  for  favourable  circumstances  to  develop  it. 

France  had  at  one  time  had  a  strong  party  in  Poland.  A  French 
prince  had  once  occupied  the  throne,  and  several  had  aspired  to  the 
same  place.  Quite  recently  Louis  XV.  had  entertained  schemes  for 
obtaining  the  crown  for  the  Prince  of  Conti.  But  these  plans  and 
the  French  party  had  been  overthrown  by  the  change  of  policy 
effected  by  Madame  de  Pompadour  and  Bernis.  Alliance  with 
Austria  had  compelled  France  to  give  up  opposing  the  designs  of 
Russia,  and  virtually  to  hand  the  kingdom  over  to  the  rival  influence. 
The  marriage  of  the  dauphin  to  a  daughter  of  Augustus  III.  had 


442  MODEKN  EUROPE,  Chap.  xx. 

brought  France  into  close  connection  with  the  house  of  Saxony,  and 
it  was  now  proposed  to  back  up  the  efforts  of  that  house  to  retain 
its  hold  upon  Poland.  Thus  France  placed  itself  in  a  wholly  false 
and  illogical  position.  Severing  itself  from  its  old  friends,  the  party 
of  reform,  who  wished  to  strengthen  the  monarchy  and  to  abolish 
the  liberum  veto,  it  allied  itself  with  the  adherents  of  Saxony,  the 
party  of  anarchy,  who  wished  to  perpetuate  the  old  abuses  and  who 
arrogated  to  themselves  the  name  of  "  patriots."  And  this  line  of 
policy,  when  once  taken  up,  was  not  pursued  with  the  energy 
needed  to  ensure  success.  Choiseul  was  too  absorbed  in  the  dream 
of  regaining  naval  supremacy  from  England  to  pay  proper  atten- 
tion to  affairs  in  Poland,  and  when  he  was  at  last  aware  of  his  error 
it  was  too  late  to  remedy  it. 

Austria  acted  in  concert  with  France  in  support  of  the  Saxon 
claims,  and  its  conduct  is  open  to  the  same  criticism.  But  Maria 
Theresa  and  Kaunitz  were  resolved  not  to  sacrifice  anything  for 
their  candidate.  The  first  object  of  their  policy  was  to  avoid  a  war, 
the  second  to  prevent  a  partition  of  Poland.  As  long  as  these 
were  realised  they  were  fairly  satisfied  to  let  Catharine  have  her 
own  way  about  the  election.  The  bold  and  decisive  attitude 
assumed  by  Russia  contrasts  strongly  with  the  vacillation  of  Austria 
and  France. 

§  9.  In  the  midst  of  all  the  various  schemes  and  intrigues  Augus- 
tus III.  died  on  the  5th  of  October,  1763.  Catharine  was  already 
prepared  with  her  candidate,  Stanislaus  Poniatowski,  one  of  her 
former  lovers  and  a  nephew  of  the  Czartoriskis,  the  leaders  of  the 
anti-Saxon  party  among  the  native  Poles.  In  opposition  to  them 
was  a  strong  party  opposed  to  the  establishment  of  Russian 
influence,  and  headed  by  Branitzki  and  Radziwill.  They  were 
inclined  to  put  forward  the  new  elector  of  Saxony,  Frederick 
Christian,  and  he  would  have  had  the  support  of  Austria  and  France. 
But  in  December,  1763,  he  followed  his  father  to  the  grave,  and  the 
electorate  passed  to  his  son,  Frederick  Augustus,  who  was  only 
thirteen  years  old,  and  whose  election  in  Poland  was  impossible, 
There  were  two  other  sons  of  Augustus  III.,  Xavier  and  Charles, 
but  neither  had  a  great  following  in  the  country.  Branitzki  him- 
self was  put  forward  as  a  candidate,  and  his  position  as  commander 
of  the  army  gave  him  considerable  advantages.  But  the  party  had 
ceased  to  be  unanimous,  and  had  now  a  very  slight  prospect  of 
success.  Some  of  the  Poles  offered  to  support  Prince  Henry  of 
Prussia,  but  Frederick  promptly  refused  to  allow  him  to  come 
orward.  Meanwhile  Russian  troops  had  entered  Poland  to  assist 
the  Czartoriskis.  Austria  and  France  were  provoked  by  this  into 
issuing  a  declaration  of  their  intention  to  maintain  the  freedom  of 


a.d.  1763-1766.         STANISLAUS  PONIATOWSKL  443 

election  (March,  1764).  This  was  answered  in  the  next  month  by 
the  conclusion  of  a  formal  treaty  between  Catharine  and  Frederick. 
Ostensibly  only  a  defensive  alliance  for  eight  years,  it  contained 
secret  articles  by  which  the  two  sovereigns  agreed  to  protect  the 
dissidents,  to  maintain  the  Polish  constitution  intact,  and  to  bring 
about  the  election  of  a  native  piast.  '1  his  practically  settled  the 
question.  France  was  too  far  off  to  interlere  otherwise  than  by 
diplomacy,  and  Austria  was  convinced  that  the  sending  of  troops 
into  Poland  would  force  Prussia  to  take  a  similar  step  and  rekindle 
the  war.  The  Czartoriskis  were  anxious  to  introduce  reforms,  and 
especially  to  abolish  the  right  of  veto,  but  they  were  prevented 
by  Catharine.  The  election  was  decided  by  the  presence  of  the 
Russians,  and  on  the  7th  of  September.  1  764*  Stanislaus  PoofetoWlkJ 
was  unanimously  chosen  by  a  diet  from  whieh  the  vast  majority  of 
electors  absented  themselves. 

§  1<>.  The  election  was  a  great  triumph  for  Russia.  The  character 
of  the  new  king,  who  was  full  of  good  intentions  but  weak  and 
vacillating,  seemed  to  ensure  his  remaining  a  submissive  tool. 
Rejuiin,  the  Russian  ambassador,  acted  as  if  he  was  the  real  ruler  of 
the  country,  and  he  retained  the  troops  in  order  t<»  enforce  his  will. 
Catharine  was  determined  to  carry  one  great  measure,  the  enfran- 
ehisement  of  the  dissidents  from  all  the  disqualifications  that  hftd 
been  imposed  upon  them.  But  the  task  proved  even  more  difficult 
than  had  been  anticipated.  The  mass  of  the  Poles  were  fanatically 
Catholic,  while  Stanislaus  and  the  Czartoriskis  were  eager  to  intro- 
duce constitutional  rather  than  religious  reforms.  Now  that  the 
subservience  of  Poland  seemed  assured,  Catharine  was  less  un- 
willing to  strengthen  the  kingdom  by  putting  an  end  to  anarchy 
than  she  had  been  before.  But  here  the  interests  of  Prussia  were 
wholly  opposed,  and  Frederick  maintained  that  though  Stanislaus' 
intentions  might  be  good,  yet  under  his  successors  a  reformed 
Poland  might  be  a  dangerous  neighbour.  Ultimately  Repnin 
declared  that  the  dissidents  must  be  made  eligible  to  all  offices,  to 
the  diet  and  the  senate,  but  that  no  restriction  should  be  imposed 
on  the  liberum  veto.  Stanislaus  was  obliged  to  comply  against  his 
will,  and  in  the  diet  of  1766  he  brought  forward  the  question  of  the 
dissidents.  The  Russian  proposals  were  so  extreme  as  to  provoke  a 
st- Tin  of  disapprobation.  It  might  have  been  possible  to  obtain 
toleration  for  the  proscribed  religionists,  but  to  expect  the  Catholics 
to  admit  their  hated  opponents  to  a  share  in  the  making  and 
administration  of  the  laws  was  absurd.  Frederick  had  already  seen 
this,  and  had  vainly  urged  the  Czarina  to  moderate  her  demands. 
The  diet  was  carried  away  by  hostility  to  foreign  intervention,  and 
instead  of  granting  concessions  it  decided  that  all  the  old  laws  against 


444  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

the  dissidents  should  be  maintained  intact.     The  diet  was  at  once 
dissolved  (Nov.  30,  1766). 

Catharine  was  not  in  the  least  shakeji  in  her  determination  by 
this  untoward  decision,  but  she  perceived  that  other  means  must  be 
found  to  carry  it  out.  The  Czartoriskis  had  proved  themselves 
insufficient  allies,  therefore  the  reform  must  be  effected  without, 
and  if  necessary  against,  them.  By  its  attitude  in  the  question  of 
constitutional  changes  Russia  had  practically  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  "  patriots,"  who  wished  to  retain  things  as  they  were.  By 
granting  their  wishes  in  this  respect  it  might  be  possible  to  induce 
them  to  support  the  wishes  of  Russia.  Repnin  set  to  work  to 
organise  confederations  of  the  dissidents  in  1767.  They  were  joined 
by  a  large  number  of  the  patriot  party,  who  were  led  to  expect  that 
the  Czartoriskis  would  be  expelled  from  office  and  that  probably 
Stanislaus  would  be  deposed.  In  June  the  smaller  unions  were 
combined  into  one  general  confederation  at  Radom  under  the 
leadership  of  Radziwill,  who  had  been  induced  to  come  over  to  the 
Russian  cause.  The  presence  of  Russian  troops  compelled  the  con- 
federation to  accept  an  "  instrument,"  by  which  they  undertook  to 
obtain  complete  religious  equality  for  the  dissidents,  and  requested 
Russia  to  guarantee  the  laws  that  should  be  made  in  the 
approaching  diet.  No  pains  were  spared  by  Repnin  to  influence 
the  elections  by  bribes  and  intimidation,  and  the  diet  met  in 
October.  But  the  assembly  was  not  inclined  to  accept  the 
instrument  of  Radom  unconditionally.  It  was  now  manifest  that 
the  Czarina  did  not  intend  to  depose  Stanislaus,  and  the  patriots 
felt  that  they  had  been  deceived.  But  opposition  was  overawed  by 
Repnin,  who  promptly  imprisoned  the  bishops  and  the  leading  mal- 
contents. The  diet  gave  way,  appointed  a  delegation  to  draw  up 
the  proposed  reforms,  and  prorogued  itself  till  it  could  receive  the 
report.  When  it  met  again  in  February,  1768,  it  was  only  to  confirm 
the  statutes  which  the  delegation  had  prepared  in  the  interval 
under  Kepnin's  dictation.  The  dissidents  were  to  be  placed  on  an 
equal  footing  with  the  Catholics  as  regards  all  political  rights,  inter- 
marriages were  permitted,  and  all  ecclesiastical  disputes  were  to  be 
decided  by  courts  in  which  Catholics  and  dissidents  were  to  be 
equally  represented.  At  the  same  time  new  secular  laws  were 
drawn  up  for  the  constitution  of  Poland.  In  all  matters  of  state 
the  necessity  of  unanimity  was  retained,  except  in  financial  questions, 
when  a  majority  could  decide.  Some  few  reforms  were  introduced  : 
the  right  of  a  lord  to  put  his  serf  to  death  was  abolished,  and 
tribunals  were  established  to  adjudicate  between  the  two  classes. 
The  diet  declared  these  laws  to  be  perpetual  and  unalterable ;  no 
change  could  be  made  even  by  a  unanimous  vote  in  the  future. 


a.d.  1766-1769.  POLAND.  445 

On  the  24th  of  February  the  diet,  and  with  it  the  confederation  of 
Radom,  was  dissolved. 

Russia  had  for  the  moment  carried  matters  with  the  strong  hand, 
but  the  latter  measures  had  been  disapproved  by  Frederick.  Now 
that  Catharine  had  established  her  control  over  Poland  it  was  her 
interest  to  introduce  such  changes  in  the  state  as  should  make 
it  stronger  and  more  useful  to  herself.  But  Frederick  had  always 
maintained  that  Prussia  could  only  be  secure  while  Poland  was 
weak.  If  this  was  true  when  the  kingdom  was  subject  to  Saxony, 
it  was  still  more  so  now  that  it  had  fallen  under  Hussian  domi- 
nation. His  treaty  with  Catharine  was  only  for  eight  years,  and 
when  they  had  elapsed  it  was  quite  possible  that  Russia  might 
employ  its  ascendency  in  Poland  to  attack  Prussia. 

§  11.  The  hopes  which  the  Russians  had  based  upon  the  decision  of 
the  diet  proved  fallacious.  The  wildest  discontent  prevailed  in  Poland. 
III.  Prussian  envoy  at  Warsaw  sent  the  following  report  to  Berlin  : 
"  The  guarantee  of  the  constitution  irritates  the  Poles  even  more 
than  the  toleration  of  the  dissidents.  They  fear  that  they  have 
become  a  province  of  Russia.  They  would  submit  to  a  foreign  rule  ; 
but  Russia  talks  always  of  their  rights  and  liberties,  and  then 
tyrannises  over  them;  this  is  intolerable  to  them."  In  southern 
Poland  the  reaction  was  strongest,  and  there  an  enormous  number 
of  nobles  formed  the  confederation  of  Bar,  and  swore  to  uphold  their 
religion  and  their  independence.  The  Russian  troops  which  had 
begun  to  leave  the  country  were  recalled  to  put  down  the  opposition, 
which  they  did  with  equal  severity  and  success.  But  the  P«.les 
were  not  wholly  dependent  upon  their  own  exertions.  The  rapid 
strides  made  by  the  Russian  power  had  at  last  opened  the  eyes  of 
France  to  the  real  significance  of  events  in  Poland,  and  Choiseul 
was  now  eager  to  repair  the  losses  for  which  his  negligence  was 
partially  responsible.  Not  content  with  encouraging  the  rebels  in 
every  way,  he  combined  with  Austria  to  urge  the  Turks  into  war 
with  Russia.  In  July  the  Russian  troops  had  pursued  the  confede- 
rates into  Turkish  territory  and  destroyed  the  town  of  Balta.  This 
occurrence  forced  the  Porte  into  war,  and  thus  brought  about  the 
very  result  which  Frederick  had  striven  to  avoid.  Hitherto  he  had 
watched  the  course  of  events  with  interest  but  without  anxiety,  now 
he  strained  every  nerve  to  prevent  the  quarrel  becoming  a  general 
one.  Choiseul  made  overtures  in  Berlin  with  the  object  of  detaching 
Prussia  from  the  Russian  alliance,  but  Frederick  listened  to  them 
with  something  approaching  to  scorn.  But  at  the  same  time  the 
Austrian  government,  at  French  instigation,  made  advances  to 
Prussia ;  and  it  was  arranged  that  an  interview  should  take  place 
in  1769  between  Frederick  and  the  emperor  Joseph.    This  held  out 


446  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

considerable  advantages  to  the  Prussian  king.  His  great  desire  was 
to  separate  Austria  from  France,  and  so  form  a  substantial  alliance 
between  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia.  This  could  only  be  effected 
by  bribing  the  court  of  Vienna,  and  now  for  the  first  time  the  idea 
of  a  partition  presented  itself  to  him  as  a  feasible  plan.  In  January, 
1769,  he  communicated  to  Solms,  his  ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg, 
the  outlines  of  a  scheme  that  had  been  suggested  by  Count  Lynar, 
the  negotiator  of  the  convention  of  Closter-Seven.  Austria  was  to 
help  Russia  against  the  Turks,  and  to  receive  as  a  reward  Lemberg 
and  the  territory  of  Zips.  Frederick  himself  was  to  have  Polish 
Prussia  and  the  protectorate  of  Danzig  ;  and  Russia,  as  compensation 
for  its  military  expenses,  was  to  take  the  adjacent  part  of  Poland. 
The  project,  which  Frederick  himself  described  as  "chimerical," 
was  coldly  received  by  the  Russian  minister,  Panin,  and  was  allowed 
to  drop. 

By  this  time  the  Turkish  war  had  broken  out.  The  Sultan, 
Mustafa  III.,  was  opposed  to  intervention  in  Poland ;  but  his 
hand  was  forced  by  a  rising  in  Constantinople,  and  he  declared  war 
against  Russia  in  October,  1768.  Hostilities  were  not  commenced 
till  the  next  year,  and  they  never  assumed  considerable  proportions. 
The  Turkish  army  was  in  the  last  stage  of  inefficiency,  and  the 
Russians,  who  were  wholly  unprepared  for  war,  were  little  better 
Galitzin,  an  incompetent  commander,  defeated  the  grand  vizier,  and 
took  Khoczim  after  his  first  attack  had  been  repulsed.  His  successor, 
Romanzow,  "  the  Russian  Turenne,"  acted  with  greater  energy.  He 
drove  the  Turks  from  Moldavia,  and  in  1770  he  occupied  Wallachia, 
won  a  great  victory  over  vastly  superior  numbers  at  Kaghul,  and 
advanced  into  the  Crimea.  At  the  same  time  a  Russian  fleet 
appeared  in  the  Mediterranean  with  the  avowed  intention  cf 
restoring  Greece  to  independence.  But  the  admiral,  Alexis  Orloff, 
mismanaged  the  expedition.  After  encouraging  the  Greeks  to  rebel, 
he  left  them  to  the  horrors  of  a  Turkish  revenge,  and  sailed  towards 
Constantinople.  A  victory  over  the  Turkish  fleet  gave  him  posses- 
sion of  Chios  and  other  islands  of  the  Archipelago,  but  he  refused, 
in  spite  of  his  English  officers,  to  attempt  the  pnssage  of  the 
Dardanelles.  So  far  from  being  able  to  assist  the  Poles,  the  Turks  were 
reduced  to  the  greatest  straits,  and  were  compelled  to  think  seriously 
of  peace.  In  Poland  the  Russians  had  easily  crushed  the  confede- 
rates of  Bar  and  re-established  their  hold  on  the  kingdom.  Wher- 
ever their  authority  failed  to  reach,  the  greatest  anarchy  prevailed, 
and  Austria  took  advantage  of  this  to  take  possession  of  the  terri- 
tory of  Zips,  to  which  it  could  advance  ancient  but  not  very  valid 
claims.  This  act  was  resented  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  was  pro- 
ductive of  not  unimportant  results. 


a.d.  1769-1770.       PROPOSAL  OF  PARTITION.  447 

§  12.  Meanwhile  "Joseph  had  paid  Frederick  the  proposed  visit  in 
October,  1769,  at  Neisse  in  Silesia.  The  place  was  well  suited  for  an 
interview  which  was  intended  on  the  part  of  Austria  to  express  its 
final  renunciation  of  the  province  for  which  so  much  blood  had 
been  shed.  Both  king  and  emperor  were  favourably  impressed  with 
each  other,  but  the  meeting  bad  no  great  political  results.  It  was 
an  indirect  advantage  to  Frederick,  inasmuch  as  it  raised  the  value  of 
his  alliance  in  the  eyes  of  Russia,  and  the  renewed  treaty  which 
was  arranged  before  the  end  of  the  year  contained  stipulations  more 
favourable  to  Prussia  than  had  been  secured  in  1764.  In  the 
autumn  of  1770,  Frederick  paid  his  return  visit  to  the  emperor  at 
Neustadt,  and  at  this  interview,  which  was  politically  much  more 
important  than  the  former  one,  Kaunitz  was  present.  The  great 
subjects  of  discussion  were  the  affairs  of  Poland  and  the  Turkish  war. 
No  definite  agreement  was  come  to,  but  Kaunitz  undertook  to  state 
clearly  the  views  and  intentions  of  Austria.  The  successes  of  the 
Russian  arms  had  excited  well-founded  alarm  in  Vienna.  It  would 
be  intolerable  if  the  Russians  were  allowed  to  establish  themselves 
in  Moldavia  and  Wallachia  on  the  very  frontiers  of  Austria. 
Kaunitz  declared  that  any  attempt  to  do  this  would  force  Austria 
into  war,  which  he  and  Frederick  wished  to  avoid.  This  was  the 
point  at  which  Austrian  and  Prussian  interests  converged.  Both 
powers  were  eager  to  arrange  a  peace,  and  it  was  hailed  as  a 
fortunate  coincidence  that  during  the  interview  letters  arrived  in 
which  the  Porte  solicited  the  mediation  of  Austria  and  Prussia. 
Fiederick  undertook  to  communicate  the  views  of  Austria  to 
Si  IVtersburg,  and  to  support  them  by  his  own  influence.  This 
important  negotiation  was  entrusted  to  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia, 
who  arrived  in  St.  Petersburg  in  October,  1770.  It  was  this  embassy 
that  originated  the  scheme  of  partition  as  the  best  practical  method 
of  solving  the  difficulties.  Catharine,  referring  to  the  Austrian  occu- 
pation of  Zips,  remarked  that  everybody  seemed  able  to  take  what 
they  liked  in  Poland.  From  this  time  the  arrangement  of  a  parti- 
tion became  the  chief  object  of  diplomacy.  It  was  necessary,  in 
order  to  secure  peace,  that  Russia  should  resign  its  Turkish  conquests. 
For  this  moderation  it  could  only  be  comjKMisated  at  the  expense 
of  Poland.  Prussia,  as  we  have  seen,  had  obvious  motives  for 
desiring  the  acquisition  of  Polish  Prussia,  which  could  be  taken  as 
repayment  of  the  subsidies  paid  to  Russia.  Austria  could  best  be 
satisfied  with  a  share  of  the  booty. 

The  practical  advantages  of  a  partition  are  obvious,  and  from 
what  has  gone  before  it  is  equally  obvious  that  no  one  can  be 
specially  accused  of  having  suggested  it.  The  scheme  was  in  the 
air*  and  had  been  so  for  a  long  time.    John  Casimir  had  prophesied 


448  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

this  fate  for  Poland  more  than  a  century  ago.  Frederick,  ever  since 
his  accession,  had  looked  forward  to  it  as  a  dream  which  he  could 
hardly  hope  to  realise.  Even  France,  which  afterwards  made  the 
loudest  outcry  about  the  injustice  of  the  transaction,  was  not  with- 
out responsibility.  Choiseul  had  definitely  offered  to  Fredjrick 
Courland  and  Ermeland  as  the  price  of  his  desertion  of  the  Russian 
alliance.  It  is  none  the  less  true  because  it  has  become  a  common- 
place that  Poland  deserved  no  better  fate.  Its  anarchical  constitu- 
tion could  not  be  regarded  as  a  domestic  matter,  because  it  invited 
and  practically  compelled  the  intervention  of  its  neighbours.  It 
ha  1  become  a  firebrand  in  the  midst  of  Europe,  and  the  other  powers 
were  justified  in  taking  measures  to  suppress  it. 

These  considerations  may  be  regarded  as  justifying  the  partition 
itself,  but  hardly  the  means  which  were  adopted  in  carrying  it  out. 
For  nearly  two  years  the  negotiations  went  on,  and  finally  resolved 
themselves  into  a  scramble  for  the  largest  share  of  the  booty.  The 
chief  burden  of  the  diplomacy  fell  upon  Frederick,  who  had  the 
greatest  interest  in  arranging  a  permanent  peace.  Matters  were 
facilitated  somewhat  by  the  downfall  of  Chois;  ul,  whose  continuance 
in  office  might  have  altered  the  course  of  events.  His  successor 
left  the  eastern  powers  to  settle  the  matter  among  themselves. 
Catharine  was  stirred  to  new  enmity  against  Poland  by  an  attempt 
of  the  confederates  in  1771  to  seize  the  person  of  Stanislaus.  The 
greatest  difficulties  were  raised  by  Austria.  Maria  Theresa  was 
opposed  to  the  partition,  but  her  wishes  were  overruled  by  Kaunitz 
and  Joseph.  Their  demands,  however,  were  so  excessive,  that  a 
long  time  was  spent  in  inducing  them  to  moderate  them. 
Ultimately  a  treaty  was  signed  at  St.  Petersburg  in  August,  1772, 
between  the  three  powers,  which  virtually  settled  the  matter.  Russia 
obtained  Polish  Livonia  and  part  of  Lithuania,  a  territory  containing 
2500  square  miles  and  about  a  million  and  a  half  of  inhabitants. 
To  Austria  were  assigned  the  county  of  Zips  and  the  province  o 
Red  Russia,  about  1300  square  miles,  with  a  population  of  two  and 
a  half  millions.  Prussia  renounced  Danzig,  but  took  the  coveted 
district  of  West  Prussia,  which  gave  complete  control  of  the  Vistula, 
and  the  population  of  which  amounted  to  about  900,000.  It  only 
remained  to  secure  the.  approval  of  the  Polish  diet,  and  this  was 
effected  by  a  combination  of  bribes  and  intimidation.  The  diet  met 
in  1773,  was  converted  into  a  confederation  to  avoid  the  veto,  and 
finally  sanctioned  the  treaty  in  September.  The  three  powers  had 
already  sent  troops  to  occupy  the  shares  assigned  to  each  respectively. 
Stanislaus  remained  king  of  the  rtst  ot*  Poland  ;  but  he  could  only 
rule  in  complete  dependence  upon  Russia,  and  his  power  was  a 
mere  shadow  compared  to  that  of  the  Russian  envoy  at  Warsaw. 


a.d.  1771-1774.  KUTSCHUK  KAINARDJI.  449 

Meanwhile  the  Turkish  war  had  not  been  ended.  A  truce  had 
been  arranged  in  May,  1772,  and  a  congress  had  assembled  to  settle 
the  terms  of  peace.  But  the  Russian  demands  were  too  excessive 
fur  the  Porte  to  accept,  and  the  Turks  resumed  hostilities  in  1773. 
They  attempted  to  recover  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  and  for  a  time 
they  succeeded  in  forcing  the  Russians  to  retreat.  Mustafa  HI. 
died  in  December,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Abdul  Hamid. 
In  the  next  year  Romanzow  won  a  complete  victory,  and  compelled 
the  grand  vizier  to  accept  the  terms  dictated  to  him  at  Kutschuk 
Kainariiji.  The  Russians  restored  the  conquered  provinces  except 
Azol  and  Km'»urn,  only  stipulating  for  toleration  for  the  Christian 
population.  The  Tartars  of  the  Crimea  and  Kuban  were  declared 
independent  of  the  Porte,  and  authorised  to  elect  their  own  Khan. 
Russian  ships  were  allowed  free  passage  through  the  Dardanelles, 
and  the  right  of  sailing  in  the  Turkish  seas  and  on  the  Danube. 
Poland,  for  which  the  Turks  had  undertaken  the  war,  was  not  even 
mentioned  in  the  treaty. 

III.  Tn?.  Bavarian  Succession. 

§  13.  Joseph  II.,  the  second  emperor  of  the  house  of  Lorraine,  was 
the  most  ardent  and  daring  exponent  of  the  reforming  ideas  that 
spread  through  Europe  in  the  eighteenth  century.  No  regard  for 
tradition  or  prejudices  could  stay  him,  no  task  was  too  diflicult  for 
his  ambition.  For  some  time  his  powers  were  limited.  His  mother, 
Maria  Theresa,  kept  a  firm  hold  of  the  Austrian  government,  and 
her  opinions  and  objects  were  the  very  reverse  of  her  son's.  The 
only  field  of  action  left  open  to  him  was  the  Empire,  and  he  at 
once  undertook  the  hopeless  task  of  reforming  its  obsolete  institu- 
tions. Measures  were  taken  to  purify  the  Aulic  Council  from  the 
bribery  and  partiality  which  prevailed  in  it,  and  a  commission  was 
appointed  to  examine  into  the  working  of  the  Imperial  Chamber. 
But  these  well-intentioned  efforts  proved  utter  failures,  and  Joseph 
|pi  not  the  man  to  carry  out  a  determination  in  spite  of  all  ob- 
stacles. He  resolved  to  leave  the  empire  to  its  fate,  aud  set  him- 
self to  gain  as  much  influence  as  be  could  over  the  states  that  were 
destined  to  fall  to  him.  From  the  management  of  home  affairs  he 
was  jealously  excluded  by  Maria  Theresa,  but  he  succeeded  in 
making  his  influence  felt  in  foreign  politics.  His  great  object  was 
the  territorial  aggrandisement  of  Austria,  and  his  first  achievement 
was  the  arrangement  of  the  partition  of  Poland. 

The  value  of  the  Austrian  acquisition  in  this  affair  was  small 
compared  with  that  of  the  other  contracting  powers.  Prussia 
obtained  a  territory  which  was  urgently  needed  to  weld  together  its 
21 


450  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

disjointed  provinces,  and  Russia  advanced  her  frontiers  considerably 
towards  the  west.  This  was  the  all-important  result  of  the 
partition.  The  most  powerful  Slav  state  in  the  world — a  state 
whose  gigantic  resources  were  still  undeveloped — was  now  placed 
in  immediate  connection  with  the  German  powers  which  had  so 
long  striven  to  repress  and  crush  the  Slavs.  The  fate  of  Europe 
depended  upon  the  attitude  which  Germany  would  assume  in 
face  of  this  new  danger.  Frederick  the  Great  comprehended  the  real 
nature  of  the  crisis,  but  his  isolation  had  compelled  him  to  assist 
rather  than  oppose  the  progress  of  Russia.  This  state  of  things 
could  only  be  altered  by  the  termination  of  the  long  and  bitter 
enmity  between  Austria  and  Prussia  and  their  union  against  a 
common  enemy.  Such  a  result  might  have  been  anticipated  from 
the  two  interviews  between  Frederick  and  Joseph,  but  it  was  not  to 
be.  Joseph  was  a  professed  admirer  of  the  Prussian  king,  but  his 
admiration  took  the  form  of  a  desire  to  imitate  him.  If  Prussia,  a 
small  state  of  recent  origin,  had  been  able  to  gain  such  signal 
successes,  why  should  not  Austria  do  the  same  ?  His  profession 
that  the  loss  of  Silesia  had  been  forgotten  was  untrue.  He  had  no 
stronger  wish  than  to  recover  the  province  or  some  compensation  for 
it.  Both  he  and  Kaunitz  left  Neustadt  with  feelings  of  distrust  and 
enmity  against  their  visitor.  Instead  of  unity  between  the  two 
leading  German  states,  the  old  rivalry  broke  out  again.  This  was  an 
inestimable  advantage  to  Kussia,  and  it  was  this  rivalry  which 
necessitated  the  partition  of  Poland.  The  conclusion  of  the  treaty 
of  Kainardji  was  a  new  blow  to  Austria.  It  was  true  that  Russia  did 
not  retain  any  of  her  conquests,  but  the  establishment  of  Tartar 
independence  would  undoubtedly  give  her  an  ever-ready  pretext  for 
intervention  in  Turkey.  As  a  counter-move  to  the  treaty,  Austria 
induced  the  Porte  to  cede  the  territory  of  Bukowina,  which  had  once 
belonged  to  Transylvania,  and  served  as  a  useful  link  between  that 
province  and  the  recent  acquisitions  in  Poland.  This  act,  which  was 
accomplished  without  any  pretence  of  consulting  the  other  powers, 
excited  great  discontent  both  at  Berlin  and  St.  Petersburg,  and 
Catharine  would  probably  have  gone  to  war  if  Frederick  had  not 
dissuaded  her.  The  king  had  already  noted  in  the  first  interview 
the  ambitious  character  of  the  young  emperor,  and  he  was  now 
determined  to  be  on  his  guard  against  any  further  aggrandisement 
of  Austria.  To  make  matters  worse,  it  was  reported  from  Vienna 
that  Kaunitz  had  used  threatening  language  about  the  necessity  of 
destroying  Prussia,  and  had  declared  that  if  a  new  war  arose  the 
sword  would  not  be  sheathed  until  one  or  other  of  the  two  powers 
had  been  ruined. 

§  14.  While  relations  were  thus  strained,  an  event  occurred  which 


A.D.   1777-1778.      THE  BAVARIAN  SUCCESSION.  451 

threatened  to  involve  Europe  once  more  in  a  general  war.  With  the 
death  of  Maximilian  Joseph  of  Bavaria  (30  December,  1777)  the 
younger  branch  of  the  house  of  Wittelsbach  became  extinct,  and  the 
electorate  of  Bavaria,  which  had  been  conferred  upon  them  in  1623, 
came  to  an  end.  By  virtue  of  the  original  partition  in  1310,  the  duchy 
of  Bavaria  ought  to  pass  to  the  elder  branch  of  the  family,  repre- 
sented by  Charles  Theodore,  the  Elector  Palatine.  But  Joseph  saw 
the  possibility  of  securing  valuable  additions  to  Austria  which  would 
round  off  the  frontier  on  the  west.  The  Austrian  1 l.iiins  were 
legally  worthless.  They  were  based  chiefly  ujm.ii  a  gift  of  the 
Straubingen  territory  which  Sigismund  was  said  to  have  made  in 
1426  to  his  son-in-law,  Albert  of  Austria,  but  which  had  never 
taken  effect  and  had  since  been  utterly  forgotten.  It  would  be 
impossible  to  induce  the  diet  to  recognise  such  claims,  but  it  might 
be  possible  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  aged  Charles 
Theodore,  who  had  no  legitimate  children  and  was  not  likely  to 
feel  any  very  keen  interest  in  his  new  inheritance.  Without  much 
difficulty  the  elector  was  half  frightened,  half  induced  to  sign  a 
treaty  (3  January,  1778)  by  which  he  recognised  the  claims  put 
forward  by  Austria,  while  the  rest  of  Bavaria  was  guaranteed  to 
him  and  his  successors.  Austrian  troops  were  at  once  despatched 
to  occupy  the  ceded  districts.  The  condition  of  Europe  seemed  to 
assure  the  success  of  Joseph's  bold  venture.  France  was  bound  to 
Austria  both  by  treaty  and  by  marriage  alliance.  England  was  too 
absorbed  in  the  American  war  to  dream  of  interfering  on  the  con- 
tinent. Russia  was  occupied  in  a  dispute  with  Turkey  about  affairs 
in  the  Crimea,  and  was  likely  to  have  her  hands  full. 

There  was  only  one  quarter  from  which  opposition  was  to  be 
expected,  Prussia.  Frederick  promptly  appealed  to  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  Empire  and  declared  his  intention  of  upholding  thera 
with  arms.  But  he  could  find  no  supporters  except  those  who  were 
immediately  interested,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  whose  mother,  as  a 
sister  of  the  late  elector  of  Bavaria,  had  a  legal  claim  to  his  allodial 
property,  and  Charles  of  Zweibriicken,  the  heir  apparent  of  the 
childless  Charles  Theodore.  The  other  German  princes,  even  the 
Protestants,  refused  to  take  any  part  in  a  contest  which  indirectly 
affected  their  most  vital  interests.  Frederick,  left  to  himself, 
despatched  an  army  into  Bohemia,  where  the  Austrian  troops  had 
been  joined  by  the  emperor  in  person.  But  nothing  came  of  the 
threatened  hostilities.  Frederick  was  unable  to  force  on  a  battle, 
and  the  so-called  war  was  little  more  than  an  armed  negotiation. 
Maria  Theresa,  whose  courage  was  somewhat  cooled  by  advancing 
years,  and  who  found  herself  more  and  more  opposed  to  the 
views  of  her  son,  was  anxious  to  make  peace  by  withdrawing  the 


452  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

extravagant  pretensions  that  had  been  advanced.  And  events 
soon  occurred  to  cool  the  ardour  of  Kaunitz  and  even  of  Joseph 
himself.  Louis  XVI.,  in  spite  of  his  marriage  with  Marie 
Antoinette,  the  emperor's  sister,  had  just  concluded  a  treaty  with 
the  American  colonies  and  refused  to  hamper  himself  by  embarking 
in  a  German  war.  At  the  same  time  Russia,  not  at  all  embarrassed 
by  the  Turkish  difficulties,  showed  a  distinct  inclination  to  listen 
to  Frederick's  appeals  for  aid,  and  had  already  addressed  serious 
remonstrances  to  the  court  of  Vienna.  France  and  Russia  under- 
took to  mediate,  and  negotiations  were  opened  in  1779  at  Teschen, 
where  peace  was  signed  on  the  13th  of  May.  Austria  withdrew 
the  claims  which  had  been  recognised  in  the  treaty  with  the 
Elector  Palatine,  and  received  the  "  quarter  of  the  Inn,"  i.e.  the 
district  from  Passau  to  Wildshut.  Frederick's  eventual  claims  to 
the  succession  in  the  Franconian  principalities  of  Anspach  and 
Baireuth,  which  Austria  had  every  interest  in  opposing,  were  recog- 
nised by  the  treaty.  The  claims  of  Saxony  were  bought  off  by  a 
payment  of  four  million  thalers.  The  most  unsatisfactory  part  of 
the  treaty  was  that  it  was  guaranteed  by  France  and  Russia,  and 
thus  a  new  opportunity  was  offered  for  foreign  powers  to  interfere 
in  Germany.  But,  on  the  whole,  it  was  a  great  triumph  for 
Frederick  aud  an  equal  humiliation  for  Joseph  II.  His  schemes  of 
aggrandisement  had  been  foiled  by  the  prince  in  imitation  of  whom 
they  had  been  undertaken,  and  he  allowed  Prussia  to  pose  as  the 
champion  of  the  imperial  laws  and  constitution  which  he,  the  head  of 
the  empire,  had  attempted  to  infringe.  But  in  the  next  year  the 
death  of  his  mother  (29  November,  1 780)  gave  him  the  means  of 
resuming  his  ambitious  designs  with  greater  independence  and  on 
a  more  extended  scale. 


IV.  Joseph  II.  and  the  League  of  Princes. 

§  15.  The  memory  of  Maria  Theresa  is  still  affectionately  cherished 
in  Austria,  not  so  much  for  the  merits  of  her  government  as  for 
her  lofty  character  and  courage,  the  purity  of  her  domestic  life,  her 
devotion  to  her  husband  and  children.  She  had  saved  Austria 
from  the  ruin  and  disintegration  that  had  threatened  the  country 
on  her  accession,  and  her  long  reign  had  not  passed  without  the  accom- 
plishment of  many  useful  reforms.  The  military  administration 
had  been  completely  altered  under  the  auspices  of  Daun  and  Lascy, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  the  Austrian  army  was 
no  unequal  match  for  the  Prussians,  who  had  been  taken  as  a 
model.  The  law  courts  had  been  purified  and  their  procedure 
improved.      Financial  affairs  had  made  rapid   strides  under  the 


A.D.  177&-1780.  JOSEPH  II.  453 

pninstaking  care  of  Francis  I.,  whose  qualities  fitted  him  to  be  a 
man  of  business  rather  than  an  emperor.  Even  in  religious  matters, 
in  which  Maria  Theresa  had  been  resolutely  orthodox,  persecution 
had  been  avoided.  Hungary  had  been  bound  more  closely  to  the 
monarchy,  and  thus  an  important  step  had  been  taken  towards  the 
concentration  of  the  various  provinces  which  had  been  brought  to- 
gether in  the  course  of  centuries.  But  in  all  her  actions  Maria 
Theresa  had  been  hampered  by  the  traditions  of  the  Hapsburg 
family,  of  which  she  was  a  loyal  descendant,  and  in  her  later  years 
she  had  shown  more  and  more  repugnance  to  reform. 

Her  successor  was  not  a  Hapsburg  at  all,  but  a  Lorrainer,  and 
this  serves  to  explain  the  lack  of  reverence  with  which  he  attacked 
the  niost  cherished  customs  and  deserted  the  oldest  traditions  of 
policy.  He  had  already  endeavoured  to  imitate  Frederick  II.  in 
the  management  of  foreign  relations,  he  now  aspired  to  copy  his 
domestic  government.  The  strength  of  Prussia  he  attributed  to  its 
marvellous  centralisation,  to  the  machine-like  way  in  which  every- 
thing moved  in  obedience  to  the  royal  wilL  This  was  the  system 
whit  h  he  wished  to  introduce  into  Austria,  utterly  forgetting  that 
the  way  had  been  prepared  for  Frederick  by  the  exertions  <>f  his 
predecessors,  whereas  he  succeeded  to  a  state  of  which  the  govern- 
ment had  been  conducted  for  centuries  on  principles  diametrically 
opposed  to  his  own.  No  contrast  can  be  more  striking  than  that 
between  the  sternly  practical  activity  of  the  Prussian  king,  who 
never  *et  his  arms  too  high  and  never  stopped  till  he  had  reached 
them,  and  the  doctrinaire  and  revolutionary  haste  with  which  the 
young  emperor  undertook  the  most  sweeping  reforms  at  the  same 
moment,  and  long  before  they  had  been  accomplished  hurried  on  to 
other  tasks  which  would  have  needed  the  work  of  generations. 
Joseph  is  like  the  boy  playing  with  chemistry,  who  loves  to  mix 
together  the  strangest  compounds  and  to  produce  startling  results ; 
Frederick  treats  his  materials  with  the  economy  and  straightforward 
purpose  of  the  trained  man  of  science.  But  it  would  be  unfair  to 
deny  that  a  real  enthusiasm  for  progress  and  love  of  humanity 
underlay  the  reforms  of  Joseph  II.,  or  that  many  of  them  wou  d 
have  been  of  lasting  and  incalculable  benefit  if  he  had  only  been 
more  prudent  and  practical  in  carrying  them  out. 

The  great  principle  which  underlay  all  the  reforms  of  Joseph  II. 
was  that  no  personal  or  class  interest  should  stand  in  the  way  of 
the  general  welfare,  and  of  this  welfare  he  was  the  sole  judge  and 
interpreter.  It  is  easy  to  realise  what  enormous  confusion  would  be 
created  in  any  state  by  the  attempt  to  carry  such  a  principle  into 
immediate  action  and  without  ample  compensation.  It  is  only  fair 
to  say  that  Joseph  included  himself  among  his  own  victims.     The 


454  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

court  expenses  were  immensely  reduced,  the  emperor  lived  in  the 
simplest  and  most  inostentatious  way,  the  pension  list  and  even  the 
allowances  to  the  archdukes  were  cut  down.  The  money  thus 
saved  was  not  used  in  reducing  taxes,  as  It  ad  been  fondly  hoped, 
but  in  increasing  a  revenue  which  was  still  insufficient  for  the  uses 
it  was  put  to.  The  personal  labour  which  Joseph  undertook  was 
immense  ;  the  attention  and  industry  with  which  he  studied  every 
detail  recall  the  bureaucratic  activity  of  Philip  II.  The  ministers 
were  encouraged  to  apply  for  instruction  upon  all  doubtful  points, 
and  the  blindest  obedience  was  exacted  from  them.  The  judicial 
administration  was  reformed  so  as  to  ensure  the  equality  of  all  men 
before  the  law.  The  privileges  of  the  feudal*  nobles,  the  exclusive 
corporations  in  the  towns,  the  accumulation  of  unproductive  wealth 
in  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  were  simultaneous  objects  of  attack. 
Perhaps  none  of  the  innumerable  reforms  of  these  years  are  more 
illustrative  of  the  spirit  in  which  their  author  worked  than  the 
attempt  to  abolish  serfdom  in  the  Austrian  dominions.  A  first 
edict,  limiting  the  rights  of  the  lord  to  inflict  punishments,  was 
followed  by  others  which  gave  the  peasant  personal  freedom, 
allowed  him  to  marry  as  he  pleased,  and  compelled  the  lord  to  give 
his  serfs  property  in  land  on  receipt  of  a  fair  rent.  The  same 
spirit  is  seen  in  the  effort  to  raise  the  people  from  their  super- 
stitious ignorance  by  founding  and  endowing  schools  for  elementary 
education  and  by  conferring  complete  liberty  upon  the  press.  Less 
enlightened  but  equally  characteristic  were  the  measures  taken  to 
suppress  the  Magyar  nationality  in  Hungary,  by  compelling  the 
natives  to  adopt  the  German  language  and  customs,  and  by  abolish- 
ing the  old  constitution  for  a  new  centralised  system  which  was 
worked  by  German  officials. 

In  all  these  changes  a  great  share  was  taken  by  Kaunitz,  the 
Chancellor,  to  whom  the  change  of  rulers  must  have  been  a  great 
relief.  E^e  had  always  been  a  partisan  of  the  new  movement,  and 
his  leanings  were  strongly  anti-clerical,  but  he  had  been  compelled 
to  disguise  them  out  of  deference  to  the  mistress  who  had  raised  him 
to  power.  He  had  now  to  deal  with  a  sovereign  who  was  willing  to 
go  quite  as  far  as  himself  and  to  whom  he  was  bound  by  none  of 
the  old  ties  of  dependence  and  gratitude.  The  minister  ceased  to 
attend  the  court  almost  altogether ;  the  emperor  paid  him  visits, 
as  Louis  XIV.  had  done  to  Mazarin.  In  religious  matters  the 
attitude  of  Kaunitz  was  even  more  pronounced  than  that  of  Joseph, 
and  these  are  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  subjects  of  reform 
during  the  reign.  The  church  was  made  subservient  to  the  state 
and  freed  from  all  dependence  upon  external  authority.  All  papal 
bulls  and  briefs  were  to  be  submitted  to  the  secular  magistrates  and 


A.D.  1780.  JOSEPH  II.  455 

were  not  to  be  circulated  until  they  had  received  the  imperial 
sanction.  All  newly  elected  bishops  were  to  take  their  first  oath 
of  fealty  to  the  emperor,  so  that  no  subsequent  oath  to  the  papacy 
should  affect  their  primary  obligations  as  subjects.  Appeals  from 
ecclesiastical  consistories  were  to  be  made  not  to  Rome  but  to  the 
secular  courts.  All  foreign  ecclesiastics,  heads  of  monasteries  and 
others,  were  expelled  and  their  places  filled  by  natives.  Those 
monastic  orders  which  took  no  part  in  education,  in  hospital  w»»rk, 
in  preaching  or  at  the  confessional,  but  had  been  formed  for  a  life  of 
contemplation,  such  as  the  Carthusians,  were  abolished  and  their 
revenues  confiscated.  At  the  same  time  Joseph  secured  toleration 
and  equal  citizenship  to  all  dissenters,  whether  Lutherans,  Calvin- 
ists,  or  members  of  the  Greek  church.  This  measure  marks  the 
completeness  of  the  departure  from  the  policy  which  had  been 
pursued  by  the  Hapsburgs  from  Rudolf  II.  to  Maria  Therera. 

Meanwhile  Joseph  II.  had  once  more  turned  his  attention  to 
Germany,  but  no  longer  with  the  object  of  reviving  or  extending 
the  central  power  over  the  innumerable  large  and  petty  states  that 
owned  his  nominal  sovereignty.  That  scheme  had  failed  once  and 
for  all,  and  he  now  resumed  the  old  policy  of  the  Hapsburgs, 
and  determined  to  employ  his  position  as  emperor  to  extend  the 
territorial  influence  of  his  family.  He  had  already  secured  the 
election  of  his  brother  Maximilian  to  the  a  re  li  bishopric  of  Cologne 
and  the  bishopric  of  Munster,  and  had  thus  obtained  not  only  a 
strong  supporter  in  the  electoral  college,  but  also  a  preponderating 
influence  among  the  states  of  western  Germany.  This  was 
followed  by  a  series  of  attacks  upon  the  imperial  constitution. 
There  were  a  number  of  independent  bishoprics,  such  as  Salzburg 
and  Passau,  whose  sees  extended  over  Austrian  territory.  Joseph 
announced  his  intention  of  confiscating  this  part  of  their  sees  and 
transferring  them  to  native  bishoprics.  These  and  other  high- 
handed actions  excited  a  feeling  of  dismay  among  those  small  states 
which  clung  to  their  territorial  independence  and  to  the  old 
conception  of "  German  liberty ."  The  natural  appeal  lay  to  the 
Diet,  but  the  action  of  this  assembly  was  nullified  by  the  supremacy 
which  Austria  had  established  over  the  college  of  princes,  as 
nothing  could  be  done  without  the  agreement  of  the  three  colleges. 
There  was  only  one  remedy  left,  the  formation  of  a  league  against 
the  emperor  on  the  same  principles  as  those  of  the  League  of 
Schmalkalde  against  Charles  V.  But  to  carry  this  out  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  secure  the  support  of  some  great  power,  and 
here  there  was  considerable  difficulty.  France  and  Russia,  the  two 
guarantors  of  the  treaty  of  Teschen,  were  out  of  the  question, 
and  the  only  hope  lay  in  Prussia.     But  many  of  the  injured  states 


456  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

were  held  by  Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastics,  who  had  great  scruples 
about  accepting  the  protection  of  the  leading  Protestant  state  of 
Germany.  Ultimately  these  scruples  were  overcome  by  the  immi- 
nence of  the  danger,  and  an  appeal  for  assistance  was  made  to 
Berlin. 

§  16.  Frederick  II.  had  foreseen  the  dangers  which  threatened  both 
Germany  and  himself  from  the  accession  of  Joseph,  and  had  taken 
measures  to  meet  them.  His  plan  was  to  renew  his  close  alliance 
with  Russia,  and  to  extend  it  by  including  Turkey  and  either 
England  or  France.  This  would  enable  him  to  check  the  ambition 
both  of  Catharine  and  Joseph,  to  uphold  the  integrity  of  the 
Turkish  empire,  and  to  act  as  an  arbiter  of  European  relations. 
But  the  plan  was  doomed  to  failure  at  the  outset.  At  St. 
Petersburg  the  foreign  minister  Panin,  who  clung  to  the  Prussian 
alliance,  had  been  practically  superseded  by  the  Czarina's  favourite 
Potemkin,  under  whose  inOuence  Catharine  threw  herself  into  the 
most  boundless  schemes  of  aggrandisement  at  the  expense  of 
Turkey.  From  this  time  the  watchword  of  Russian  policy  was  the 
advance  upon  Constantinople.  Frederick's  proposal  of  an  alliance  of 
which  the  Porte  should  be  a  member  was  wofully  ill-timed  and 
promptly  rejected.  Even  if  the  king  could  be  induced  to  fall  in 
with  the  Russian  scheme  and  to  approve  of  the  dismemberment  of 
Turkey,  it  was  obvious  that  his  support  could  not  be  so  valuable 
as  that  of  Austria.  And  Austria  was  more  than  willing  to  meet 
Russia  half-way.  Kaunitz  saw  clearly  that  the  great  obstacle  to 
the  success  of  his  policy  had  been  the  alliance  between  Russia  aud 
Prussia,  which  had  been  formed  on  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  and 
which  had  recently  compelled  the  relinquishment  of  the  designs 
upon  Bavaria.  If  this  alliance  could  be  broken  off,  Joseph  II. 
could  pursue  his  schemes  of  aggrandisement  both  in  the  west  and 
the  east  with  every  prospect  of  success.  In  1780  Joseph  and 
Catharine  met  together  at  Mohileff,  and  this  interview  led  to  the 
conclusion  of  a  close  personal  alliance  in  the  next  year.  The 
result  of  this  was  clearly  seen  in  1783,  when  Russia,  utilising  the 
advantages  it  had  secured  by  the  treaty  of  Kainardji,  forced  the 
Porte  to  cede  the  Crimea  and  Kuban,  and  thus  extended  its  frontier 
to  the  Black  Sea.  The  consent  of  Austria  to  this  aggrandisement 
was  purchased  by  the  tacit  understanding  that  Russia  would  exert 
its  influence  in  Germany  to  favour  Joseph's  designs. 

The  loss  of  the  Russian  alliance  left  Prussia  completely  isolated 
among  the  great  powers.  England  was  still  occupied  by  the 
American  war,  and  the  ministry  of  Lord  North  was  even  hostile  to 
Frederick.  The  hopes  that  were  based  on  the  accession  of  the 
Whigs  to  office  in  1782  were  frustrated  by  their  speedy  downfall. 


k.T>.  1780-1785.  FREDERICK  II.  457 

France  was  at  war  with  England,  and  French  policy  was  so  feeble 
and  vacillating  that  it  offered  no  security  for  an  alliance.  Nothing 
remained  for  Frederick  but  to  fall  in  with  the  suggestions  of  the 
German  powers,  and  to  form  a  league  against  the  reckless 
aggressions  of  the  emperor.  He  had  occupied  a  somewhat  similar 
position  in  his  early  years  when  he  formed  the  Union  of  Frankfort 
to  protect  Charles  VII.  against  Maria  Theresa.  Since  then  he  had 
almost  severed  himself  from  the  Empire  and  had  devoted  himself  to 
the  welfare  of  Prussia  as  an  independent  state.  In  his  old  age  the 
former  policy  was  once  more  forced  upon  him.  In  1778  he  had 
stood  almost  alone  as  the  champion  of  the  established  laws  of  the 
Empire,  now  there  was  the  prospect  that  he  might  obtain  general 
support  in  the  same  cause.  With  all  his  accustomed  energy  he 
espoused  the  side  of  the  princes  against  the  emperor  and  set  hfafl  M 
to  form  a  comprehensive  league.  But  there  was  always  great 
difficulty  in  inducing  German  states  to  combine  together,  and 
rick's  efforts  might  have  failed  but  for  the  occurrence  of  anew 
danger. 

§  17.  Joseph  II.  had  never  given  up  his  designs  ujon  Bavaria,  and 
his  understanding  with  Hussia  enabled  him  to  resume  them  with 
greater  prospect  of  success.  His  plan  was  to  obtain  the  coveted 
territory  in  exchange  for  the  Netherlands.  The  latter  had  never 
been  a  very  valuable  territory  to  Austria,  partly  on  account  of 
their  distance  and  partly  through  the  commercial  jealousy  with 
which  the  provinces  were  regarded  by  England  and  Holland. 
Moreover  the  necessity  of  defending  the  Netherlands  had  always 
hampered  Austria  in  its  relations  with  the  western  powers,  and 
especially  with  France.  At  this  very  time  Joseph  II.,  whose 
activity  extended  to  every  part  of  his  dominions,  was  endeavouring 
to  force  the  Dutch  to  give  up  the  barrier  fortresses  and  to  open  the 
Scheldt.  The  intervention  of  France  brought  about  the  trtaty  of 
Fontainebleau  (November,  1785)  by  which  the  Barrier  treaty  was 
annulled,  but  Joseph  withdrew  his  other  demands  on  payment  of 
nine  million  gulden,  of  which  France  contributed  nearly  half.  It 
had  always  been  a  favourite  idea  at  Vienna  to  exchange  this 
troublesome  possession  in  the  west  for  some  more  conveniently 
situated  territory.  The  acquisition  of  Bavaria  was  also  a  long- 
cherished  design  and  offered  the  most  irresistible  attractions. 
Charles  Theodore  was  as  easily  gained  over  as  before,  and  promised 
to  give  up  Upper  and  Lower  Bavaria,  the  Upper  Palatinate, 
Neuburg,  Sulzbach  and  Leuchtenberg,  on  condition  that  he  should 
receive  the  whole  of  the  Netherlands,  except  Namur  a»d  Luxem- 
burg, with  the  title  of  a  kingdom  of  Burgundy.  The  Buss  ar 
agent,  Romanzow,  undertook  the  task  of  indu  ing  <  harle*  Theo- 
21* 


458  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

dore's  heir,  the  duke  of  Zweibriicken,  to  give  his  consent  to  the 
transfer. 

The  news  of  this  high-handed  scheme,  which  threatened  to 
revolutionise  the  territorial  relations  of  Germany,  gave  fresh 
energy  to  Frederick  and  convincing  cogency  to  his  representations. 
In  July,  1785,  the  terms  of  union  were  arranged  by  the  represen- 
tatives of  Prussia,  Saxony  and  Hanover.  In  a  very  short  time 
they  were  accepted  by  the  rulers  of  Zweibriicken,  Weimar,  Gotha, 
Hesse-Cassel,  Brunswick,  Baden,  Mecklenburg,  Anhalt  and  many 
other  princes.  But  the  great  triumph  of  the  Fiirstenbund,  as  it 
was  called,  was  the  adhesion  of  the  archbishop  of  Mainz,  the 
arch-chancellor  of  Germany,  president  of  the  electoral  college,  and 
the  chief  ecclesiastical  magnate  of  the  empire.  This  important 
negotiation  was  entrusted  by  Frederick  to  a  man  who  was  destined 
to  play  a  great  part  in  Prussia,  the  Baron  vom  Stein,  then  only 
twenty-seven  years  old.  The  expressed  object  of  the  league  was 
the  maintenance  of  the  existing  constitution  of  the  empire,. as 
established  by  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  and  the  protection  of 
individual  states  against  unlawful  aggression.  In  secret  articles  it 
was  agreed  to  oppose  the  projected  exchange  of  Bavaria  for  the 
Netherlands  and  all  schemes  of  secularisation  and  partition,  it 
necessary  with  arms. 

The  league  was  completely  successful  in  its  immediate  object. 
Joseph  and  Charles  Theodore  not  only  gave  up  the  project  but 
tried  to  disavow  it.  But  many  members  hoped  that  it  might  prove 
a  new  starting-point  for  the  federal  unity  of  Germany.  If  these 
hopes  had  been  realised,  Prussia  would  have  gained  a  very 
substantial  victory  over  Austiia,  and  might  have  established  a 
hegemony  almost  as  definite  as  that  which  it  has  now  attained. 
Viewed  in  this  aspect,  the  league  was  regarded  with  disfavour 
by  France  and  Russia.  Russia  Lx>ked  to  gain  great  advantages 
from  its  Austrian  alliance  and  was  naturally  opposed  to  the 
weakening  of  its  ally.  France  was  beginning  to  draw  aloof  from 
the  court  of  Vienna,  and  had  always  been  inclined  to  support  any 
combination  of  German  princes  against  the  Hapsburgs.  But  the 
league  which  France  desired  was  a  league  of  princes  in  opposition 
both  to  Austria  and  Prussia,  not  one  in  which  Prussia  was  the 
directing  head.  None  of  these  fears  or  hopes,  however,  came  to 
anything.  The  league  was  never  anything  more  than  a  temporary 
and  successful  measure  of  defence,  and  it  practically  perished  with 
the  death  of  its  founder. 

The  formation  of  the  Fiirstenbund  was  the  last  great  achieve- 
ment of  Frederick  the  Great,  whose  reign  of  46  years  closed  on  the 
17th  of  August,  1786.     There  can  be  no  question  that  he  stands  a 


a.d.  1785-1786.        DEATH  OF  FREDERICK  II.  459 

head  and  shoulders  above  the  rulers  of  the  century.  Even  if  one 
estimates  morality  with  intellect  there  is  only  one  man — George 
Washington— who  can  be  ranked  with  him.  He  succeeded  to  a 
state  whose  internal  condition  by  no  means  corresponded  with  the 
greatness  to  which  he  intended  to  raise  it.  Its  soil  was  the  poorest 
in  Germany,  its  territories  were  scattered  and  its  boundaries  so  un- 
satisfactory that  it  was  exposed  to  invasion  on  every  side.  This 
was  the  state  which  in  two  exhausting  wars  had  won  for  itself  a 
place  among  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  and  which  had  developed 
its  resources  to  a  marvellous  extent  during  two  unequal  periods  of 
peace.  "  From  a  territory  of  2300  square  miles  and  a  population  of 
little  over  two  millions  had  grown  a  state  of  3600  square  miles  and 
six  million  inhabitants :  the  army  which  his  father  had  left  him 
had  been  increased  from  76,000  to  200,000 ;  the  revenue  of  12 
millions  had  been  nearly  doubled ;  the  exchequer,  in  spite  of  the 
terrible  ware,  was  filled  with  some  70,000  thalere.  The  cultivation 
of  the  land,  the  activity  of  its  inhabitants,  the  order  and  care  of 
the  administration  were  everywhere  as  flourishing  as  the  military 
power  and  the  diplomacy  of  Prussia.*'  This  progress  was  due  almost 
solely  to  the  king  and  to  the  marvellous  administrative  system 
which  he  had  organised.  The  strength  and  the  weakness  of  the 
system  lay  in  its  dependence  upon  a  single  mind  and  will.  When 
the  guiding  genius  was  removed  it  became  a  mere  inanimate 
machine  and  could  no  longer  produce  the  expected  result.  This 
explains  the  verdict  of  those  judges  who  have  attributed  to  the 
administration  founded  by  Frederick  the  subsequent  decline  of 
Prussia.  It  is  no  less  true  because  paradoxical  that  without  that 
administration  Prussia  would  not  have  risen  to  greatness. 


V.  The  Eastebn  Question,  1786-1792. 

§  18.  The  importance  to  Prussia  of  Frederick  the  Great's  personal 
guidance  is  manifested  by  the  events  that  followed  his  death.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  Frederick  William  II.,  the  son  of 
Augustus  William,  who  had  incurred  his  brother's  displeasure  in 
the  Seven  Years'  War  and  had  died  soon  afterwards.  The  new 
king  was  made  of  far  weaker  metal  than  his  predecessor,  more 
amiable  and  equally  devoted  to  his  subjects'  welfare,  but  less 
independent  in  his  opinions  and  actions  and  more  prone  to  be 
guided  by  impulse  than  by  caution.  Two  unfortunate  marriages 
had  ruined  his  chances  of  domestic  happiness,  and  made  him  the 
slave  of  mistresses  who  aspired  to  play  in  Prussia  the  part  which 
Madame  de  Pompadour  had  played  in  France.  And  Frederick 
William  to  some  extent  resembled  the  French  kings  in  the  com- 


460  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

bination  of  immorality  with  religious  superstition.  His  accession, 
however,  was  welcomed  with  great  popular  rejoicings,  and  he 
received  the  name  of  the  "well-beloved."  It  was  expected  that 
the  new  government  would  free  the  state  from  those  excessive 
burdens  which  Frederick's  ambition  had  imposed  upon  it,  and  to 
some  extent  these  hopes  were  fulfilled.  The  royal  monopolies  were 
abolished  and  the  French  officials  dismissed.  But  these  and 
other  measures  of  relief  proved  fallacious :  Prussia  could  not  exist 
without  an  ample  revenue,  and  other  forms  of  taxation  had  to  be 
employed  to  make  up  the  deficit.  Frederick  William's  popularity 
was  soon  at  an  end.  In  religious  matters  he  sought,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  his  favourite  ministers,  Wollner  and  Bisschofswerder,  to 
effect  a  complete  reaction.  In  July,  1788,  he  issued  an  edict 
forbidding  the  teachings  of  "  Socinians,  Deists,  Naturalists  and 
other  sects,"  and  a  system  of  examination  was  introduced  to  test  the 
orthodoxy  of  candidates  for  orders.  This  was  a  direct  departure 
from  the  almost  contemptuous  toleration  of  Frederick  II.  and  was 
hailed  with  a  chorus  of  disapproval.  But  the  government  adhered 
to  its  plan  and  endeavoured  to  put  down  opposition  by  reviving  the 
censorship  of  the  press  (Dec.  1788). 

These  domestic  changes  and  scandals  would  have  been  of  slight 
moment  if  Prussia  had  been  able  to  maintain  its  position  among  the 
European  powers.  For  some  years  the  policy  of  Frederick  was 
carried  out  under  the  guidance  of  Hertzberg,  a  minister  who  had 
been  trained  by  the  great  king  and  had  completely  assimilated  the 
system  of  his  master's  later  years.  The  first  interference  of  Prussia 
in  foreign  politics  was  connected  with  affairs  in  Holland.  In  that 
country  the  old  rivalry  between  the  republican  party  and  the  sup- 
porters of  the  house  of  Orange  was  as  bitter  as  ever.  The  second 
branch  of  the  family,  which  obtained  the  stadtholdership  in  1748, 
had  failed  to  produce  such  distinguished  rulers  as  those  who  had  given 
such  glory  to  the  first  dynasty.  The  republicans,  who  belonged 
mostly  to  the  aristocratic  and  wealthy  classes,  were  supreme  in  the 
province  of  Holland  and  especially  in  Amsterdam,  while  the  partisans 
of  the  stadtholder  were  popular  with  the  mass  of  the  people  and  had 
the  upper  hand  in  Zealand  and  Guelders.  Ever  since  the  high- 
handed attempt  of  Joseph  II.  to  get  rid  of  the  Barrier  treaty  and 
to  open  the  Scheldt,  French  influence  had  extended  itself  widely  in 
the  country.  As  the  ruling  family  was  closely  allied  with  England, 
France  joined  the  republicans  to  bring  about  the  overthrow  of  the 
stadtholder.  At  the  time  of  Frederick  William's  accession  the  quarrel 
had  almost  developed  into  a  regular  civil  war.  He  had  a  direct  per- 
sonal interest  in  Dutch  affairs,  as  the  present  stadtholder,  William  V. 
(1751-1802),  was  married  to  his  sister.     But  in  spite  of  this  he 


A.D.  1786-1788.        THE  EASTERN  QUESTION.  461 

was  unwilling  to  engage  in  a  war,  and  endeavoured  to  arrange  a  com- 
promise in  conjunction  with  France.  This  attempt  at  mediation, 
however,  came  to  nothing,  and  an  insult  to  his  sister  roused  the 
wrath  of  the  susceptible  king.  In  1787  Prussian  troops  entered 
Holland,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time  overawed  opposit  i«  >n 
and  restored  the  stadtholder  to  the  Hague.  This  was  a  real  though 
easy  triumph  over  France,  and  was  followed  in  1788  by  the  conclusion 
of  important  treaties  at  the  Hague  with  Holland  and  England,  which 
gave  Prussia  for  the  moment  a  commanding  position  in  Europe. 
But  it  was  unfortunate  that  this  success  <:ave  increased  strength  to 
the  feeling  of  self-confidence  which  was  Frederick's  most  fatal  bequest 
to  Prussia.  This  result  is  conspicuously  visible  in  the  attitude 
which  Hertzberg  now  assumed  in  the  infinitely  more  important 
affairs  in  Eastern  Europe,  and  still  more  perhaps  in  the  later  inter- 
vention of  Prussia  against  the  French  republic. 

§  19.  The  alliance  between  Austria  and  Russia,  which  Frederick  II. 
had  regarded  with  such  mistrust,  was  now  the  all-important  factor  in 
eastern  politics.  But  so  far  the  Russians  had  carried  off  all  the  profit 
of  the  alliance.  They  had  annexed  the  Crimea  and  Kuban,  and 
had  forced  the  Porte  to  sanction  the  annexation.  And  Catharine 
and  Potemkin  were  not  yet  satisfied,  but  were  contemplating  further 
acquisitions  which  should  bring  them  nearer  to  Constantinople. 
Joseph  II.  could  not  disguise  his  misgivings  for  the  consequent  s  of 
his  reckless  policy.  The  advance  of  Russian  power  to  his  frontiers 
could  not  but  be  in  the  highest  degree  dangerous  to  Austria.  And 
the  compensating  advantages  in  Bavaria  and  Holland,  to  obtain 
which  he  had  entered  into  the  alliance,  had  clipped  from  his  grasp. 
There  were  now  only  two  alternatives  to  choose  between,  either  to 
turn  round  and  vigorously  oppose  the  Russians,  in  which  case  he 
could  obtain  the  support  of  Prussia,  or  to  draw  the  alliance  still 
closer  so  as  to  share  what  booty  might  still  be  obtained.  He  found 
himself  too  deeply  involved  to  draw  back  and  therefore  had  to 
choose  the  latter  plan.  In  1787  Catharine  |  aid  her  famous  visit  to 
the  newly  acquired  provinces  of  her  empire,  in  which  Potemkin 
employed  all  the  resources  of  art  to  disguise  their  natural  desolation. 
Joseph  joined  Catharine  and  renewed  his  alliance  with  her.  From 
this  time  Russia  employed  every  means  to  force  the  Porte  into 
war,  as  Austria  was  only  pledged  to  assistance  in  case  of  an 
attack.  The  plan  was  completely  successful.  The  Turks  thought 
that  they  could  rely  upon  help  from  Prussia  and  England,  both 
of  which  powers  had  expressed  their  hostility  to  the  Russian  lust 
of  aggrandisement,  and  in  August,  1787,  they  issued  a  formal 
declaration  of  war.  In  the  following  February  Joseph  II.  declared 
his  intention  of  coming  to  the  help  of  Russia,  and  Turkey  was 


462  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

exposed  to  the  simultaneous  attack  of  its  two  most  powerful 
neighbours. 

Now  or  never  was  the  time  for  Prussia  to  interfere.  There  was  a 
strong  party  at  Berlin  which  wished  for  immediate  war.  They  urged 
that  Sweden  and  Poland,  where  the  majority  of  the  nobles  were 
eager  to  get  rid  of  Russian  domination,  should  be  induced  to  attack 
Russia,  and  that  the  whole  force  of  Prussia  should  be  employed 
against  Austria,  which  could  be  humbled  in  three  campaigns.  The 
reward  for  this  energetic  action  was  to  be  the  conquest  of  the 
rest  of  Silesia  and  parts  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  But  Hertzberg 
clung  to  Frederick's  policy  of  avoiding  hostilities,  and  he  had  a  plan 
of  his  own  for  settling  all  difficulties.  He  contended  that  Prussia 
rendered  a  great  service  to  the  Turks  by  compelling  the  emperor  to 
retain  a  large  part  of  his  forces  upon  his  northern  frontier,  and  in 
recognition  of  this  the  Porte  was  to  call  upon  Prussia  to  mediate  a 
peace.  As  mediator,  he  wished  to  arrange  a  complicated  scheme 
of  cessions  and  counter-cessions  of  territory  on  the  model  of  the 
recent  partition  of  Poland.  Turkey  was  to  give  up  Moldavia  and 
Wallachia  to  Austria,  and  the  Crimea  and  Bessarabia  to  Russia, 
and  in  return  for  this  was  to  be  protected  from  further  losses  by  a 
European  guarantee  of  the  Danube  as  its  northern  frontier,  and  by 
an  engagement  on  the  part  of  Russia  to  desist  from  further  interfer- 
ence in  its  internal  affairs.  Austria  was  to  purchase  Moldavia  and 
Wallachia  by  restoring  Galicia  to  Poland,  and  in  return  for  this 
Poland  was  to  hand  over  Danzig  and  Thorn  to  Prussia.  Russia,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  to  restore  part  of  Finland  to  the  Swedes,  who 
were  to  give  to  Prussia  their  remaining  possessions  in  Pomerania. 
But  it  was  obvious  that  only  a  very  favourable  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances could  enable  Prussia  thus  to  dictate  her  will  to  Europe. 
In  the  first  place,  the  Turks  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  make  such 
sacrifices  of  territory  without  compulsion,  or  to  regard  a  guarantee 
of  the  European  powers  as  a  sufficient  compensation.  Moreover  the 
manifest  selfishness  of  the  scheme  was  certain  to  arouse  the  jealousy 
whicli  the  other  powers  had  never  ceased  to  feel  towar.is  Prussia 
since  the  first  aggressions  of  Frederick  II.  Hertzberg,  however, 
succeeded  in  carrying  his  point  at  Berlin.  Prussia  abstained  from 
taking  open  part  in  the  war,  and  waited  for  the  opportunity  to  inter- 
fere as  mediator.  The  Turks  were  bitterly  enraged  at  losing  the 
support  which  they  had  confidently  expected. 

§  20.  The  course  of  the  war  did  not  at  first  seem  likely  to  realise 
Hertzberg's  anticipations  of  the  Turks  being  forced  to  give  way. 
An  attack  upon  the  Crimea  was  repulsed  by  Suwarow,  who  won  a 
great  military  reputation  in  this  war,  but  Potemkin's  attempt  to 
take  Oczakow  was  for  a  long  time  foiled  by  the  obstinate  courage 


a.d.  1788-1790.      THE  EASTERN  QUESTION.  463 

of  the  garrison.  The  A ustrians  were  still  less  successful.  Joseph, 
who  took  the  command  in  person,  had  no  military  genius,  and  his 
chief  adviser,  La*cv,  was  an  administrator  rather  than  a  general. 
The  forces  were  weakened  by  being  spread  over  an  enormous  line  of 
frontier  from  Galicia  to  the  Adriatic,  and  it  was  not  until  late  in 
the  season  that  Joseph  made  an  attack  upon  I'elgrad  which  was 
repulsed.  At  the  same  time  Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden,  who  had 
overthrown  the  oligarchy  by  a  successful  revolution  in  1772,  but 
had  since  been  opposed  by  Russian  intrigues,  seized  the  opportunity 
to  invade  Finland,  and  announced  his  intention  of  advancing  to  St. 
Petersburg.  An  attempt  of  Russia  to  form  an  effective  alliance 
with  Poland  was  frustrated  hy  Prussian  influence,  and  a  threatened 
diversion  against  Sweden  by  the  forces  of  Denmark  was  prevented 
by  the  conclusion  of  the  triple  alliance  between  Prussia,  England  and 
Holland.  These  powers  set  themselves  in  distinct  opposition  to  the 
schemes  of  Austria  and  Russia,  and  formed  an  important  counter- 
balancing force  to  the  eastern  combination.  Ti.e  Turks  were 
inspired  with  the  greatest  confidence,  and  even  Hertzberg  was 
beginning  to  meditate  a  revival  of  his  scheme  of  mediation,  when 
fortune  began  to  turn  in  the  last  days  of  the  year.  In  Decem- 
ber Potemkin,  wearied  and  enraged  by  his  failure  to  takeOezakow, 
ordered  a  last  assault.  The  savage  energy  of  the  Russians  carried 
them  over  the  defences,  and  they  sated  their  wrath  in  a  reckless 
massacre  of  the  inhabitants.  In  1789  the  Sultan,  Abdul  Hamid, 
died,  but  his  successor,  Selim  HI.,  prosecuted  the  war  with  un- 
diminished energy.  The  Russian  ►uccosses,  however,  continued, 
and  both  Suwarow  and  Potemkin  gained  decisive  victories.  The 
appointment  of  the  veteran  Laudon  inspired  a  new  spirit  into  the 
Austrian  army ;  in  October  he  forced  Osman  Pacha  to  surrender 
Belgrad,  and  followed  this  up  by  capturing  Semendria  and 
Pass  irowitz.  Russia  was  freed  from  what  had  at  one  time  seemed 
a  serious  danger  by  the  repulse  of  the  Swedes,  and  in  1790 
Gustavus  III.  had  to  conclude  the  treaty  ot  Werela,  which  restored 
matters  to  their  condition  before  the  war. 

§  th  These  occurrences  seemed  to  bring  Hertzberg  nearer  to  his 
desired  end,  but  he  had  still  the  difficult  task  of  making  bis  terms 
with  the  Porte.  The  negotiations  were  carried  on  by  the  Pru>sian 
ambassador  at  Cons' antinoph*,  Diez,  who  was  opposed  by  the 
minister's  policy  and  had  always  urged  that  the  Turks  should  be 
openly  supported  by  Russia.  Diez  allowed  him*4i  to  be  persuaded 
into  signing  a  treaty  on  the  31st  of  January,  1790,  which  conceded 
more  to  Turkey  than  was  allowed  bj  his  instructions.  Nothing 
was  said  of  a  Prussian  mediation,  which  was  to  be  rewarded  with 
the  cession  of  Danzig  and  Thorn,  bat  Prussia  was  committed  to  a 


464  MODERN  EUROrE.  Chap.  xx. 

defensive  and  offensive  alliance  with  the  Porte,  which  was  not  to 
terminate  until  Russia  bad  been  compelled  to  restore  its  recent 
acquisitions.  Hertzberg  was  in  a  dilemma;  he  recalled  Diez, 
and  postponed  as  long  as  possible  the  ratification  of  the  treaty. 
But  at  the  same  time  great  military  preparations  were  made,  and 
there  could  be  no  doubt  that  circumstances  were  not  at  all 
unfavourable  for  active  intervention.  In  Poland  the  Diet  had 
definitely  declared  in  favour  of  a  Prussian  alliance,  and  Sweden 
was  still  engaged  in  hostilities  against  Russia.  The  emperor's 
reforming  activity  had  raised  the  most  serious  discontent  among- 
his  subjects.  Hungary  was  on  the  verge  of  revolt,  and  the 
Austrian  Netherlands  had  overthrown  the  government  and  formed 
themselves  into  a  Belgian  republic.  France  was  unable,  on  account 
of  internal  disturbances,  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  Austria, 
whereas  Prussia  could  count  upon  five  close  allies,  England, 
Holland,  Sweden,  Poland  and  Turkey.  Hertzberg  had  no  scruples 
about  supporting  a  revolutionary  movement,  and  was  quite  ready  to 
welcome  help  from  any  quarter,  from  the  malcontents  in  Hungary, 
Belgium,  or  even  France.  It  was  a  momentous  question  for  Europe 
at  the  beginning  of  1790  whether  Prussia  would  really  employ  all 
the  forces  of  the  western  coalition  to  humiliate  Austiia  and  Russia. 
Not  only  might  the  power  of  the  two  eastern  empires  have  been 
crippled,  but  the  revolutionary  movement  in  France  would  have 
proceeded  on  its  course  without  receiving  fresh  fuel  from  foreign 
interference.  The  decision  of  the  question  rested  with  Frederick 
William  II.  and  Hertzberg,  and  their  ultimate  choice  was  decided 
mainly  by  two  influences,  the  growing  conviction  that  events  in 
France  were  endangering  the  security  of  all  Europe,  and  secondly 
the  change  in  Austrian  policy  produced  by  the  death  of  Joseph  II. 
(20  Feb.,  1790). 

Joseph  sadly  acknowledged  to  himself  on  his  death-bed  that  all 
his  grand  schemes  had  failed.  He  had  wished  to  elevate  and  civilise 
his  subjects,  and  he  had  earned  their  hatred  instead  of  gratitude. 
He  had  planned  to  consolidate  the  Austrian  provinces  under  a 
centralised  monarchy,  and  he  left  the  state  on  the  very  verge  of 
complete  dissolution.  He  had  hoped  to  add  territories  to  his  rule, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  it  seemed  probable  that  his  existing 
dominions  would  be  dismembered  by  an  attack  from  Prussia  and 
Prussia's  allies.  It  was  fortunate  for  Austria  in  this  crisis  that  the 
crown  fell  to  so  able  a  prince  as  Leopold  II.,  who  succeeded  to  his 
childless  brother.  Leopold  was  also  a  partisan  of  the  new  move- 
ment, and  had  carried  on  an  enlightened  and  successful  government 
in  the  grand  duchy  of  Tuscany.  But  at  the  same  time  he  was 
less  obstinately  enslaved  to  theories  and  more  conciliatory  in  his 


a.d.  1790.  LEOPOLD  II.  465 

dealings  with  hostile  interests.  His  first  task  was  to  put  an  end 
to  domestic  discontent,  and  this  he  did  by  concessions.  To  Hungary 
he  restored  the  diet  and  the  old  constitution  of  the  kingdom,  and 
everywhere  he  redressed  some,  at  any  rate,  of  the  grievances  of  the 
nobles  and  clergy.  The  reaction  extended  itself  to  the  court 
arrangements,  which  recovered  some  of  their  old  magnificence,  and 
the  liberty  of  the  press  was  restricted  by  ihe  restoration  of  the 
censorship.  But  the  great  problem  of  the  new  ruler  lay  in  the 
settlement  of  foreign  complications,  as  while  they  lasted  the 
monarchy  must  be  insecure.  He  determined  at  once  to  resign  all 
the  ambitious  schemes  of  aggrandisement  which  his  brother  had 
entertained,  to  withdraw  from  the  Turkish  war,  and  so  to  avoid  the 
threatened  attack  from  Prussia.  With  the  cautious  foresight  that 
characterised  all  his  actions  he  addressed  himself,  not  to  llertzberg, 
but  to  Frederick  William  himself.  The  minister  was  naturally 
tenacious  of  a  policy  which  was  his  own  creation,  the  king  was 
never  tenacious  of  anything.  In  his  letter  Leopold  urged  that  he 
had  no  desire  of  increasing  his  territories,  and  that  he  would  gladly 
accept  the  frontiers  of  the  treaty  of  Passarowitz,  and  he  laid  great 
stress  on  tho  glory  which  the  king  would  obtain  by  mediating  a 
moderate  and  permanent  peace.  Frederick  William  was  impressed 
by  this  personal  appeal,  but  he  could  not  at  once  overthrow  the 
minister  whom  he  had  hitherto  supported,  and  his  answer  proposed 
the  interchange  of  territories  which  would  give  Prussia  Danzig  and 
Thorn.  Leopold's  refusal  was  clear  and  unhesitating.  The  negoti- 
ations were  broken  off,  both  Austria  and  Prussia  assembled  troops 
in  their  respective  frontiers,  and  war  seemed  more  inevitable  than 
over.  But  events  soon  occurred  which  shook  Frederick  William's 
never  very  stable  resolution.  It  appeared  that  the  allies  of  Prussia 
were  by  no  means  eager  supporters  of  Hertzberg's  elaborate  scheme. 
England  was  just  now  engaged  in  a  quarrel  with  Spain  about 
colonial  questions  in  California,  and  had  no  interest  in  securing 
Prussian  supremacy  in  the  Baltic.  If  Austria  would  make  peace  on 
condition  that  matters  should  return  to  their  condition  before  the 
war,  that  was  also  the  wish  of  England,  and  by  implication  of 
Holland.  At  the  same  time  the  Poles,  though  they  had  concluded 
an  alliance  with  Prussia  (March,  1790),  were  not  at  all  willing  to 
give  up  Danzig  and  Thorn.  Frederick  William  discovered  that 
even  if  he  overcame  the  unwillingness  of  Austria,  he  would  still  have 
to  face  the  opposition  of  his  allies.  This  was  sufficient  to  decide 
a  king  who  always  sought  to  find  the  easiest  way  of  getting  out 
of  difficulties,  and  who  was  also  not  insensible  of  the  credit  which 
he  could  claim  if  he  proved  his  unselfishness  in  the  eyes  of  Europe. 
Leopold  adroitly  managed  matters  so  that  the  proposal  came  from 


466  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

Prussia  and  was  accepted  as  a  concession  on  the  part  of  Austria. 
By  the  treaty  of  Reichenbach  (27  July,  1790)  Austria  engaged  to 
restore  all  her  conquests  to  Turkey  and  to  grant  an  amnesty  and 
their  old  constitution  to  the  Belgians.  Hertzberg,  who  was  com- 
pletely disconcerted  at  the  turn  which  affairs  had  taken,  could  only 
secure  the  insertion  of  a  clause  by  which,  if  Austria  did  make  any 
small  acquisition  of  Turkish  territory,  it  should  be  with  the  free 
will  of  the  Porte,  and  Prussia  was  to  get  an  equivalent. 

The  treaty  of  Reichenbach,  as  competent  observers  saw  at  the  time, 
marks  the  first  retreat  from  the  policy  of  Frederick  the  Great  and 
the  first  step  in  the  decline  of  Prussia.  A  state  which  had  risen  to 
greatness  by  straining  all  its  resources  to  the  uttermost,  must  either 
advance  or  fall;  the  slightest  retrograde  step,  which  a  firmly 
established  power  could  take  without  danger,  must  be  fatal.  The 
consequences  of  the  loss  of  prestige  are  clearly  visible  in  the 
subsequent  events.  Sweden,  Poland  and  Turkey,  hitherto  the 
docile  clients  of  Prussia,  passed  over  to  Austria.  Leopold  could 
afford  to  disregard  the  express  provisions  of  the  recent  treaty.  The 
Belgian  revolt  was  put  down  with  severity,  and  the  people 
clamoured  against  the  treacherous  power  that  had  encouraged  only 
to  desert  them.  The  peace  with  the  Turks,  to  settle  which  a 
congress  met  at  Sistowa,  was  postponed  until  August,  1791,  and 
then  the  Porte  had  to  cede  the  district  of  Orsowa  in  direct  violation 
of  the  treaty  of  Reichenbach.  About  the  same  time  Russia,  which 
had  continued  to  gain  victories  without  its  ally,  had  concluded  the 
preliminaries  of  a  peace  at  Galatz  (11  August,  1791).  Further 
negotiations  were  entrusted  to  Potemkin,  but  he  died  before 
anything  had  been  settled  (15  October).  His  death  removed  the 
greatest  obstacle  to  peace,  and  the  final  treaty  was  signed  at  Jassy 
in  January,  1792.  Turkey  gave  up  Oczakow  to  Russia,  and  the 
Dniester  was  fixed  as  the  boundary  between  the  two  states. 

VI.  The  Second  and  Third  Partitions  of  Poland. 

§  22.  Ever  since  the  first  partition  of  Poland,  the  unfortunate 
Stanislaus  Poniatowski  and  his  reduced  kingdom  had  remained  in 
complete  vassalage  to  Russia.  But  the  outbreak  of  the  Turkish  war 
in  1787  and  the  occupation  of  the  Russian  troops  on  the  Danube 
and  in  the  Crimea  seemed  to  offer  a  favourable  chance  of  throwing 
off  this  humiliating  yoke.  England  and  Prussia  formed  a  league 
for  the  repression  of  Russia,  and  the  Poles  determined  to  appeal  for 
Prussian  assistance.  Their  demand  was  favourably  entertained  by 
Hertzberg,  who  wished  to  realise  a  great  object  of  Frederick  the 
Great  by  acquiring  Danzig  and  Thorn,  and  a  treaty  was  signed 


4.D.  1787-1792.        P0LI8H  CONSTITUTION.  467 

in  March,  1790.  The  prospect  of  recovering  their  independence, 
combined  with  the  spread  of  reforming  ideas  from  France,  gave  a 
great  impulse  to  the  party  which  desired  to  strengthen  Poland  by 
changing  its  constitution.  Stanislaus  was  induced  to  join  the 
reformers,  and  on  the  3rd  of  May,  1790,  a  new  constitution  was 
accepted  by  the  diet.  Its  object  was  to  transform  the  anarchical 
republic  into  an  orderly  and  constitutional  monarchy.  The  right 
of  election  was  abolished  and  the  crown  made  hereditary.  Stanis- 
laus, who  was  childless,  was  to  be  succeeded  by  Frederick  Augustus 
of  Saxony,  and  he  by  his  daughter,  who  was  proclaimed  "  Infanta 
of  Poland,**  and  whose  descendants,  it  was  hoped,  would  form  a 
new  and  independent  dynasty  of  PolUh  kings.  The  executive 
power  was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  king  and  a  responsible  council 
of  ministers,  the  legislative  functions  were  to  be  shared  Utween  a 
senate  and  an  elective  diet.  The  liberum  veto  and  the  right  of 
confederation,  the  source  of  so  many  evils,  were  abolished.  The 
Roman  Catholic  religion  was  recognised  as  that  of  the  state,  but 
other  forms  of  belief  wire  to  be  tolerated. 

This  grand  reform,  which  was  carried  through  the  diet  by  an  art- 
fully planned  surprise  and  which  by  no  means  represented  t  lit  -  muni- 
mous  wishes  of  the  Poles,  was  completely  unexpected  by  the  three 
neighbouring  powers.  Russia  was  profoundly  irritated,  and  Catha- 
rine only  waited  for  a  favourable  opportunity  to  take  summary 
vengeance.  Prussia,  already  alienated  by  the  obstinacy  with  which 
the  Poles  clung  to  Danzig  and  Thorn,  was  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
formation  of  a  strong  monarchical  state  in  its  immediate  neighbour- 
hood. On  the  other  hand  Leo}>old  II.,  though  he  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  introduction  of  the  constitution,  was  completely 
satisfied  with  it.  A  strong  and  independent  Poland  formed  the 
best  and  most  satisfactory  bulwark  against  the  westward  advance 
of  Russia.  He  determined  therefore  to  do  all  he  could  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  constitution,  and  he  was  favoured  by  the  close 
relation  in  which  he  was  brought  to  Prussia  by  their  c«  mmon 
int trots  in  regard  to  France.  In  July,  1790,  he  succeeded  in 
inducing  the  Prussian  envoy  to  sign  the  preliminaries  of  a  treaty  in 
which  "  the  free  constitution  of  Poland  **  was  expressly  guaranteed. 
But  in  the  final  treaty  of  February,  1791,  a  slight  but  important 
alteration  was  made  by  the  substitution  of  the  words  "a  free 
constitution  of  Poland.** 

Meanwhile  Catharine  II.  had  done  all  in  her  power  to  involve 
Austria  and  Prussia  in  a  war  with  France  in  order  to  secure 
herself  from  their  intervention  in  the  east.  In  January,  1792,  she 
concluded  the  peace  of  Jassy  with  the  Turks,  and  at  once  ordered 
her  troops  to  march  into  Poland.    They  were  aided  by  a  party 


468  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

among  the  Poles  themselves,  who  formed  the  Confederation  of 
Targowicz,  revived  the  old  name  of  "  patriots,"  and  demanded  the 
restoration  of  "liberty"  and  their  old  constitution.  Stanislaus  and 
his  adherents  appealed  for  assistance  to  Prussia,  but  there  the  ill- 
feeling  against  the  constitution  had  been  increased  by  a  subsequent 
proposal  to  substitute  for  the  daughter  the  brother  of  the  elector  of 
Saxony,  and  so  to  perpetuate  the  connection  between  Saxony  and 
Poland.  Frederick  William  refused  his  assistance  and  offered  no 
opposition  to  the  Russian  troops,  who  speedily  made  themselves 
masters  of  the  hapless  and  still  divided  country.  Austria  was  the 
only  state  from  which  resistance  was  to  be  feared,  and  here  good 
fortune  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Czarina.  On  the  first  of  March 
Leopold  II.'s  short  but  successful  reign  was  ended  by  a  sudden  and 
unexpected  death,,  which  involved  important  consequences  both  to 
Austria  and  to  Europe.  Six  weeks  later  the  war  with  France  was 
actually  commenced,  and  the  Austrian  troops  had  to  defend 
Belgium  from  invasion.  These  events  removed  all  difficulties  from 
the  way  of  Russia.  Prussia  was  averse  to  the  aggrandisement  of 
her  eastern  neighbour,  but  was  not  willing  to  move  a  hand  for 
the  constitution  of  1790.  Austria  thoroughly  approved  of  the 
constitution,  Francis  IT.  was  as  anxious  as  his  father  had  been  to 
oppose  the  ambition  of  Catharine,  but  armed  intervention  was 
impossible.  The  Poles,  divided  among  themselves  and  with  no 
hope  of  foreign  assistance,  could  make  no  effective  resistance.  The 
feeble  Stanislaus  was  terrified  into  deserting  his  party  and  joining  the 
Confederation  of  Targowicz.  The  constitution  was  formally  abolished 
at  the  dictation  of  Russia,  the  old  anarchy  was  restored  under  the 
name  of  "  liberty,"  and  the  leaders  of  the  reforming  party  fled  from 
the  country. 

§  23.  Catharine  II.  had  triumphed,  but  she  felt  that  the  victory 
could  not  be  permanent  as  long  as  the  two  great  rival  powers  re- 
garded Russian  influence  in  Poland  with  envy  and  mistrust.  Almost 
at  the  moment  that  her  troops  entered  the  kingdom  she  suggested 
a  partition.  Austria  being  still  clamorous  for  Polish  independence 
and  the  constitution  of  1790,  she  turned  to  Prussia,  whose  inte- 
rests did  not  lie  at  any  rate  in  that  direction.  The  change  of 
policy  which  had  resulted  in  the  treaty  of  Reichenbach  and  the  fall 
of  Hertzberg  had  been  mainly  the  work  of  Frederick  William 
himself,  and  had  never  been  acceptable  to  the  courtiers  at  Berlin, 
who  inherited  the  traditional  jealousy  of  Austria  from  the  time  of 
Frederick  the  Great.  While  there  was  no  desire  to  truckle  to 
Catharine,  there  was  a  strong  feeling  that  it  was  better  to  profit 
by  a  Russian  alliance  than  to  court  disaster  by  adherence  to  the 
cause  of   a  natural  and  treacherous  foe.     Between  Berlin  and 


a.d.  1792-1793.    SECOND  PARTITION  OF  POLAND.        469 

St.  Petersburg  there  were  nothing  but  details  to  settle,  and  to  gain 
over  Austria  the  Russian  envoy  proposed  to  revive  the  project  of 
effecting  an  exchange  of  the  Netherlands  for  Bavaria.  Throughout 
the  second  half  of  1792  incessant  negotiations  were  carried  on  upon 
this  point,  whether  Austria  would  on  this  condition  consent  to  the 
aggrandisement  of  Russia  and  Prussia  in  Poland.  But  the 
dilViculties  proved  insuperable.  Frederick  William  was  willing  to 
ap|  r  >\e  the  projected  exchange,  but  he  refused  to  employ  force  to 
oven  ujul'  any  unwillingness  of  the  rulers  of  Bavaria.  Austria  was 
not  eager  to  allow  a  great  and  immediate  advantage  to  Prussia  in 
return  for  the  doubtful  and  distant  prospect  of  an  advantage  to 
herself,  which  after  all  was  nothing  more  than  an  improvement  of 
frontier.  It  was  demanded  that  to  Bavaria  should  be  added  the 
<>l<i  Hohenzollern  principalities  of  Baireuth  and  Ansjwch,  which  had 
recently  fallen  in  to  Frederick  William.  This  was  n  fused  by  the 
king,  aud  the  conquest  of  Belgium  by  Dumouriez  at  the  eud  of  the 
year  made  the  whole  proposal  more  doubtful  and  visionary  than 
ever.  Ultimately  Russia  aud  Prussia  determined  to  settle  the 
matter  by  themselves,  and  on  the  23rd  of  January,  1793,  the  second 
treaty  ol  partition  was  concluded  and  was  carefully  kept  a  secret 
In  in  Austria.  After  arranging  the  extent  of  territory  which  was 
to  go  to  each  }>ower,  the  treaty  provided  that  Russia  and  Prussia 
should  employ  their  "good  services"  to  effect  the  exchange  of 
Belgium  for  Bavaria,  that  Frederick  William  should  continue  his 
present  exertions  against  France,  and  that  he  should  not  lay  down 
arms  until  the  object  of  the  war,  the  suppression  of  disorder,  should 
be  attained. 

Before  this,  on  the  6th  of  January,  the  king  cf  Prussia  had 
issued  a  manifesto  in  which  he  announced  his  intention  of  interfering 
to  put  down  the  anarchy  in  Poland,  which  he  attributed  to  Jacobin 
influences.  Eight  days  later  his  troops  crossed  the  frontier,  and  in 
a  short  time  occupied  the  stipulated  territories.  This  energetic 
example  was  followed  by  Russia  with  the  same  success.  The  share 
of  Prussia,  consisting  of  the  coveted  towns  of  Danzig  and  Thorn, 
with  the  provinces  of  Great  Poland,  Posen,  Geresen  and  Kalisch, 
contained  more  than  a  thousand  square  miles,  with  a  population  of 
about  a  million  and  a  half.  The  Russian  acquisitions  in  Eastern 
Poland  were  four  times  as  great  in  extent,  and  comprised  twice  as 
many  inhabitants.  It  was  not  till  the  23rd  of  March  that  the  news 
reached  Vienna,  where  it  excited  the  most  profound  indignation. 
The  existing  ministers  were  dismissed,  and  the  conduct  of  foreign 
affairs  was  entrusted  to  Thugut,  who  directed  them  for  the  next 
seven  years  with  little  credit  to  himself  and  with  less  profit  to  his 
country.     He  definitely  refused  to  accept  the  treaty  of  partition, 


470  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

pointed  out  the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  terms  that  were  offered,  and 
demanded  that  Austria  should  receive  immediate  compensation  in 
Poland.  But  the  two  powers  continued  their  task  without  any 
regard  to  either  demands  or  threats.  A  diet  was  summoned  at 
Grodno  to  legalise  by  its  consent  the  act  of  robbery  that  had  been 
already  executed.  In  spite  of  the  care  with  which  the  diet  was 
packed,  and  the  presence  of  armed  force  to  intimidate  its  members, 
they  showed  some  lingering  signs  of  patriotism.  It  was  against 
Prussia,  as  a  recent  ally,  that  the  greatest  indignation  was  felt.  On 
the  23rd  of  July  the  Russian  demands  were  granted,  and  an  attempt 
was  made  to  induce  the  Czarina  to  throw  over  the  Prussian  cause. 
For  a  time  there  was  a  serious  alarm  at  Berlin  lest  all  the  fruits  of 
their  exertions  might  be  lost,  but  at  last  the  difficulties  were  over- 
come, and  on  the  22nd  of  September,  in  the  famous  "  dumb  sitting," 
the  partition  was  finally  accepted.  Austria  was  indignant  but 
powerless.  When  it  is  remembered  that  these  events  took  place  at 
the  crisis  of  ihe  revolutionary  war,  it  may  be  easily  understood  how 
this  undisguised  quarrel  about  Poland  tended  to  weaken  and 
dissolve  the  coalition  against  Trance.  The  remaining  part  of 
Poland  became  practically  a  vassal  state  of  Russia.  The  un- 
fortunate Stanislaus  was  compelled  to  accept  a  humiliating  treaty, 
known  as  the  "  eternal  alliance  "  (14  Oct.),  by  which  the  Poles  were 
bound  to  make  no  change  in  their  constitution,  and  to  enter  into  no 
agreement  with  foreign  powers,  without  express  permission  from  the 
Czarina. 

§  24.  The  Polish  malcontents  were  cowed  rather  than  conquered. 
In  March,  1794,  an  attempt  of  General  Igelstrom,  the  Russian  re- 
presentative at  Warsaw,  to  diminish  the  small  remaining  native 
army,  provoked  a  rising  in  Krakau  which  speedily  assumed 
formidable  dimensions.  Kosciusko,  who  had  served  under  Wash- 
ington in  the  war  of  American  independence,  and  who  had  been  a 
leading  promoter  of  the  reform  of  1790,  arrived  from  his  refuge  in 
Saxony  and  was  appointed  generalissimo.  On  the  4th  of  March  he 
gained  a  slight  success  over  the  Russian  forces,  and  on  the  18th  a 
desperate  rising  of  the  people  expelled  Igelstrom  and  his  troops 
from  Warsaw.  Stanislaus,  the  puppet  of  fortune,  now  offered  to 
acknowledge  the  constitution  once  more,  but  he  was  no  longer 
trusted,  and  though  allowed  to  retain  the  royal  title,  he  was 
practically  superseded  by  Kosciusko.  Rapidly  as  the  insurrection 
had  gained  ground,  it  was  evident  to  any  dispassionate  observer 
that  it  could  not  be  permanently  successful,  and  it  must  lead 
sooner  or  later  to  the  absorption  of  Poland  by  its  powerful  and 
unscrupulous  neighbours.  The  ministers  at  Berlin  clearly  per- 
ceived this,  and  determined  by  active  measures  to  secure  their  share 


A.D.  1703-1795.      THIRD  PARTITION  OF  POLAND.  471 

of  the  booty.  At  the  beginning  of  June,  Prussian  troops  crossed 
the  frontier,  on  the  6th  they  defeated  Kosciusko  at  Rawka,  on  the 
15th  Krakau  was  taken.  A  rapid  march  must  have  resulted  in 
the  fall  of  Warsaw  and  the  collapse  of  the  insurrection.  But 
valuable  time  was  wasted  before  the  siege  was  commenced,  even 
then  it  was  only  languidly  pressed ;  and  before  long  a  rising  in  the 
recently  annexed  provinces  compelled  the  Prussians  to  retire.  But 
by  this  time  the  Russians  under  Suw^row  had  entered  Poland. 
On  the  4th  of  October,  Kosciusko,  who  had  previously  suffered 
several  minor  reverses,  was  completely  defeated  at  Maciejowice  and 
taken  prisoner.  With  him  fell  the  last  ho|»e  of  Polish  independence. 
On  the  4th  of  November  the  Russians  stormed  Praga,  and  put  the 
whole  population,  men,  women  and  children,  to  death.  Four  days 
later  Warsaw  surrendered,  and  the  whole  kingdom  lay  at  the  mercy 
of  the  conquerors. 

Prussia  having  failed  in  arms,  now  resorted  to  diplomacy,  and 
Tauenzien  was  sent  to  St.  Petersburg  to  arrange  a  partition  tr<  aty 
with  Russia  on  the  model  of  that  of  1793.  But  it  was  soon 
apparent  that  Catharine  was  d>  terminal,  upon  this  occasion,  to 
favour  Austria.  The  motives  of  her  |olicy  are  fa'rly  obvious.  It 
was  the  interest  of  Russia  to  balance  the  two  great  German  lowers 
against  each  other,  and  therefore  to  grant  them  alternate  acquisitions 
in  Poland.  Prussia  had  recently  thwarted  Catharine's  wi>hes  by 
opening  negotiations  with  the  French  which  led  up  to  the  treaty  of 
Basel.  Moreover  Thugut,  the  Austrian  minister,  was  willing  to 
conciliate  Russia  by  renewing  that  aggressive  alliance  agairst 
Turkey  which  had  been  so  fatal  a  defect  in  the  policy  of  Joseph  II. 
Tauenzien  discovered  that  everything  was  being  arranged  without 
his  participation,  and  left  St.  Petersburg  after  making  a  futile 
protest.  On  the  3rd  of  January,  1795,  the  final  partition  was 
arranged  between  Austria  and  Russia.  Russia  was  to  have  the  lion's 
share,  about  2000  square  miles,  while  Austria  received  about  1000 
square  miles,  with  the  town  of  Krakau.  The  remainder,  amounting 
to  over  700  square  milts,  an<l  including  Warsaw,  was  assigned  to 
Prussia. 

On  the  same  day  the  two  contracting  powers  signed  a  secret 
declaration  which  has  only  recently  been  discovered.  Austria  was 
to  accept  the  treaty  of  January,  1793,  and  the  terms  there  inserted 
about  the  exchange  of  the  Netherlands  for  Bavaria ;  she  was  to 
guarantee  the  Russian  possessions  in  Poland ;  a  similar  guarantee 
was  to  be  extended  to  the  Prussian  possessions  when  Prussia  had 
acceded  to  the  present  treaty  of  partition.  In  case  of  a  war  with 
Turkey,  Austria  was  to  assist  with  all  her  forces  in  compelling  the 
Porte  to  cede   Moldavia,  Wallachia,   and   Bessarabia,  and  these 


472  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xx. 

provinces  were  to  be  formed  into  an  appanage  for  a  member  of  the 
imperial  family  of  Russia-  For  this  Austria  was  to  be  compensated 
by  acquisitions  to  be  made,  if  possible,  in  France  ;  but  if  that  failed, 
then  at  the  expense  of  Venice.  This  declaration  was  never  carried 
out,  and  its  existence  was  never  suspected  for  half  a  century,  but 
it  throws  a  lurid  light  upon  the  selfish  and  treacherous  diplomacy 
of  those  days,  and  upon  the  reckless  policy  <f  aggrandisement 
pursued  by  Thugut. 

In  March,  1795,  the  duke  of  Courland,  Peter  Biren,  was  compelled 
to  abdicate,  and  his  duchy  was  made  into  a  Russian  province.  On 
the  24th  of  October  the  partition  of  Poland  v*  as  finally  settled  by 
the  adhesion  of  Prussia  to  the  treaty  of  the  3rd  of  January.  This 
adhesion  was  given  with  great  reluctance,  and  after  much  futile 
grumbling.  The  greatest  objection  was  felt  to  giving  up  Krakau, 
which  was  in  Prussian  hands,  to  Austria.  But  Russia  silenced  every 
objection  by  refusing  to  give  up  Warsaw  as  long  as  Prussia  retained 
Krakau.  Thus  perished  a  kingdom  which  had  once  played  a  great 
part  in  Europe,  but  which  owed  its  downfall  quite  as  much  to  its 
anarchical  constitution  and  to  its  want  of  all  the  essentials  of  a 
sound  state,  as  to  the  unprincipled  greed  of  its  neighbours. 
Stanislaus  Poniatowski,  who  had  been  nominal  king  since  1764, 
was  compelled  without  difficulty  to  abdicate.  On  the  death  ot 
Catharine  II.  (17  Nov.  1796),  his  mistress  in  both  senses  of  the 
word,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  St.  Petersburg,  where  he  died 
in  1798.  Kosciusko,  the  real  hero  of  the  last  period  of  Polish 
independence,  was  released  from  prison  by  Paul  I.,  and,  after  several 
changes  of  residence,  died  in  Switzerland  in  1817. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XVI. 

§  1.  The  «'utii3  of  feudalism  had  perished,  while  the  rights  and  privileges 
remained ;  class  jealousies ;  condition  of  the  peasants.  §  2.  Character 
of  Louis  XVI. ;  Maurepas ;  admission  of  reformers  to  the  ministry ; 
restoration  of  the  Parliaments.  §  3.  Principles  of  Turgot;  his 
reforms;  opposition  of  the  privileged  classes;  Turgot's  fall.  §  4. 
Financial  policy  of  Keeker.  §  5.  American  revolt ;  France  joins  the 
colonies ;  alliance  of  France  and  Spain  ;  the  armed  neutrality ;  isolation 
and  danger  of  England.  §  6.  Meeker's  reforms  excite  hostility  ;  his 
resignation;  reaction  against  administrative  reform.  §  7.  Independ- 
ence of  the  United  States;  siege  of  Gibraltar;  treaty  of  Versailles. 
§  8.  Financial  straits  of  the  French  government ;  administration  of 
Calonne ;  hostility  to  Marie  Antoinette.  §  9.  Financial  disclosures ; 
Calonne's  plan;  the  Assembly  of  Notables;  fall  of  Calonne;  Loroenie 
de  Brienne ;  quarrel  with  the  Parliament  of  Paris ;  summons  of  the 
States-General  and  recall  of  Necker. 

§  1.  In  France  the  external  fabric  of  feudalism  had  been  more  com> 
pletely  destroyed  than  in  any  other  country  of  Europe.  The  old 
system,  under  which  the  nobles  governed  their  own  estates  with 
more  or  less  responsibility  to  the  crown,  had  given  way  to  a  new  cen- 
tralised administration  which  had  been  gradually  perfected  from 
the  reign  of  Louis  XL  to  that  of  Louis  XIV.  Under  the  king  the 
supreme  control  of  domestic  affairs  was  in  the  hands  of  the  con- 
troller-general of  finances,  who  was  assisted  by  a  central  council 
and  by  the  provincial  intendants.  The  States-General  had  been 
powerless  since  the  14th  century,  and  had  never  been  summoned 
since  1614,  so  that  their  composition  and  procedure  were  known 
only  to  antiquarians.  In  five  of  the  outlying  provinces,  the 
so-called  pays  d'etat,  there  still  lingered  some  traces  of  the  local 
estates,  but  they  had  no  real  vitality  or  importance  except  in 
Languedoc  and  to  some  extent  in  Brittany.  In  the  other  provinces, 
the  pays  detection,  the  intendants  were  absolute  rulers.  All  sorts 
of  officials  existed,  many  of  whom  had  paid  large  sums  for  their 
posts,  but  their  functions  had  become  nominal.  The  parliaments, 
or  courts  of  justice,  had  retained  their  independence  longer  than 
any  other  institutions,  and  at  one  time  had  threatened  to  impose 
22 


474  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxi. 

formidable  checks  upon  the  royal  power.  But  this  was  due,  not  to 
any  sympathy  with  popular  liberty,  but  to  the  fact  that  the  lawyers 
had  formed  themselves  into  a  hereditary  and  privileged  class,  and 
when  the  old  parliaments  were  suppressed  by  Maupeou  the  action 
was  applauded  by  Voltaire  and  his  followers.  The  last  vestige  of 
the  mediaeval  system  had  thus  been  swept  away  from  the  path  of 
the  royal  despotism.  The  nobles  were  still  the  most  conspicuous 
persons  in  their  districts,  but  they  had  ceased  to  govern.  The 
peasants,  who  had  once  been  their  serfs,  had  risen  to  be  metayer 
tenants,  or  in  many  parts  small  proprietors.  The  only  career  left 
open  to  a  noble  was  in  the  civil  or  military  service  of  the  govern- 
ment. In  Paris  or  with  the  army  he  might  still  acquire  fame,  on 
his  own  estates  he  was  powerless.  His  rank  prevented  him  from 
becoming  one  of  the  intendants,  and  they  exercised  the  power  that 
had  once  belonged  to  his  ancestors. 

Yet  it  is  usually  said  that  the  French  Revolution  destroyed 
feudalism,  which  had  provoked  it.  This  is  untrue  if  we  regard 
feudalism  in  its  old  and  true  sense  as  a  system  of  government 
and  society,  The  essential  merit  of  feudalism  was  the  emphasis 
that  it  laid  upon  the  duties  as  well  as  the  rights  of  property. 
But  as  it  decayed,  as  the  duties  were  usurped  by  the  monarchy, 
the  rights  were  left  behind  to  console  the  nobles  for  their  impo- 
tence. Thus  they  were  exempted  from  payment  of  the  taille 
and  other  oppressive  taxes,  and  in  its  origin  the  exemption  had 
ample  justification.  The  taille  was  imposed  to  provide  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  military  force ;  but  the  nobles  were  bound  to 
serve  at  their  own  expense,  and  therefore  were  excused.  Since 
then  the  obligation  of  military  service  had  lapsed,  but  the  right  of 
exemption  had  been  jealously  retained.  So  they  had  lost  the 
absolute  mastery  over  their  serfs,  but  had  kept  the  rights  which  had 
been  the  symbol  and  outcome  of  that  mastery.  Many  of  them  had 
powers  of  jurisdiction,  all  had  supreme  rights  of  hunting  and 
forestry.  They  could  exact  forced  labour  from  the  peasants,  and 
could  compel  them  to  pay  tolls  and  other  dues,  and  to  grind  their 
corn  at  the  lord's  mill.  These  exactions  would  have  been  cheer- 
fully acquiesced  in  as  long  as  the  lords  were  real  rulers  and  gave 
protection  and  judicial  administration  in  return  for  them.  But  in 
the  18th  century  the  vast  majority  of  the  nobles  were  absentees, 
who  left  the  collection  of  their  dues  in  the  hands  of  extortionate 
bailiffs  and  squandered  the  proceeds  in  the  capital.  It  was  the 
absence  of  duties  that  made  th*e  continuance  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  absurd,  and  it  was  this,  even  more  than  their  oppressive 
character,  that  roused  the  bitter  wrath  of  the  peasants.  It  was 
not  against  the  feudal  system,  but  against  the  effete  survival  of 


jld.  1774.  THE  OLD  REGIME.  475 

parts  of  the  system,  that  the  Revolution  directed  its  destructive 
energy. 

The  clergy  were  also  unpopular,  not  so  much  on  account  of  the 
spread  of  irreligion  in  France,  but  because  they  had  come  to  occupy 
the  same  anomalous  position  as  the  secular  lords.  The  great 
churchmen  were  owners  of  immense  wealth,  which  was  wrung  from 
the  tillers  of  the  soil  and  for  which  no  adequate  services  were  rendered. 
The  lesser  clergy,  who  worked  in  poverty  and  were  excluded  from 
all  hope  of  promotion,  shared  in  the  misery  and  sympathised  with 
the  aspirations  of  the  people.  Among  the  third  estate  there  was  a 
similar  division  of  interests.  In  the  cities  municipal  independence 
had  perished  since  the  days  of  Richelieu,  and  the  intendant  was  as 
active  and  powerful  within  the  walls  as  outside.  But  the  old 
offices  were  still  objects  of  ambition  to  the  citizens ;  like  all  other 
posts,  they  had  been  put  up  to  sale  by  the  government,  and  had 
become  the  exclusive  property  of  a  bourgeois  aristocracy,  as 
haughty  as  it  was  powerless.  The  lesser  citizens  groaned  under  the 
tyranny  of  guilds  and  other  associations,  originally  farm)  f<»r  tin- 
protection  of  trade,  but  which  were  now  employed  to  maintain  the 
selfish  privileges  of  the  wealthy  class.  No  conception  of  common 
interests  united  the  citizens  with  the  peasants,  who  had  far  m  re 
real  grievances  to  complain  of.  So  heavy  was  the  burden  of  taxes 
imposed  upon  them  that  all  motives  for  economy  or  for  the 
improvement  of  agriculture  were  destroyed.  The  taillc  had  been 
gradually  increased  by  the  mere  will  of  the  government,  and  its 
collection  was  purely  arbitrary.  Most  of  the  indirect  taxes  were 
levied  on  necessaries,  such  as  salt,  and  therefore  fell  with  special 
weight  on  the  poorer  population.  In  addition  to  the  odious  exac- 
tions of  their  lords,  the  crown  had  now  come  forward  with  similar 
demands.  No  grievance  is  more  prominent  at  this  ]>eriod  than  the 
corvces,  the  compulsory  labour  enforced  by  the  central  government 
for  the  making  and  repairing  of  roads.  And  besides  having  to  bear 
most  of  the  expenses  of  the  regular  forces,  the  jwasants  were  also 
compelled  to  undergo  an  irksome  term  of  service  in  the  militia. 
Their  case  was  unquestionably  the  hardest,  but  the  revolt  was 
commenced  by  the  classes  above  them.  The  want  of  union 
between  classes  in  France  had  long  been  the  great  safeguard  of  the 
monarchy ;  it  ruined  the  Revolution.  After  one  moment  ol 
combination  against  the  crown,  men  turned  against  each  other  to 
vent  a  spite  that  had  been  ripening  for  generations. 

The  monarchy  had  undertaken  the  difficult  and  dangerous  task 
of  discharging  all  the  functions  of  government,  and  it  can  hardly  be 
said  to  have  succeeded.  For  a  moment,  under  Louis  XIV.  and 
Colbert,  there  had  seemed  to  be  a  fair  prospect  of  the  welfare  of  the 


476  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxi. 

country  being  firmly  established.  But  the  dream  had  soon  dis- 
appeared. Louis  XIV.  himself  had  brought  the  nation  to  the  verge 
of  ruin,  the  Regent  and  Louis  XV.  had  done  nothing  to  save  it. 
The  finances  are  the  crucial  test  of  an  administration.  We  have 
already  seen  how  Law's  measures  had  resulted  in  bankruptcy,  and 
his  numerous  successors  had  found  it  impossible  to  revive  the 
national  credit.  The  great  problem  was  to  make  the  revenue  cover 
the  expenditure,  and  this  it  never  did ;  the  continual  deficit  had 
burdened  the  country  with  an  ever-increasing  debt.  It  was  now 
to  be  seen  whether  the  new  king  could  cope  with  difficulties 
which  his  predecessors  had  never  fairly  endeavoured  to  face. 

§  2.  Louis  XVI.  was  born  in  1754,  and  was  therefore  twenty  years 
old  at  the  time  of  his  accession.  Both  in  his  merits  and  in  his 
defects  he  presents  a  marked  contrast  to  the  other  memhers  of 
the  house  of  Bourbon.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  retirement,  and 
his  manners  were  always  coarse  and  unprepossessing.  He  had  no 
pronounced  tastes  except  for  the  manual  labour  of  an  artisan  and 
for  hunting.  But  he  was  free  from  the  gross  vices  that  had 
disgraced  his  predecessors,  and  he  was  conscientiously  eager  to 
secure  the  welfare  of  his  subjects.  Unfortunately  he  had  none 
of  the  requisite  qualities  for  the  discharge  of  this  necessary  task. 
Unable  to  form  an  opinion  for  himself,  he  lacked  the  strength 
of  mind  to  carry  out  with  resolution  a  course  of  action  which 
he  adopted  on  the  advice  of  others.  Throughout  his  life  he 
was  dependent  upon  the  influence  of  those  around  him,  of  his 
aunts,  his  brothers,  and  finally  of  his  wife,  Marie  Antoinette, 
whom  he  had  married  in  1770,  but  who  only  gradually  obtained 
that  supremacy  over  his  intellect  and  affections  which  was  ulti- 
mately to  prove  fatal  to  both  of  them.  The  first  great  question 
that  the  king  had  to  decide  was  the  selection  of  a  minister.  Public 
expectation  pointed  to  Choiseul,  who  had  been  mainly  instrumental 
in  effecting  the  king's  marriage  and  in  cementing  the  Austrian 
alliance.  But  at  this  time  Marie  Antoinette  was  comparatively 
powerless,  and  Louis  was  prejudiced  against  Choiseul  as  the 
opponent  of  his  father.  He  decided  to  summon  M.  de  Machault, 
but  at  the  last  moment  his  aunt,  Madame  Adelaide,  interfered,  and 
the  letter  which  had  been  written  to  Machault  was  sent  to  M.  de 
Maurepas.  Maurepas  had  held  office  under  Louis  XV.,  but  he  had 
for  many  years  been  removed  from  public  life,  and  his  character  and 
administrative  powers  had  deteriorated  during  the  interval.  Instead 
of  attempting  to  cope  resolutely  with  the  difficulties  of  France,  he 
thought  only  of  finding  expedients  to  evade  them  and  of  securing 
his  own  tenure  of  office.  He  encouraged  the  king  in  his  unwilling- 
ness to  form  a  resolution  for  himself,  and  in  his  inclination  to  trust 


A.D.  1774.  TURGOT.  477 

to  half-measures.  No  single  man  is  more  responsible  for  the  great 
convulsion  that  closed  the  reign.  But  Maurepas's  first  acts  se*  med 
hardly  to  deserve  this  condemnation.  Careless  about  reforms 
himself,  he  was  not  unwilling  to  see  them  attempted  by  others, 
provided  that  his  own  authority  was  not  shaken.  The  members  of 
the  triumvirate,  Maupeou,  Terrai,  and  d'Aiguillon,  were  dismissed 
amidst  demonstrations  of  popular  scorn  and  hatred.  The  ministry 
of  foreign  affairs  was  entrusted  to  M.  de  Vergennes,  a  distinguished 
diplomatist,  who  played  little  part  in  domestic  affairs.  The  control 
of  the  finances  was  given  to  Turgot,  the  ablest  and  most  virtuous  of 
French  administrators,  and  the  management  of  the  household  to 
Malesherbes,  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  blameless  of  the  partisans 
of  progress. 

The  most  pressing  question  for  the  new  government  to  settle  was 
that  of  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  parliaments.  As  Maupeou 
had  fallen,  it  was  generally  expected  that  the  institutions  which  he 
had  created  would  share  his  fate.  The  people,  who  had  forgotten 
everything  but  the  fact  that  the  parliaments  had  opposed  the  crown, 
clamoured  for  their  revival.  Turgot  was  resolutely  opposed  to  the 
step.  He  disliked  the  claim  of  judicial  bodies  to  interfere  with 
legislative  business,  and  he  knew  well  that  the  parliaments  were 
eager  only  to  secure  their  own  interests,  and  that  when  those  were 
safe  they  would  oppose  all  further  reforms.  On  this  subject,  Voltaire, 
Turgot,  the  economists,  and  all  the  leaders  of  advanced  thought, 
found  themselves  allied  with  the  clergy  and  the  supporters  of 
despotism.  The  king  himself  hesitated  to  undo  the  work  of  his 
grandfather.  Maurepas,  on  whose  decision  the  question  ultimately 
rested,  allowed  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  the  desire  of  applause. 
The  parliaments  were  restored  on  condition  of  their  future  good 
behaviour,  a  condition  which  they  never  attempted  to  observe. 
The  measure  was  extremely  popular,  but  it  was  really  reactionary 
rather  than  progressive,  and  it  proved  to  be  a  serious  obstacle  to  the 
reforms  which  Turgot  was  prepared  to  introduce. 

§  3.  Turgot,  who  had  previously  l>een  Intendant  of  Limousin,  came 
into  office  with  a  ready-made  scheme  for  the  regeneration  of  France. 
The  essence  of  his  scheme  was  the  restoration  of  the  local  self- 
government  which  the  monarchy  had  first  degraded  and  then 
destroyed.  Each  village  was  to  be  administered  by  an  elective 
municipality,  and  the  municipal  government  in  the  towns  was  to 
recover  its  old  efficacy.  These  local  bodies  were  to  send  deputies  to 
a  larger  municipality  of  the  district  or  arrondissement,  and  these 
again  to  the  municipality  of  the  province.  Above  all  was  to  be  a 
grand  municipality  of  the  nation,  in  which  the  ministers  were  to 
have    seats,  and  which  was  to  exercise  the   ultimate  voice  in 


478  MODERN    EUKOPE.  Chap,  xxl 

administrative  matters.  Thus  would  be  formed  a  grand  network  of 
representative  institutions,  each  aiding  and  strengthening  the  other. 
It  did  not  enter  into  Turgot's  designs  to  entrust  legislative  power  to 
the  grand  municipality  so  as  to  make  it  a  new  States-General.  He 
was  no  enthusiast  for  mixed  governments,  but  preferred  the 
simplicity  of  absolute  power.  If  he  had  had  to  create  a  state,  he 
might  probably  have  preferred  a  republic.  But  he  was  the  minister 
of  a  king,  and  he  was  not  anxious  to  diminish  the  despotic  power  of 
the  monarchy  on  which  he  relied  to  put  down  opposition  to  his 
reforms.  His  first  experience  in  office,  however,  convinced  him 
that  the  time  was  not  ripe  for  such  a  sweeping  change  as  he  medi- 
tated, and  he  put  his  scheme  on  one  side  till  he  could  effect  more 
immediately  pressing  reforms.  The  net  revenue  amounted  to  213 
millions,  the  expenditure  to  235  millions,  so  that  the  deficit  was  21 
millions  a  year.  Turgot  was  determined  to  raise  no  more  loans 
except  when  he  could  borrow  money  cheaply  to  pay  off  debts  con- 
tracted at  exorbitant  interest.  Neither  would  he  impose  fresh 
taxes.  To  meet  the  deficit  he  resorted  to  the  strictest  economy,  and 
with  such  success  that  after  a  ministry  of  a  year  and  a  half  he  left 
the  government  in  possession  of  a  surplus  of  eleven  millions.  This 
economy  was  extremely  displeasing  to  the  courtiers,  who  were 
accustomed  to  make  their  living  out  of  the  extravagance  of  the 
government,  and  their  discontent  was  heightened  by  subsequent 
measures. 

Turgot  was  a  disciple  of  Quesnai,  the  founder  of  the  school  of 
economists  known  as  the  physiocrates.  Their  fundamental  theory 
was  that  the  land  was  the  sole  source  of  wealth,  and  that  taxes 
should  be  levied  directly  on  the  produce  of  the  land.  From  the 
gross  produce  were  to  be  deducted  the  expenses  of  cultivation  and 
improvement,  the  subsistence  and  due  remuneration  of  the  labourer. 
This  would  leave  a  net  revenue  of  which  the  state  was  joint 
proprietor  with  the  individual  landlord.  The  share  which  the  state 
should  demand  was  to  be  fixed  by  reason  and  evidence.  Manufac- 
tures and  commerce  are  not  productive  of  wealth,  but  agents  of  dis- 
tribution ;  they  should  therefore  be  freed  from  all  the  duties  and 
restrictions  that  had  been  imposed  upon  them  for  generations. 
Turgot's  first  measure  was  to  issue  an  edict  establishing  perfect 
freedom  of  trade  in  corn  within  the  kingdom ;  liberty  of  exportation 
was  postponed.  Mutilated  as  it  was,  the  edict  roused  a  storm  of 
opposition  which  found  an  able  leader  in  Necker,  whose  economical 
principles  were  opposed  to  those  of  Quesnai  and  Turgot.  All  the 
privileged  classes  joined  in  the  outcry,  the  nobles,  who  foresaw  the 
probable  abolition  of  their  exemptions,  and  the  clergy,  who  were 
dismayed  at  the  sight  of  a  philosopher  and  a  friend  of  Voltaire  in  the 


AJ>.  1774-1776.  TURGOT.  479 

ministry.  A  bad  harvest  and  scarcity  of  bread  gave  additional 
weight  to  their  representations.  Riots  took  place  in  Paris,  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  this  first  recourse  to  revolutionary  violence 
was  instigated  by  some  of  the  nobles.  Louis  XVI.,  always  weak, 
was  inclined  to  yield,  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Turgot 
induced  him  to  stand  firm  and  to  put  down  disorder.  For  the 
moment  the  minister  seemed  more  powerful  than  ever,  and  the 
king  declared  that  no  one  loved  the  people  except  himself  and 
Turgot. 

The  opposition  steadily  increased  in  strength.  The  clergy  were 
seriously  frightened  by  the  obvious  inclination  of  the  ministers  to 
a  tolerant  policy,  and  by  the  report  that  Malesherbes  wished  to 
restore  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  A  league  was  formed  among  the 
privileged  classes,  nobles,  clergy  and  lawyers,  to  protect  their  vested 
interests.  It  was  joined  by  the  queen  and  most  of  the  royal 
princes,  and  it  had  even  the  indirect  support  of  Maurepas,  who 
began  to  tremble  lest  the  man  he  had  raised  to  office  should 
supplant  him  in  his  master's  favour.  Meanwhile  Turgot  was  con- 
tinuing his  work  without  any  heed  to  the  approaching  storm.  In 
January,  1776,  ho  proposed  to  the  king  in  council  a  series  of 
measures  which  sufficiently  illustrate  the  scope  and  objects  of  his 
policy.  The  corvee  for  the  making  of  roads  was  to  be  abolished  and 
the  expenses  defrayed  by  a  tax  upon  land  :  all  the  old  taxes  upon 
corn  which  hindered  free  trade  within  the  kingdom  were  to  be 
abandoned :  the  guilds  and  other  protective  associations  were  to  be 
done  away  with,  so  that  every  man  might  exercise  his  natural  right 
to  undertake  what  labour  he  chose :  the  gabdle,  or  tax  upon  salt, 
was  to  be  altered  so  as  to  remedy  the  glaring  inequality  of  its 
incidence :  the  expense  of  the  king's  civil  household  was  to  be 
diminished,  and  the  marriages  of  Protestants  were  to  be  legalised. 
Maurepas  put  up  one  of  his  creatures,  Miromcsnil,  to  oppose  these 
measures,  but  Turgot  carried  the  king  with  him,  and  the  edicts  were 
signed  and  sent  to  the  Parliament  of  Paris  for  registration.  The 
Parliament  justified  all  the  fears  which  Turgot  had  expressed  at 
the  time  of  its  restoration,  and  made  itself  the  champion  of  the 
threatened  privileges.  To  put  down  this  resolute  opposition  the 
king  had  to  hold  a  lit  de  justice,  which,  as  Voltaire  put  it,  was  for 
once  a  lit  de  bienfaisance.  But  here  Louis  X VI.'s  firmness  suddenly 
came  to  an  end.  The  members  of  his  family  urged  upon  him  that  he 
was  going  too  far,  and  that  he  was  degrading  the  monarchy  by 
unworthy  concessions  to  the  roturier  class.  Maurepas  was  con- 
vinced that  either  he  or  the  reformers  must  fall.  By  adroitly 
picking  a  quarrel  with  Malesherbes  he  forced  him  into  .a  hasty 
resignation.     Turgot  being  more  obstinate  and  less  sensitive,  other 


480  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxi. 

means  had  to  be  found.  A  paper  was  forged  in  imitation  of  his 
handwriting  which  contained  reflections  upon  the  king  and  queen, 
and  this  was  brought  to  Louis.  Forgetting  all  the  services  that  had 
been  rendered,  the  king  was  induced  in  a  fit  of  pique  to  dismiss  the 
only  man  who  might  have  saved  his  crown  and  his  life.  Turgot 
went  into  retirement  and  died  in  1781. 

§  4.  Maurepas  was  determined  not  to  run  the  risk  of  being  over- 
shadowed by  another  man  of  genius,  and  he  appointed  as  Turgot's 
successor  M.  de  Clugny,  an  obscure  Intendant  of  Bordeaux.  The 
change  was  followed  by  an  immediate  collapse  of  credit.  The 
Dutch  promptly  refused  to  supply  a  loan  which  had  been  arranged 
at  four  per  cent.  To  raise  money  the  government  was  compelled 
to  resort  to  the  disgraceful  expedient  of  a  royal  lottery.  Most  of 
the  recently  abolished  abuses,  including  the  corvees  and  the  trade 
guilds,  were  restored.  But  the  outcry  against  these  measures  was 
so  general,  that  Maurepas,  always  trembling  for  his  position,  was 
planning  to  dismiss  Clugny,  when  the  latter  saved  him  the  trouble 
by  his  death  (Oct.  1776).  Another  nonentity,  Taboureau  des 
Reaux,  was  appointed  to  the  office  of  controller-general,  but  the  real 
management  of  the  finances  was  entrusted  to  Necker,  a  banker  from 
Geneva,  who  had  made  a  large  fortune  in  business  and  who  had 
gained  a  reputation  as  an  economist  by  his  opposition  to  Turgot 
about  the  corn  trade.  Necker  was  a  foreigner  and  a  Protestant, 
and  Maurepas,  afraid  to  appoint  bim  to  high  office,  gave  him  the 
novel  title  of  "director  of  the  royal  treasure."  Even  in  the  next 
year,  when  the  controller-general  resigned  his  shadowy  functions, 
Necker  retained  a  subordinate  title  and  was  excluded  from  the 
council.  But  it  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  importance  of  the 
financial  administration  that  the  ministry  became,  in  the  eyes 
both  of  contemporaries  and  historians,  the  ministry  of  Necker. 

Necker  was  not  a  great  statesman,  but  he  was  for  his  time  a 
considerable  financier.  In  opposition  to  the  physiocrats  he  returned 
to  the  economic  principles  of  Colbert.  At  the  same  time  he  shared 
that  belief  in  the  power  of  credit  which  had  been  carried  to  fanatical 
extremes  by  Law,  and  he  considered  that  commerce  and  manufac- 
tures might  be  encouraged  by  an  artificial  increase  of  the  currency. 
But  his  business  habits  saved  him  from  carrying  these  ideas  too 
far,  while  they  enabled  him  to  introduce  unaccustomed  order  and 
method  into  the  administration.  He  was  extremely  desirous  to 
make  the  revenue  cover  the  expenditure,  and  he  was  as  willing  as 
Turgot  to  diminish  the  latter  by  rigid  economy.  He  looked  to  the 
taxes  for  supplies  in  ordinary  times,  while  for  exceptional  demands 
he  sought  to  raise  loans  at  a  moderate  interest.  In  this  his  own 
reputation  as  a  banker  served  him  in  good  stead,  and  he  obtained 


a.d.  1776-1777.  NECKER.  481 

money  much  more  easily  and  cheaply  than  his  predecessors  had 
been  able  to  do.  In  one  way  his  administration  had  important 
results  for  France.  Like  Rousseau,  he  was  a  native  of  Geneva,  and 
he  imported  into  monarchical  France  the  ideas  and  traditions  of  a  free 
republic.  These  traditions  and  the  exigencies  of  credit  led  him  to 
introduce  publicity  into  the  national  accounts,  and  thus  to  put  an 
end  to  that  secrecy  which  had  been  the  snare  and  the  security  of  a 
decrepit  government.  He  was  also  willing  to  obtain  the  popular 
consent  to  taxation,  by  giving  new  life  and  powers  to  the  provincial 
assemblies.  Thus  he  did  much  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  Revolu- 
tion. His  taxation  led  to  the  8tates-Gcneral,  his  loans  gave  the 
people  convincing  insight  into  the  condition  of  the  finances.  For  a 
time  Necker  was  exceedingly  popular.  While  the  court  regarded 
him  as  their  only  saviour,  the  salon  of  his  wife  gave  him  a  recog- 
nised position  among  the  friends  of  progress  and  enlightenment. 
But  his  economy  soon  disgusted  his  powerful  patrons,  while  the 
retrograde  character  of  many  of  his  measures  forfeited  the  confi- 
dence of  the  party  of  progress.  In  a  time  of  peace  his  system 
might  have  secured  to  France  a  period  of  comparative  tranquillity  ; 
but,  unfortunately  for  his  reputation,  he  was  compelled  to  raise 
exceptional  supplies  for  an  expensive  war. 

§  5.  The  American  colonies  were  now  in  open  revolt  against  Eng- 
land. Their  discontent  had  been  first  roused  by  the  natural  attempt 
of  England  to  impose  upon  the  colonists  some  share  of  the  expenses 
occurred  in  the  Seven  Years'  War.  Since  then  concessions  had  been 
made  and  withdrawn,  with  the  result  of  increased  bitterness  on  both 
sides,  until  the  war  finally  broke  out  in  1775.  On  the  4th  of  June, 
1776,  the  Americans  issued  their  famous  declaration  of  independence 
which  enunciated  the  rights  of  man.  From  the  first  the  greatest 
enthusiasm  had  been  felt  in  France  for  the  cause  of  the  colonists. 
Lafayette  and  other  volunteers  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  serve  in  the 
American  armies.  Vergennes,  who  inherited  the  desire  of  Choiseul 
to  avenge  upon  England  the  disasters  of  the  last  war,  gave  secret 
but  invaluable  assistance  to  the  rebels.  Still,  the  king  and  most  of 
the  ministers  were  averse  to  a  war.  Turgot  resolutely  opposed  it, 
and  on  this  point  Necker  was  at  one  with  his  predecessor.  But 
the  force  of  popular  opinion  proved  too  strong  for  the  adherents  of 
peace.  The  most  reactionary  nation  can  sympathise  with  a  revolt 
against  a  hostile  power,  while  they  regard  with  horror  any  opposition 
to  their  own  rule.  Franklin  became  the  idol  of  Paris  when  he 
visited  France  in  1777,  and  the  news  of  Burgoyne's  capitulation  at 
Saratoga  roused  the  excitement  of  the  war  party  to  fever  heat. 
The  success  of  the  colonists  seemed  assured,  and  the  friends  of 
progress  were  as  ready  to  worship  success  in  the  eighteenth  as  in 
22* 


482  MODERN  EUKOPE.  Chap.  xxi. 

the  fifteenth  century.  Maurepas  had  no  principles  to  conflict  with 
his  love  of  popularity,  and  the  scruples  of  the  king  and  the  other 
ministers  had  to  give  way.  On  the  6th  of  February,  1778,  two 
treaties  were  signed  between  France  and  the  United  States.  The 
first  stipulated  only  for  friendship  and  commercial  relations;  by  the 
second  it  was  arranged  that  if  England  took  aggressive  measures 
against  France,  the  two  powers  should  combine  for  defensive  and 
offensive  purposes.  France  promised  to  make  no  attempt  to  recover 
those  possessions  in  North  America  which  had  been  recently  lost, 
and  neither  party  was  to  lay  down  arms  until  England  had 
acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  The  news  of  this 
treaty  made  a  profound  impression  in  England.  Lord  North's 
courage  gave  way,  and  he  proposed  to  open  negotiations  with 
America.  But  Lord  Chatham  came  down  to  protest  in  his  dying 
speech  against  such  a  humiliation  before  an  ancient  enemy.  His 
last  act  was  to  insist  upon  a  war  which  he  alone  could  have  suc- 
cessfully directed.  The  English  ambassador  was  recalled  from 
Versailles,  and  naval  hostilities  were  immediately  commenced. 

From  a  purely  military  point  of  view,  the  action  of  France  was 
well  judged.  England  had  been  unable  to  put  down  the  rebels 
when  they  were  isolated,  she  was  still  less  likely  to  succeed  now  that 
they  were  supported  by  the  whole  power  of  France.  But  a  regard 
to  internal  politics  amply  justified  the  gloomy  anticipations  of 
Turgot  and  Necker.  Peace  was  absolutely  necessary  tc  restore 
financial  prosperity  to  France.  War  involved  increased  expenditure 
and  ultimate  exhaustion.  And  there  were  still  more  convincing 
arguments  which  ought  to  have  weighed  with  the  supporters  of  the 
monarchy.  Rebellion  is  contagious,  and  it  was  preposterous  to 
expect  that  principles  which  were  approved  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  could  be  excluded  from  European  soil.  The  open  inter- 
vention of  France  in  the  cause  of  republican  liberty  gave  an 
enormous  impulse  to  those  forces  which  were  gathering  to  effect 
the  overthrow  of  the  established  system  of  government.  But  for  a 
time  all  these  considerations  were  forgotten  in  the  passionate  desire 
for  revenge,  and  in  the  intoxication  of  unwonted  successes.  Not  only 
did  the  French  admirals,  like  d'Estaing  and  d'Orvilliers,  show  them- 
selves a  fair  match  for  Howe  and  Keppel,  but  all  Europe  seemed 
eager  to  join  France  against  a  haughty  and  dictatorial  power.  It 
was  to  Spain  that  Vergennes  naturally  made  his  first  application 
for  assistance.  Charles  III.,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  firm  believer  in 
the  rights  of  monarchs,  and  had  no  sympathy  with  the  cause  of 
rebels.  But  the  traditional  jealousy  of  England,  the  Family  Com- 
pact, and  above  all  the  desire  of  recovering  Gibraltar  and  Minorca, 
combined  to  overcome  his  scruples,  and  in  1779  a  treaty  was 


a.d.  1778-1780.  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND.  483 

concluded  between  France  and  Spain  against  England.  Spanish 
forces  at  once  laid  vigorous  siege  to  Gibraltar,  and  England  naturally 
reverted  to  her  old  and  successful  plan  of  involving  France  in  a 
continental  war.  For  this  a  convenient  opportunity  seemed  to  be 
offered  by  the  outbreak  of  the  quarrel  about  the  Bavarian  succession. 
But  the  caution  of  Vergennes  averted  this  danger.  Louis  XVI. 
refused  to  assist  his  brother-in-law,  and  French  mediation  forced 
upon  Joseph  II.  the  peace  of  Teschen.  This  was  followed  by  a 
general  expression  of  resentment  against  the  arrogant  claim  of 
England  to  naval  supremacy.  Of  this  supremacy  the  most  offensive 
symbol  was  the  right  of  search,  by  which  vessels  sailing  under  a 
neutral  flag  were  boarded  to  discover  whether  they  were  carrying 
supplies  to  the  hostile  belligerents,  and  if  such  goods  were  found 
they  were  confiscated.  In  1780  Catharine  II.  ot  Russia  issued  a 
declaration,  which  involved  an  important  and  permanent  change  in 
international  law,  to  the  effect  that  neutral  vessels  may  trade  freely 
with  belligerents  in  all  articles  that  are  not  contraband,  and  that  a 
blockade  need  not  be  respected  unless  it  is  effectual,  i.e.  that 
a  mere  formal  announcement  that  a  harbour  is  blockaded  is 
insufficient  unless  enough  ships  are  provided  to  prevent  the  ingress 
of  other  vessels.  This  declaration  was  accepted  by  Frederick  the 
Great,  who  gladly  seized  the  opportunity  of  displaying  enmity  to 
England  and  to  the  ministry  of  Lord  North,  and  by  most  of  the 
states  of  Northern  Europe.  Thus  was  formed  the  "armed 
neutrality,"  which  was  a  serious  check  upon  English  operations, 
although  it  did  not  lead  to  active  hostilities.  It  was  of  great 
importance  to  England  under  these  circumstances  to  retain  the 
alliance  of  its  old  naval  rival,  Holland.  The  House  of  Orange  had 
been  closely  attached  to  England  ever  since  the  recovery  of  the 
stadtholdership  by  William  IV.  in  1748  and  his  marriage  to  a 
daughter  of  George  II.  The  present  head  of  the  family,  William  V., 
whose  minority  had  ended  in  1766,  was  inclined  to  continue 
the  same  policy.  But  the  republican  party,  which  had  its  head- 
quarters in  Amsterdam,  was  now  very  strong,  and  was  eagerly 
desirous  of  an  alliance  with  France  and  the  United  States  as  the 
best  method  of  throwing  off  English  dictation.  In  1780  an 
American  vessel  was  captured  by  the  English,  on  which  papers 
were  found  which  proved  that  as  early  as  1778  the  Pensionary  of 
Amsterdam  had  drawn  up  a  projected  treaty  with  the  American 
colonies.  It  was  also  known  that  Holland  had  sent  supplies  to  the 
rebels,  and  that  the  Dutch  island  of  St.  Eustatius  had  been  a  great 
centre  for  traffic  with  America.  So  great  was  the  indignation 
roused  in  London  by  these  disclosures,  that  the  envoy  was  with- 
drawn from  the  Hague,  in  December,  1780,  war  was  declared  against 


484  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxi. 

Holland,  and  thus  England  was  left  without  an  ally  in  Europe. 
To  make  matters  worse,  a  great  war  had  broken  out  in  India  in  this 
year  through  the  quarrel  with  Hyder  Ali,  and  a  French  fleet  under 
the  Bailli  de  Sufiren  gave  the  English  forces  ample  occupation.  At 
the  same  time  the  ministry  was  hampered  by  the  Gordon  riots, 
which  arose  from  their  concessions  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  by 
the  dangerous  condition  of  affairs  in  Ireland,  where  the  volunteers 
had  assumed  the  functions  of  government,  and  events  wero  rapidly 
hurrying  on  to  the  legislative  separation  of  the  two  islands  in  1782. 

§  6.  It  is  obvious  that  these  circumstances  gave  France  very 
considerable  advantages  in  the  war,  and  thus  enabled  her  to  avenge 
in  some  measure  the  previous  humiliations.  But  there  was  another 
side  to  the  picture,  in  the  enormous  expenditure  which  these 
various  and  distant  operations  entailed  upon  the  government. 
Necker  succeeded  for  some  time  in  raising  supplies  by  loans 
without  increasing  the  taxes.  To  do  this  he  had  to  persevere  in 
his  plan  of  cutting  down  the  expenses  of  administration.  He 
reduced  the  number  of  receivers-general  from  forty-eight  to 
twelve,  and  the  twenty-seven  treasurers  of  the  army  and  navy  to 
two,  whom  he  made  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  minister  of 
finance.  He  also  suppressed  more  than  500  offices  in  the  royal 
household.  While  some  of  his  measures,  such  as  the  prohibition 
to  export  looms  and  other  manufacturing  implements,  savour  of 
the  protective  system  of  Colbert,  others  seemed  to  be  borrowed 
from  the  principles  laid  down  by  Turgot.  An  edict  of  1779 
enumerated  the  evils  to  commerce  caused  by  the  heavy  tolls  upon 
roads  and  navigable  rivers,  and  ordered  the  proprietors  of  these 
rights  to  report  them  to  the  council  with  a  view  to  their  purchase. 
Another  edict  in  1780  made  the  first  step  in  the  direction  of  a  great 
reform,  the  abolition  of  the  system  of  farming  the  taxes  so  as  to 
bring  them  directly  into  the  exchequer.  A  month  later  it  was 
announced  that  the  taille  and  other  direct  taxes  should  not  be 
increased  in  the  future,  except  by  laws  registered  in  the  superior 
courts.  In  July  of  the  same  year  a  provincial  assembly  was 
created  for  the  province  of  Berry,  which  was  to  consist  of  twelve 
nobles,  twelve  ecclesiastics,  and  twenty-four  members  of  the  third 
estate.  It  was  to  meet  for  at  least  a  month  every  twro  years,  votes 
were  to  be  taken  not  by  estates  but  by  heads,  and  it  was  to  appoint 
an  administrative  committee  to  supervise  affairs  during  the  in- 
tervals between  its  sessions.  Necker's  idea  was  to  apply  this  system 
gradually  to  all  the  provinces  of  France,  and  to  transfer  the 
functions  of  the  intendants  and  sub-delegates  to  these  representative 
assemblies. 

This  apparent  conversion  of  Necker  to  the  ideas  of  the  reformers 


A.D.  1780-1781.  FALL  OF  NECKER.  485 

roused  great  indignation  among  the  official  classes,  who  became  as 
hostile  to  him  as  they  had  previously  been  to  Turgot.  At  present 
he  had  the  complete  approval  of  the  king,  and  could  afford  to 
disregard  the  efforts  of  the  opposition.  But  towards  the  end  of 
1780  he  began  to  find  increased  difficulty  in  obtaining  loans.  To 
restore  credit  he  obtained  from  Louis  XVI.  permission  to  publish 
the  accounts,  and  in  January,  1781,  he  issued  his  famous  compte 
rendu.  By  this  he  made  out  that  the  receipts  exceeded  the 
expenditure  by  eighteen  millions.  It  was  really  a  partial  and 
inaccurate  statement,  but  it  succeeded  in  restoring  the  confidence  of 
the  moneyed  classes,  and  for  a  time  money  was  easily  obtainable. 
But  the  effects  of  the  measure  were  far  greater  than  this.  The 
secrets  of  the  administration  were  all  at  once  laid  bare  to  hostile 
criticsim,  and  opponents  of  the  government  had  now  acknowledged 
facts  to  point  to  in  support  of  their  denunciations.  The  outcry 
among  the  privileged  classes  was  very  loud  against  a  minister  who 
had  struck  such  a  blow  to  the  interests  of  the  monarchy.  The 
league  against  Necker  was  not  so  general  as  that  against  Turgot : 
especially,  it  did  not  include  the  queen,  who  was  now  a  power  in 
France.  But  Maurepas  was  eager  to  get  rid  of  his  too  pushing 
subordinate,  and  he  was  supported  by  Vergennes.  An  open 
quarrel  broke  out  in  the  ministry,  and  Necker  boldly  brought 
matters  to  a  crisis  by  demanding  a  seat  in  the  council.  Maurepas 
replied  that  he  should  be  admitted  when  he  abjured  the  Protestant 
religion,  and  Necker,  in  spite  of  the  urgent  solicitations  of  the 
queen,  resigned  his  office  in  May,  1781. 

With  the  fall  of  Necker  terminates  the  period  of  administrative 
reform  in  France.  The  reactionary  party  had  succeeded  in  foiling 
the  plans  of  those  men  who  stood  between  themselves  and  ruin. 
Maurepas,  on  whom  much  of  the  responsibility  rests,  died  before 
the  end  of  the  year.  His  nominal  successor  was  Vergennes,  but  the 
latter  was  wholly  unfitted  to  manage  home  affairs,  and  the  post  of 
chief  minister  was  practically  left  vacant,  except  so  far  as  it  was 
filled  by  the  queen.  The  finances  were  entrusted  to  Joly  de 
Fleury,  an  incapable  courtier,  who  increased  the  debt  without 
providing  any  means  for  paying  the  interest.  The  reactionary 
character  of  the  government  is  sufficiently  illustrated  by  an  edict  of 
1781,  which  excluded  from  offices  in  the  army  all  who  could  not 
prove  four  generations  of  nobility  on  their  father's  side.  Thus  the 
army  was  made  more  exclusively  aristocratic  than  it  had  ever  been 
before,  just  at  a  time  when  the  middle  classes  were  beginning  to  be 
conscious  of  their  power  and  their  rights. 

§  7.  The  first  important  event  of  this  period  was  the  conclusion  of 
the  English  war.     So  far  as  it  was  waged  for  the  independence  of 


486  MODERN  EUROPE.  Ohap.  xxi. 

America,  it  was  practically  settled  by  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis 
at  Yorktown  (18  October,  1781),  and  by  the  fall  of  North's 
ministry  (March,  1782).  The  Whigs,  who  now  came  into  office 
under  Rockingham,  were  pledged  by  their  previous  attitude  to  grant 
the  demands  of  the  colonists.  But  both  France  and  Spain  had 
private  objects  of  their  own,  and  the  peace  had  to  be  postponed 
until  these  had  been  settled.  Hitherto  the  English  had  had  very 
much  the  worst  of  the  war.  Many  of  the  West  Indian  islands  had 
been  lost,  and  Minorca,  which  was  then  regarded  as  our  most  im- 
portant possession  in  the  Mediterranean,  had  fallen  to  the  Spaniards. 
Gibraltar  was  closely  invested  by  land  and  sea,  and  its  fall  seemed 
imminent  in  spite  of  the  heroic  defence  of  General  Elliott. 
Fortunately  for  England,  the  colonists  were  quite  as  alive  to  their 
own  interests  as  were  their  allies.  So  long  as  they  obtained  their 
independence  they  cared  nothing  for  the  aggrandisement  of  France 
and  Spain.  After  the  fall  of  Yorktown  they  practically  withdrew 
from  the  war,  and,  although  they  were  bound  not  to  conclude  a 
separate  treaty,  they  privately  agreed  with  England  as  to  the  terms 
they  were  to  receive.  In  1782  the  fortune  of  war  turned.  Rodney, 
by  the  novel  manoeuvre  of  breaking  the  line,  won  a  great  naval 
victory  over  De  Grasse  in  the  West  Indies.  Later  in  the  year  the 
English  red-hot  shot  completely  destroyed  the  floating  batteries 
before  Gibraltar,  and  the  siege  had  to  be  raised  after  it  had  lasted 
for  three  years.  These  disasters  of  the  allies  removed  the  chief 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  peace,  and  the  preliminaries  were  signed  in 
January,  1783.  England  surrendered  to  France  the  small  islands 
of  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  Santa  Lucia  and 
Tabago  in  the  Antilles,  and  Senegal  and  Goree  in  Africa.  France 
undertook  to  withdraw  assistance  from  Tippoo,  who  had  succeeded 
his  father,  Hyder  Ali.  Spain  obtained  Minorca  and  Florida,  but 
had  to  cede  the  Bahamas  and  to  abandon  the  hope  of  recovering 
Gibraltar.  Holland,  so  far  from  gaining  anything  by  her  breach 
with  England,  had  to  give  up  Negapatam,  though  her  other  colonies 
were  restored  to  her.  The  independence  of  the  United  States  was 
recognised,  and  their  boundaries  determined  on  the  terms  already 
arranged.  The  English  claim  that  the  loyal  colonists  should  be 
compensated  for  their  losses  was  abandoned.  The  preliminaries 
were  finally  confirmed  in  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  (September,  1783). 
§  8.  Long  before  the  conclusion  of  peace  the  glories  of  the  war  had 
been  forgotten  in  comparison  with  the  ever-increasing  difficulties 
of  the  internal  administration.  Joly  de  Fleury  had  no  method  of 
raising  money  except  by  loans,  and  these  he  could  not  obtain  so 
cheaply  as  Necker  had  done.  To  pay  interest  he  had  to  impose 
new  taxes.     The  Parliament  of  Paris,  in  its  joy  at  the  overthrow  of 


a.d.  1781-1785.  CALONNE.  487 

the  late  minister,  accepted  the  edict,  but  the  provincial  parliaments 
were  less  submissive,  and  one  of  them,  the  parliament  of  Pranche 
Comte\  raised  the  first  cry  for  the  summons  of  the  States-General. 
Fleury  had  to  resign  after  adding  three  millions  to  the  debt,  and 
d'Ormesson,  a  young  man,  equally  honest  and  incapable,  was 
appointed  in  his  place.  D'Ormesson  was  led,  by  his  innocent  desire 
to  get  out  of  the  difficulties,  to  postpone  the  payment  of  the  public 
obligations,  a  measure  which  amounted  to  a  practical  acknowledg- 
ment of  bankruptcy.  After  holding  office  for  seven  months  he 
wa3  dismissed,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  court  ladies  led  to  the 
nomination  of  Calonne  as  his  successor.  Calonne  proved  to  be  one 
of  the  most  reckless  and  worthless  ministers  that  were  ever  called 
to  direct  the  destinies  of  a  great  nation.  His  sole  object  was  to 
disguise  the  real  situation  from  the  court,  from  the  people,  and 
even  from  himself.  As  much  as  he  believed  in  anything  he 
believed  in  the  doctrine  so  hateful  to  political  economists,  that 
unproductive  expenditure  is  a  benefit  to  labour.  This  belief  he 
carried  to  extremes  as  fatal  as  the  ideas  of  Law,  and  equally 
delusive  for  a  short  time.  While  the  deficit  was  constantly 
increasing,  he  spent  money  lavishly  in  public  festivities,  in  useless 
works,  and  in  gratifying  the  avarice  of  the  princes  and  nobles. 
Even  business  men  were  dazzled  by  so  astounding  an  exhibition  ot 
confidence,  and  for  a  time  loans  were  readily  obtainable.  But  so 
hollow  a  bubble  must  soon  burst,  and  in  1786  Calonne  found 
himself  at  the  end  of  all  his  resources.  By  this  time  public 
opinion  had  become  more  and  more  hostile  against  the  court.  The 
growing  influence  of  the  queen  had  excited  ill-feeling,  which  was 
aggravated  by  scandalous  rumours  about  her  private  conduct.  The 
birth  of  a  daughter  in  1778,  and  of  a  son  in  1781,  after  a  long 
period  of  childlessness,  had  aroused  bitter  hostility  in  the  house  of 
Orleans,  which  had  hitherto  looked  forward  with  confidence  to  the 
ultimate  succession  to  the  throne.  All  sorts  cf  reports  were  spread 
with  malignant  industry,  and  Marie  Antoinette's  actions,  though 
not  inconsistent  with  perfect  innocence,  were  sufficiently  injudicious 
to  give  some  colour  to  the  assertions  of  her  enemies.  In  1785  the 
trial  and  acquittal  of  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan  on  the  charge  of 
stealing  and  purchasing  a  diamond  necklace  of  the  queen,  and  of 
having  forged  her  signature  in  authority  of  the  transaction,  gave  a 
fresh  impulse  to  the  current  suspicions.  It  was  while  opinion  was 
iti  this  excited  state  that  the  truth  about  the  financial  condition 
was  suddenly  disclosed 

§  9.  Since  the  fall  of  Turgot  the  revenue  had  been  increased  by  140 
millions,  partly  by  the  addition  of  new  taxes,  partly  by  the  natural 
development  of  resources.     In  spite  of  this,  during  the  three  years 


488  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxi. 

of  Calonne's  administration,  years  of  perfect  peace,  the  deficit  had 
been  increased  by  35  millions.  In  August,  1786,  Calonne  confessed 
to  the  king  exactly  how  matters  stood,  and  at  the  same  time 
proposed  a  plan  for  meeting  difficulties,  in  which  he  borrowed  most 
of  the  principles  of  Turgot  and  Necker,  to  which  his  previous 
administration  had  been  diametrically  opposed.  The  whole  king- 
dom was  to  be  divided  among  provincial  assemblies  of  three  grades, 
one  for  the  parish,  one  for  the  district,  and  one  for  the  province  ; 
and  in  their  hands  the  assessment  of  all  taxes  was  to  be  placed.  A 
regular  land-tax  was  to  be  imposed,  from  which  no  class,  and  not 
even  the  royal  domain,  was  to  be  exempted.  Trade  in  corn  was  to 
be  free,  except  that  the  provincial  assemblies  might  suspend  expor- 
tation. Compulsory  labour  (corvees)  was  to  be  replaced  by  a  pull 
tax,  levied  only  on  that  class  which  had  hitherto  furnished  the 
labour.  The  tolls  upon  traffic  between  the  various  provinces  were  to 
be  abolished  and  the  gdbelle  upon  salt  diminished.  These  changes, 
according  to  Calonne's  calculation,  would  add  115  millions  to  the 
revenue  within  a  single  year.  To  carry  such  a  sweeping  measure, 
which  involved  a  complete  departure  from  the  traditions  of  the  old 
regime  and  attacked  the  foundation  of  all  privileges,  exceptional 
authority  was  needed,  and  the  king  was  easily  induced  to  summon 
an  assembly  of  Notables  for  the  beginning  of  1787.  Before  they  met 
the  position  of  the  government  was  altered  for  the  worse  by  the 
death  of  Yergennes  (13  February),  who  had  considerable  influence 
with  the  upper  classes. 

.  It  was  a  grand  but  chimerical  idea  to  expect  the  privileged 
classes  to  sacrifice  their  private  interests  to  save  the  state.  The 
assembly,  which  met  on  the  22nd  of  February,  contained  144 
members,  of  whom  only  six  or  seven  belonged  to  the  third  estate. 
It  was  soon  evident  that  nothing  but  strenuous  opposition  was  to 
be  expected  from  them.  Even  the  people  and  the  partisans  of 
reform  ridiculed  measures  which  they  would  have  welcomed  from 
Turgot,  when  they  were  offered  by  Calonne.  In  the  assembly  the 
opposition  was  headed  by  Lomenie  de  Brienne,  archbishop  of 
Toulouse,  a  selfish  aspirant  for  office,  and  by  Necker,  who  was 
disgusted  at  the  exposure  of  the  fallacious  character  of  his  own 
financial  statement.  This  formidable  coalition  convinced  the  king 
that  he  must  get  rid  of  the  unpopular  minister,  and  Calonne  was 
dismissed.  But  Louis  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  Necker, 
whose  abrupt  resignation  he  had  never  pardoned,  and  gave  the 
vacant  post  to  Brienne.  Brienne  had  no  policy  of  his  own  :  he  had 
posed  as  the  champion  of  privileges  to  gain  office,  he  adopted  the 
plans  of  Calonne  to  keep  it.  The  only  difference  was  that  he 
brought  in  the  various  measures  singly,  instead  of  trying  to  carry 


a.d.  1786-1788.        THE  STATES-GENERAL.  489 

them  out  at  once.  The  Notables,  satisfied  with  having  overthrown 
the  minister,  approved  his  policy  and  were  dissolved.  But  there 
still  remained  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  which  had  now  become 
the  last  resource  of  the  opponents  of  reform.  The.  edicts  about  the 
corvees,  the  trade  in  corn,  and  the  provincial  assemblies,  were 
registered  without  opposition,  but  when  the  equal  land-tax  upon 
all  classes  was  proposed,  the  Parliament  refused  to  accept  it.  The 
edict  was  registered  in  a  bed  of  justice,  and  for  protesting  against 
this  high-handed  measure  the  Parliament  was  exiled  to  Troyes. 
But  Brienne  soon  found  that  he  could  not  govern  by  himself,  and 
the  court  was  allowed  to  return  to  Paris  on  condition  of  accepting 
the  edicts.  Thus,  by  a  curious  mixture  of  violence  and  weakness, 
the  crown  gained  its  first  victory  over  the  privileged  classes.  But 
the  quarrel  broke  out  afresh  on  tho  next  scheme  for  imposing  a  tax, 
and  the  Parliament  determined  to  purchase  the  support  of  the 
people  by  denying  its  own  rights  in  matters  of  taxation  and  by 
demanding  the  States-General.  Another  bed  of  justice,  and  the 
exile  of  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  other  leaders  of  the  opposition, 
roused  the  Parliament  to  fury.  It  was  quite  in  vain  that  Brienne 
sought  to  conciliate  them  by  promising  concessions  to  the  Protes- 
tants and  the  summons  of  the  States-General  within  five  years. 
The  arrest  of  two  of  the  most  violent  members  of  the  court  only 
extorted  fresh  protests  against  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  govern- 
ment and  gave  increased  popularity  to  the  Parliament.  As  a  last 
resource  Brienne  determined  to  follow  the  example  of  Maupeou, 
to  restrict  the  Parliament  to  its  judicial  functions,  and  to  entrust  its 
political  duties  to  a  wholly  new  court,  or  Cour  Pteniere.  But  such 
general  indignation  was  aroused  that  it  proved  impossible  to  carry 
out  the  measure.  Risings  took  place  in  Dauphine*,  Brittany  and 
other  provinces.  Even  an  assembly  of  the  clergy,  which  Brienne 
summoned  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  money,  began  its  proceedings 
by  demanding  the  abolition  of  the  Cour  Pltniere  and  the  meeting 
of  the  States-GeneraL  At  last  the  government  gave  way,  and  on 
the  8th  of  August,  1788,  the  States-General  were  summoned  to 
meet  in  May,  1789.  A  fortnight  later  Brienne,  whose  adminis- 
tration had  been  one  long  failure,  resigned,  and  the  king,  much 
against  his  will,  was  obliged  to  summon  Necker  once  more  to 
office. 


490  MODERN  EUEOPE. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 

Fall  of  the  Old  Regime. — §  1.  Discord  in  the  court  and 
ministry ;  questions  about  the  constitution  of  the  States-General ; 
attitude  of  the  third  estate ;  the  "  national  assembly."  §  2.  The  hall 
closed;  the  oath  of  the  tennis-court;  adhesion  of  the  clergy;  the 
royal  sitting ;  victory  of  the  assembly.  §  3.  The  court  determines  to 
employ  force;  disturbances  in  Paris;  the  Palais  Royal;  government 
assumed  by  the  electors.  §  4.  Dismissal  of  Necker ;  rising  in  Paris  ; 
storming  of  the  Bastille  ;  the  king  yields  ;  royal  visit  to  Paris.  §  5. 
Continued  disturbances;  Bailly  and  Lafayette;  the  electors  superseded 
by  a  new  municipality.  §  6.  Provincial  risings ;  abolition  of  feudal 
privileges  on  the  4th  of  August.  II.  The  Constitution. — §  7.  Parties 
in  the  Constituent  Assembly ;  Mirabeau.  §  8.  The  rights  of  man ;  a 
single  chamber;  the  suspensive  veto.  §  9.  Officers'  banquet  at 
Versailles ;  march  of  the  women  ;  riot  in  the  palace ;  the  king  and 
royal  family  remove  to  Paris ;  all  the  assembly  follows ;  secession  of 
moderates.  §  10.  Comparative  order;  the  Jacobin  and  other  clubs. 
§  11.  New  territorial  divisions  ;  judicial  reforms.  §  12.  Financial 
difficulties;  confiscation  of  ecclesiastical  property;  assignats;  civil 
constitution  of  the  clergy;  new  attack  on  the  nobles.  §  13.  The 
right  of  peace  and  war  ;  responsibility  of  the  opposition,  the  king,  and 
the  ministers,  for  the  progress  of  the  revolution.  §  14.  Mirabeau's 
relations  with  the  court ;  his  policy  and  his  death.  §  15.  Flight  and 
capture  of  Louis  XVI. ;  conduct  of  the  assembly ;  the  monarchy 
suspended ;  the  Feuillans.  §  16.  Completion  of  the  constitution ; 
Robespierre's  self-denying  ordinance;  the  king's  acceptance;  the 
Assembly  dissolved.  III.  Europe  and  the  Revolution. — §  17. 
French  encroachments  in  Avignon,  Alsace,  &c. ;  complaints  of  the 
German  princes;  the  emigres  at  Coblentz.  §  18.  Attitude  of  the 
European  States;  Leopold  II.  inclined  to  peace;  declaration  of  Pilnitz. 
IV.  The  Legislative  Assembly. — §  19.  Parties  in  the  new  assembly, 
Feuillans,  Jacobins,  and  Girondists.  §  20.  Edicts  against  the  emigrants 
and  the  non-juring  priests;  the  royal  veto.  §  21.  The  Girondists 
eager  for  a  war ;  three  armies  on  the  frontier ;  death  of  Leopold  II. ; 
the  Girondists  in  office  ;  declaration  of  war.  §  22.  Failure  of  French 
troops;  th**  king  vetoes  two  more  edicts  ;  dismissal  of  Roland  and  his 
colleagues.  §  23.  Riot  of  the  20th  of  June ;  temporary  reaction  ; 
Lafiyette  in  Paris.  §  24.  The  foreign  invasion  revives  hostility  to 
the  crown ;  manifesto  of  the  duke  of  Brunswick ;  the  Tuileries 
stormed  on  the  10th  of  August.  §  25.  Impotence  of  the  assembly  ; 
the  monarchy  suspended ;  Paris  under  the  commune ;  the  royal  family 


a.d.  1789.  THE  STATES-GENERAL.  491 

in  the  Temple.  §  26.  The  Prussians  advance  to  Verdun ;  Lafayette  a 
prisoner;  the  September  massacres.  §  27.  Dumouriez  saves  France ; 
the  cannonade  of  Valmy  ;  end  of  the  monarchy. 

I.  Fall  of  the  Old  Regime,  5tii  of  May  to  4th  of 
August,  1789. 

§  1.  The  recall  of  Necker  and  the  definite  summons  of  the  States- 
General  excited  universal  enthusiasm  throughout  France.  But 
the  two  measures  were  not  steps  in  exactly  the  same  direction. 
Necker  was  by  no  means  in  complete  sympathy  with  the  reforming 
party,  with  which  he  had  allied  himself  to  put  pressure  on  the  court. 
Narrow-minded  and  unsympathetic,  he  thought  only  of  administra- 
tive reform,  the  security  of  credit,  and  his  own  tenure  of  office,  and 
had  no  conception  of  the  needs  and  desires  of  a  people  amongst 
whom  he  was  always  a  foreigner.  Neither  was  he  in  accord  with 
the  court,  where  the  chief  influence  was  exercised  by  the  queen,  the 
count  of  Artois,  and  the  Polignac  faction,  who  were  opposed  to 
all  constitutional  change  beyond  what  was  necessary  to  evade 
immediate  danger.  The  differences  between  Necker  and  the  court 
divided  the  ministry,  which  was  therefore  without  any  decided 
policy.  The  king,  who  ought  to  have  taken  a  line  of  his  own,  was 
incapable  of  inde | indent  action,  and  vacillated  helplessly  between 
one  party  and  another.  It  was  this  condition  of  the  government 
which  was  the  great  advantage  of  the  reformers  and  which  gave 
rise  to  many  of  the  disasters  that  were  to  fell  upon  France. 

The  States-General  having  been  summoned,  it  was  necessary  to 
determine  their  constitution,  a  matter  of  some  difficulty,  as  they  had 
never  met  since  1614.  There  were  two  great  questions  to  settle : 
(1)  Were  the  three  orders  to  have  an  equal  number  of  representa- 
tives, or  wan  the  third  es-ate  to  be  the  more  numerous,  as  several 
preced  nts  indicated?  and  (2)  Were  the  three  orders  to  deliberate 
separately  or  together,  i.e.  were  votes  to  be  taken  by  head  or  by 
order?  These  questions  ought  to  have  been  decided  by  the 
executive  government,  but  there  was  too  little  unanimity  for  this. 
Ultimately  the  matter  seems  to  have  been  arranged  by  Necker,  and 
his  decision  offers  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  position  in  which 
he  stood.  To  be  popular  was  essential  for  him,  therefore  he  granted 
the  third  estate  a  number  of  representatives  equal  to  the  other  two 
orders  together.  To  restore  the  finances  the  pecuniary  privileges  of 
the  upper  classes  must  be  abolished,  and  to  effect  this  it  seemed 
desirable  that  the  assembly  should  be  undivided.  On  the  other 
hand,  that  measure  would  make  the  third  esta'e  absolute  and 
would  involve  danger  to  the  constitution.  Unable  to  decide 
between  these    conflicting   considerations,   the  minister  left  the 


492  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxii. 

question  of  voting  undetermined.  All  citizens  over  twenty-five 
years  of  age  who  paid  the  capitation-tax  were  authorised  to  choose 
representatives ;  and  these  representatives,  the  electors  as  they  were 
called,  chose  the  deputies  for  their  respective  estates,  and  drew  up 
the  cahiers,  or  lists  of  grievances  and  instructions  to  the  deputies. 
These  cahiers,  which  touch  upon  nearly  every  department  of 
government  and  of  social  organisation,  offer  the  most  instructive 
picture  of  ancient  France,  and  throw  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  aims 
and  wishes  of  its  various  classes. 

On  the  5th  of  May  the  assembly  was  opened  by  colourless 
speeches  on  the  part  of  the  king,  Necker  and  other  ministers. 
The  total  number  of  deputies  amounted  to  1139,  of  whom  291 
represented  the  clergy,  270  the  nobles,  and  578  the  third  estate. 
The  different  classes  had  mainly  chosen  their  own  members,  but 
the  nobles  included  twenty-eight  members  of  the  parliament, 
whose  rank  was  official,  while  the  commons  had  chosen  twelve 
nobles,  including  Mirabeau,  and  two  ecclesiastics,  of  whom  one  was 
the  Abbe  Sieyes.  From  the  first  the  third  estate  assumed  a 
resolute  attitude  on  the  question  of  procedure,  demanded  that 
votes  should  be  taken  by  head,  and  refused  to  verify  the  powers  of 
its  deputies,  until  the  assembly  had  been  constituted  by  the 
adhesion  of  the  other  orders.  Among  the  nobles  there  were  a 
number  of  moderate  reformers,  of  whom  the  most  prominent  were 
Lafayette,  Lally-Tollendal,  and  Clermont-Tonnerre,  who  urged 
this  course  of  action  upon  their  colleagues.  But  the  majority, 
influenced  by  the  queen  and  the  count  of  Artois,  refused  to  give  up 
their  separate  existence,  and  maintained  that  deliberation  by  order 
and  the  right  of  each  estate  to  a  veto  were  essential  parts  of  the 
constitution.  The  clergy  were  more  evenly  divided.  Most  of  the 
great  ecclesiastics  were  inclined  to  support  the  nobles,  and  to  oppose 
a  union  of  the  three  orders  which  would  leave  them  powerless  to 
defend  their  interests  or  their  religion.  But  the  majority  of  the 
order  was  composed  of  ill-paid  cures,  who  had  little  sympathy  with 
their  haughty  and  high-born  superiors,  and  were  inclined  to  throw 
in  their  lot  with  the  third  estate.  On  the  motion  of  the  clergy 
commissioners  were  appointed  to  devise  some  compromise,  but  the 
attempt  failed.  Nothing  could  be  more  adroit  than  the  tactics  of 
the  commons,  who  succeeded  in  throwing  all  the  blame  of  their 
prolonged  inactivity  upon  the  other  estates.  At  last  it  was  decided 
to  act  with  decision.  On  the  12th  of  June  they  invited  the  clergy 
and  nobles  to  join  them  in  a  common  verification  of  powers,  and  at 
once  proceeded  with  that  necessary  preliminary  of  business.  A  few 
cures  appeared  among  them,  and  on  the  17th  they  took  the  all- 
important  step  of  assuming  the  name  of  national  assembly,  thus 


a.d.  1789.  THE  NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY.  493 

ignoring  the  separate  existence  of  the  rival  estates.  This  daring 
measure  was  followed  by  others  equally  bold  and  prudent.  They 
declared  that  all  the  existing  taxes  were  illegal,  because  they 
had  not  been  granted  by  representatives,  and  then  proceeded  to 
authorise  their  continuance  during  the  session  of  the  assembly. 
This  provided  them  with  a  valid  security  against  an  attempted 
dissolution.  They  then  guaranteed  the  public  debt,  and  appointed 
a  committee  to  consider  the  food  question  and  to  concert  measures 
for  averting  a  threatened  famine.  Late  on  the  19th  of  June  the 
clergy,  by  138  votes  to  129,  decided  to  join  the  third  estate.  The 
majority  was  mainly  composed  of  the  lower  clergy,  but  it  con- 
tained several  bishops,  and  was  headed  by  the  archbishop  of 
Bordeaux. 

§  2.  The  government  was  astounded  at  the  rapidity  with  which 
events  had  marched.  Necker  was  as  irritated  as  the  most 
pronounced  supporter  of  despotism  and  privilege.  The  establish- 
ment of  a  single  legislative  assembly,  in  which  the  comn.ons  were 
practically  supreme,  was  fatal  to  his  favourite  scheme  of  a  double 
chamber  like  the  English  parliament.  He  advised  the  king  to  hold 
a  royal  sitting,  much  tho  same  thing  as  a  lit  de  justice,  to 
conciliate  the  people  by  granting  the  most  essential  reforms,  and  to 
order  the  separate  deliberation  of  the  three  estates  on  all  matters 
concerning  the  interests  of  classes.  This  was  a  measure  which 
might  have  succeeded  earlier,  but  was  now  much  too  late,  and 
moreover  was  not  exactly  carried  out.  The  court  party  succeeded 
in  gaining  the  king's  ear,  and  convinced  him  that  the  interests,  not 
only  of  the  crown,  but  of  religion,  were  at  stake.  It  was  determined 
to  effect  a  real  coup  d'itat  and  to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of 
the  opposition.  But  in  the  meanwhile  it  was  important  to  prevent 
any  further  sessions,  for  fear  lest  the  union  of  the  clergy  \\  ith  the 
third  estate  might  make  their  subsequent  separation  more  difficult. 
On  the  pretext  that  the  hall  had  to  be  prepared  for  the  royal  sitting 
it  was  occupied  by  workmen,  and  when  Bailly,  the  president, 
arrived  in  the  morning  he  was  informed  that  no  session  could  be 
held.  The  assembly  was  roused  to  indignation  by  so  palpable  a 
trick,  and,  after  some  violent  proposals  had  been  rejected,  they 
adjourned  to  the  adjacent  tennis-court.  There,  on  the  motion  of 
Mounier,  a  deputy  of  Dauphine,  and  one  of  the  most  moderate  of 
the  reformers,  all  with  one  exception  took  a  solemn  oath  **not  to 
desert  the  assembly  and  to  meet  wherever  circumstances  shall 
require  until  the  constitution  is  firmly  established  on  a  solid  founda- 
tion.** The  next  day  the  count  of  Artois  engaged  the  tennis-court, 
but  the  deputies  fouud  more  respectable  and  comfortable  quarters 
in  the  church  of  St.  Louis.     Here  they  were  immensely  encouraged 


494  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxii. 

by  the  arrival  of  the  majority  of  the  clergy,  who  were  welcomed 
with  transports  of  joy  (21  June). 

The  court  blindly  adhered  to  the  programme  that  had  been 
agreed  upon.  On  the  23rd  of  June  Louis  XVI.  entered  the 
assembly  with  all  the  impressive  pomp  of  the  old  regime.  Necker 
showed  his  disapprobation  of  the  changes  made  in  his  scheme,  and 
revived  his  waning  popularity,  by  absenting  himself.  The  king, 
who  had  learnt  his  lesson  only  too  well  from  his  advisers,  proceeded 
to  rate  the  assembly  in  terms  which  were  equally  opposed  to 
prudence  and  to  his  own  acquiescent  temper.  He  declared  that 
the  national  representatives  could  only  be  composed  of  the  three 
estates  deliberating  apart ;  only  on  special  occasions  and  with 
royal  permission  could  a  joint  meeting  be  held.  He  prohibited  the 
discussion  of  all  burning  questions,  such  as  the  property  and 
privileges  of  classes,  and  ordered  the  immediate  consideration  of 
certain  specified  reforms  which  he  would  accept  without  hesitation. 
The  decrees  of  the  17th  were  declared  to  be  unconstitutional  and 
therefore  annulled.  Finally  he  oukred  the  immediate  dissolution 
of  the  assembly,  and  the  meeting  in  different  chambers  on  the  next 
day.  "I  can  say  with  truth  that  no  king  has  ever  done  so  much 
for  any  nation  :  support  me  in  this  benevolent  undertaking,  or  else 
I  will  alone  secure  the  welfare  of  my  people  and  will  regard  myself  as 
their  only  real  representative. "  The  clergy  and  nobles  obeyed  the 
order  to  separate  at  once,  but  the  third  estate  remained  in  sombre 
silence  until  Mirabeau  rose  and  inveighed  in  burning  words 
against  the  insulting  dictation  they  had  listened  to.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  to  remind  the 
deputies  of  their  instructions  the  orator  turned  upon  him  fiercely 
and  bade  him  tell  his  master  that  they  were  there  by  the  will  of 
the  people,  and  would  not  depart  unless  compelled  by  bayonets. 
It  was  unanimously  decided  to  maintain  the  edicts  of  the  17th, 
and  to  declare  the  inviolability  of  the  national  representatives. 

The  coup  d'etat  had  already  failed  when  those  against  whom  it 
was  directed  had  shown  that  they  were  not  intimidated.  Louis 
himself  was  the  first  to  recognise  a  defeat  which  he  had  courted 
under  the  influence  of  others.  The  assembly  by  its  firmness  had 
ousted  the  king  from  the  highest  position  in  France,  and  the  first 
great  step  in  the  revolution  was  taken.  On  the  next  day  the 
majority  of  the  clergy  again  joined  the  third  estate,  and  their 
example  was  followed  by  43  nobles,  among  whom  was  a  prince  of 
the  royal  blood,  Philip  of  Orleans.  On  the  27th  the  king  sent  a 
special  request  to  the  rest  of  the  nobles  and  clergy  that  they  would 
also  join  the  national  assembly.  With  unfeigned  reluctance  they 
obeyed  the  royal  order,  and  henceforth  sat  among  the  men  whose 


A.D.  1789.  THE  NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY.  495 

measures  they  hated  and  dreaded.  They  were  encouraged  by 
representations  from  the  court  that  their  complaisance  would  not  be 
permanent  and  that  means  would  be  found  to  defeat  the  hostile 
projects  of  the  revolutionists. 

§  3.  The  first  alarm  being  over,  the  court  party  began  to  repent  of 
the  weakness  they  had  shown  in  allowing  the  assembly  to  gain  so 
easy  a  victory.  The  king  was  carefully  separated  from  Necker  and 
other  moderate  advisers,  so  as  to  give  free  play  to  the  influence  of 
the  queen  and  the  count  of  Artois.  The  new  scheme  was  to  employ 
force  to  repress  a  movement  which  had  become  too  dangerous  to  be 
despised  or  tolerated.  From  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  troops  were 
collected,  and  before  long  Paris  was  surrounded  by  40,000  men. 
The  supreme  command  was  entrusted  to  Marshal  Broglie,  a  veteran 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  who  took  his  measures  as  if  he  had  to 
conduct  a  regular  campaign  against  a  foreign  enemy.  Such  public 
preparations  naturally  aroused  the  alarm  of  the  assembly.  On  the 
motion  of  Mirabeau  a  deputation  was  sent  to  the  king  to  express 
apprehension  and  to  demand  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops.  Louis 
replied  that  he  had  supreme  control  of  the  army,  that  his  only 
object  was  to  ensure  tranquillity,  and  that  if  the  deputies  were 
alarmed  they  might  withdraw  to  Noyon  or  Soissons.  Such  an 
answer  was  equivalent  to  a  confirmation  of  the  worst  fears. 

But  already  the  initiative  in  resistance  had  been  taken  by  a  far 
more  dangerous  enemy  than  the  assembly,  the  people  of  Paris. 
For  a  long  time  the  capital  had  been  in  a  very  disturbed  state, 
chiefly  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  food  and  the  consequent  riots  for 
bread.  But  since  the  meeting  of  the  States-General  the  disorders 
had  become  more  organised  and  more  political.  It  is  difficult  to 
decide  how  far  this  change  was  due  to  chance  or  to  premeditation. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  large  number  of  contemporaries 
believed  that  the  chief  instigator  of  disturbances  was  the  duke  of 
Orleans,  and  that  the  leading  rioters  received  pay  from  him. 
Orleans  was  the  bitter  and  unscrupulous  enemy  of  the  queen,  and 
had  sufficient  ground  to  complain  of  the  treatment  he  had  received 
from  Louis.  His  personal  character  was  base  enough  to  make  no 
charge  against  him  incredible.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  too 
timid,  too  weak,  and  too  wanting  in  talents,  to  be  the  leader  even  of 
a  riot.  But  it  is  probable  that  he  was  really  the  instrument  of  abler 
men,  who  used  his  wealth  and  his  name,  and  promoted  disorder  for 
their  own  ends.  It  is  quite  possible,  though  not  so  certain,  that 
they  wished  to  depose  the  king  and  to  raise  Orleans  to  the  crown,  or 
at  any  rate  to  the  regency.  The  malice  of  his  numerous  enemies  has 
included  Mirabeau  among  these  members  of  the  Orleanist  faction, 
but  the  calumny  has  been  sufficiently  refuted.    But  there  is  no 


496  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxii. 

doubt  that  he  was  fully  aware  of  the  designs  of  the  revolutionists, 
and  that  he  was  equally  willing  to  make  use  of  them  or  to  defeat 
them  as  circumstances  dictated. 

The  head-quarters  of  the  disorderly  element  in  Paris  was  in  the 
cafes  which  had  grown  up  round  the  garden  of  Orleans'  residence, 
the  Palais  Royal.  There  was  formed  a  sort  of  club,  which  had  no 
definite  existence,  but  which  used  to  meet  to  discuss  affairs  and 
which  sent  out  emissaries  to  promote  the  course  of  action  which 
it  desired.  It  was  their  dictation  which  gave  to  the  popular  move- 
ments a  consistency  and  definiteness  of  object  which  they  must 
otherwise  have  lacked.  One  of  the  chief  aims  of  their  intrigues 
was  to  corrupt  the  soldiers,  and  in  this  they  were  conspicuously 
successful.  The  result  of  the  agglomeration  of  troops  in  the  capital 
was  that  those  troops  became  untrustworthy  and  insubordinate.  A 
colonel  arrested  some  of  his  men  for  acting  in  the  interests  of  the 
Palais  Royal,  the  mob  released  them,  and  the  regiment  went  over  to 
the  popular  side.  It  became  known  that  the  native  regiments  would 
not  act  against  the  people,  and  Broglie  had  to  resort  to  the  still 
more  unpopular  measure  of  summoning  foreign  troops  to  effect  the 
designs  of  the  court.  The  excitement  in  Paris  steadily  increased, 
and  there  was  no  adequate  authority  to  put  down  the  tumults.  In 
this  crisis  the  government  of  the  city  was  assumed  by  the  electors 
who  had  chosen  the  deputies  for  the  States-General,  and  they  ful- 
filled their  self-imposed  task  with  an  energy  and  devotion  that 
reflected  the  highest  credit  upon  them.  It  was  mainly  due  to  their 
exertions  that  supplies  were  obtained  and  that  the  city  was  saved 
from  the  horrors  of  famine. 

§  4.  Meanwhile  the  court  party  adhered  to  their  plan.  On  the 
11th  of  July  Necker  and  three  of  his  colleagues  were  summarily 
dismissed  and  banished,  and  their  places  filled  by  devoted 
royalists,  Breteuil,  Broglie,  Foulon,  and  Laporte.  This  was  a 
tremendous  blow  to  the  assembly,  which  was  now  confronted  by 
a  united  and  avowedly  hostile  ministry.  A  deputation  was  sent 
to  demand  Necker's  recall  and  to  renew  the  petition  for  the 
dismissal  of  the  troops.  An  unsatisfactory  answer  from  the  king 
provoked  edicts  in  favour  of  the  fallen  ministers,  and  the  assembly 
decided  to  sit  night  and  day  to  prevent  a  forcible  closing  of  the  hall. 
To  relieve  the  president  from  the  fatigue  involved  by  this  measure 
Lafayette  was  elected  vice-president.  But  again  it  was  evident 
that  the  real  battle  was  to  be  fought  in  Paris  and  not  at  Versailles. 
The  news  of  the  dismissal  of  the  ministers  reached  the  Palais  Royal 
on  the  12th :  at  once  Camille  Desmoulins,  the  most  eloquent  of  the 
popular  orators,  denounced  the  king's  action  as  the  tocsin  for  a  St. 
Bartholomew  of  the  patriots,  and  called  upon  the  people  to  rise  in 


a.d.   1789.  FALL  OP  THE  BASTILLE.  497 

defence  of  their  lives  and  liberties.  The  mob  rose  in  obedience  to 
this  suggestion,  and  in  the  Tuileries  gardens  came  into  collision 
with  a  German  regiment.  Blood  was  shed  in  the  skirmish,  but  the 
French  guards  joined  the  citizens  and  forced  the  Germaus  to  retreat. 
It  was  feared  that  a  general  attack  would  be  made  upon  the  capital, 
and  the  troops  and  citizens  remained  on  the  defensive  all  night. 
The  next  day  the  mob  repaired  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  demanded 
arms  from  the  electors.  Flesselles,  the  provost  of  the  merchants 
and  head  of  the  old  muncipality,  put  them  off  with  promises 
and  assurances  that  were  never  fulfilled.  The  greatest  disorder 
prevailed,  and  the  criminal  classes  took  advantage  of  it  to  commit 
the  worst  outrages  with  impunity.  To  serve  the  double  purpose  of 
restoring  tranquillity  and  defending  the  city,  the  electors  determined 
to  organise  the  citizens  into  a  military  force,  and  thus  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  famous  National  Guard.  All  that  was  now 
wanted  was  arms,  and  they  were  obtained  by  an  attack  on  the 
Invalides.  The  attention  of  the  mob  was  now  directed  to  the 
famous  fortress  of  the  Bastille,  the  most  conspicuous  monument  of  the 
old  despotism,  which  commanded  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine,  whence 
the  worst  class  of  the  rioters  were  furnUhed.  After  a  siege  of 
several  hours  the  garrison  compelled  the  commander,  De  Launay,  to 
surrender  on  condition  that  the  lives  of  the  garrison  should  be  spared. 
The  leaders  of  the  attack  did  what  they  could  to  observe  their 
promise,  but  the  mob  was  too  infuriated  to  listen  either  to  reason 
or  to  authority.  De  Launay  with  several  of  his  subordinates  was 
murdered,  and  the  rest  of  the  garrison,  who  were  carried  to  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  were  with  difficulty  saved  by  the  electors.  At- 
tention was  now  called  to  the  failure  of  Flesselles  to  fulfil  his 
promises  of  procuring  arms,  and  a  letter  which  bad  been  found  upon 
De  Launay  was  considered  to  prove  that  he  had  all  along  been 
betraying  the  people  until  succour  could  arrive.  Flesselles  tried  to 
brave  the  matter  out  and  agreed  to  accompany  his  accusers  to  the 
Palais  Royal,  but  on  the  way  he  was  shot  The  mob  was  supreme 
in  Paris,  the  troops  which  had  been  so  assiduously  collected  were 
utterly  untrustworthy,  and  the  commander,  Besenval,  could  do 
nothing  but  withdraw  from  the  city. 

The  very  night  which  witnessed  these  events  in  Paris  had  been 
destined  by  the  court  for  their  great  coup  <T4tat.  The  king  was 
to  renew  his  declaration  of  the  23rd  of  June,  of  which  several 
thousand  copies  had  been  printed  for  circulation.  The  military 
force  was  to  compel  its  acceptance  by  the  assembly,  which  was 
then  to  be  dissolved.  To  provide  for  immediate  financial  necessities, 
notes  had  been  struck  off  for  more  than  a  hundred  millions.  The 
danger  from  the  mob  of  Paris  was  ill  understood,  and  despised  by  the 
23 


498  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxii. 

ignorant  and  thoughtless  courtiers.  The  assembly  was  perfectly 
aware  of  these  designs,  and  was  sitting  in  momentary  expectation 
of  a  crisis,  when  the  news  came  of  the  disturbances  at  Paris.  One 
deputation  after  another  was  sent  to  the  king  to  demand  the 
removal  of  the  troops  as  the  one  method  of  securing  tranquillity,  but 
he  refused  to  yield.  At  last  it  was  announced  that  the  Bastille 
had  fallen,  and  that  De  Launay  and  Flesselles  had  perished  A 
third  deputation  was  proposed,  but  Clermont-Tonnerre  interfered 
with  the  words :  "  No,  let  us  leave  them  the  night  for  reflection ; 
kings,  like  other  men,  must  pay  for  experience."  In  the  morning 
the  question  of  a  deputation  was  again  discussed,  when  the  news 
came  that  the  king  was  on  his  way  to  the  assembly.  He  was 
received  in  profound  silence  until  in  a  few  spontaneous  words  he 
expressed  his  trust  in  the  deputies  and  announced  that  he  had 
ordered  the  troops  to  quit  both  Paris  and  Versailles.  Enthusiastic 
applause  welcomed  these  words,  the  assembly  rose  in  a  body  and 
escorted  the  king  to  the  palace  amidst  the  cheers  of  the  crowd. 
Louis  followed  up  his  tardy  policy  of  concession  by  declaring  his 
willingness  to  recall  Necker,  and  by  asking  the  assembly  to  act  as 
mediator  for  him,  both  with  the  minister  and  with  the  citizens.  A 
deputation  of  a  hundred  members  was  appointed  to  carry  the 
welcome  news  to  Paris,  where  they  were  received  in  triumph. 
Bailly,  the  first  president  of  the  National  Assembly,  was  elected 
mayor  of  Paris,  and  Lafayette,  who  was  hailed  by  his  admirers  as 
the  champion  of  liberty  in  two  hemispheres,  was  made  commander 
of  the  newly  formed  National  Guard.  It  was  determined  to 
signalise  the  restoration  of  peace  by  inducing  the  king  to  visit  his 
capital.  Louis,  who  lacked  everything  except  courage  and  good- 
nature, undertook  the  journey  in  spite  of  the  misgivings  of  his 
family,  and  the  royal  entry  was  made  on  the  17th  of  July  with  every 
external  appearance  of  success.  The  promoters  of  the  coup  oVetat 
were  forced  to  acknowledge  their  defeat,  and  the  most  prominent  of 
them,  the  count  of  Artois,  the  princes  of  Conde  and  Conti,  and 
the  Polignac  family,  evaded  the  popular  fury  by  speedy  flight  to 
Turin,  where  they  strove  to  restore  their  failing  cause  by  foreign 
intervention.  Necker  returned  from  exile,  and  his  journey  through 
France  resembled  a  triumphal  procession.  Never,  either  before  or 
afterwards,  did  he  enjoy  such  unlimited  popularity,  but  he  owed  it 
rather  to  his  sufferings  than  to  his  achievements,  and  another  year 
of  office  lost  him  both  the  regard  of  the  people  and  his  reputation 
as  a  statesman. 

§  5.  The  14th  of  July  was  the  second  of  the  great  days  of  the 
Revolution.  The  23rd  of  June  had  given  supreme  legislative 
authority  to  the  assembly  ;  the  fall  of  the  Bastille  established  the 


a.d.  1789.  PARIS.  499 

sovereignty  of  the  people.  Such  conspicuous  and  speedy  successes 
seemed  to  justify  the  expectation  that  tranquillity  would  now  be 
restored,  but  this  was  not  the  case.  Tbe  disturbances  in  Paris 
continued.  Foulon  and  his  son-in-law  Berthier,  who  were 
suspected  of  having  helped  to  bring  about  the  scarcity  of  c<»rn, 
were  brutally  murdered  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  I*afayctto  to  save 
them.  It  is  almost  certain  that  these  and  other  outrages  were 
concerted,  and  were  not  due  to  the  spontaneous  passions  of  the 
mob.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Orleanist  faction  was  still 
disappointed.  They  had  hoped  for  the  deposition  if  not  for  the 
death  of  the  king,  but  Louis  had  been  formally  reconciled  with  the 
people.  Their  only  chance  lay  in  ngiag  on  the  movement  of 
it  ion,  in  discrediting  the  new  authorities  and  overthrowing  the 
supremacy  of  the  middle  class,  who  were  opposed  by  nature  and 
interest  to  further  employment  of  violence.  B.iilly  and  Lafayette, 
the  representatives  of  this  class,  did  all  they  could  to  restore  order 
and  confidence.  The  latter  organised  the  National  Guard  and  gave 
them  as  their  colours  the  famous  tricolour,  composed  of  the  blue 
and  red,  the  colours  of  Paris,  and  the  white  of  the  monarchy 
Bailly,  a  student  of  astronomy  and  mathematics,  who  had  little 
experience  of  practical  affairs,  found  his  post  an  almost  intolerable 
burdm.  The  electors,  just  as  they  were  beginning  to  cope 
successfully  with  the  task  tbey  bad  undertaken,  were  dismissed 
with  ingratitude,  and  replaced  by  120  deputies,  two  from  each 
district.  The  new  administrators  had  the  will  but  not  the 
ex|>erience  to  rule,  and  showed  scanty  respect  for  the  mayor  whom 
popular  acclamation  and  not  their  own  choice  had  selrcted.  And 
their  own  authority  was  not  absolute.  Everywhere  the  fatal 
doctrine  was  adopted,  that  representatives  can  only  carry  out  the 
will  of  .their  constituents.  This  gave  enormous  advantages  to  the 
underground  agitators.  If  a  committee  opposed  them,  they  appealed 
to  the  municipality,  if  that  body  was  equally  resolute  they 
complained  to  the  districts.  Everybody  wished  to  govern,  no  one 
to  obey.  The  great  problem  was  still  to  supply  the  capital  with 
food,  and  Bailly  spent  night  and  day  at  the  deliberations  of  the 
committee  of  subsistence.  The  destruction  of  the  barriers  and 
the  consequent  cessation  of  the  octroi,  or  tax  on  provisions,  left 
the  city  without  funds,  and  the  money  which  purchased  corn  for 
Paris,  often  at  a  ruinous  loss,  had  to  be  furnished  by  the  central 
government.  Even  in  fulfilling  this  necessary  duty  the  committee 
was  hampered  by  the  reckless  conspirators.  All  sorts  of  expedients 
were  employed  to  disgust  the  people  with  the  bread  that  was 
supplied  them,  and  the  National  Guard  had  to  be  employed  in 
protecting  the  convoys  of  corn  and  the  bakers'  shops.     The  duk* 


500  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxn. 

of  Orleans  was  even  accused  of  buying  up  corn  so  as  to  increase  the 
scarcity.  Bailly's  Memoirs  give  a  vivid  picture  of  the  anxieties  and 
worries  of  each  day  that  elapsed  before  the  new  harvest  could  be 
got  in. 

§  6.  Meanwhile  disorders  had  spread  from  the  capital  to  the 
provinces.  Everywhere  the  old  authorities  were  replaced  by  new 
ones,  and  the  sudden  change  of  system  destroyed  all  the  repressive 
powers  of  government.  In  the  north  the  lower  classes  suddenly 
refused  to  pay  the  accustomed  services  and  dues,  and  thus  deprived 
their  superiors  of  the  means  of  subsistence.  In  the  southern 
provinces  the  peasants  set  themselves  to  take  a  terrible  vengeance 
for  thr  oppressions  which  they  had  endured  for  ceuturies.  Auvergne, 
Dauphiue,  and  Franche-Comte  were  the  scene  of  frightful  atro- 
cities ;  castles  were  burnt,  nobles  and  their  families  were  tortured 
and  killed,  and  all  the  horrors  of  the  old  Jacquerie  were  renewed 
with  complete  impunity. 

The  intelligence  of  these  events  reached  the  National  Assembly 
on  the  4th  of  August,  and  roused  the  members  from  an  academical 
discussion  of  the  rights  of  man,  which  had  been  started  by 
Lafayette.  The  assembly  was  the  only  body  which  could  restore 
order,  but  it  was  rightly  felt  that  this  must  be  preceded  by  a 
removal  of  grievances.  Two  nobles,  Noailles  and  d'Aiguillon, 
began  the  work  of  destruction  by  proposing  the  abolition  of  all 
feudal  rights  and  of  all  exemptions  and  privileges  enjoyed  by 
individuals  aud  corporations.  The  proposals  were  received  with 
acclamation,  and  the  assembly  promptly  decreed  that  it  "  annulled 
the  feudal  regime,  abolished  all  privileges  with  regard  to  subsidies, 
and  declared  every  citizen  admissible  to  all  offices  and  dignities, 
ecclesiastical,  civil,  and  military."  A  perfect  frenzy  of  self-abne- 
gation seized  the  deputies,  every  one  hastened  to  resign  or  abolish 
something,  whether  he  possessed  it  or  not.  The  sitting  was  pro- 
longed till  midnight,  while  one  decree  after  another  was  carried 
with  reckless  haste,  and  finally  Louis  XVI.  was  formally  declared 
the  "  restorer  of  French  liberty." 

The  famous  4th  of  August,  which  was  afterwards  called  the  "  St. 
Bartholomew  of  property,"  destroyed  the  last  relics  of  the  feudal 
system  in  France  and  marks  the  final  termination  of  the  ancien 
regime.  The  following  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  decrees  that  were 
adopted  by  the  assembly.  Serfdom,  corve'es,  and  all  the  customary 
services  that  the  lords  had  been  accustomed  to  exact  from  their 
peasants  were  abolished:  the  exclusive  rights  of  hunting  and  the 
savage  punishments  for  poaching  were  done  away  with  :  the  guilds 
and  other  close  corporations  in  the  towns  were  dissolved :  offices 
were  no  longer  to  be  sold,  and  the  administration  of  justice  was  to 


a.d.  1789.  THE  FOURTH  OP  AUGUST.  501 

be  gratuitous:  the  lords  lost  all  their  old  rights  of  jurisdiction : 
tithes  were  to  be  redeemed  and  converted  info  a  money-tax  :  the 
payment  of  annates  to  Rome  and  the  plurality  of  benefices  were 
forbidden.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  these  changes  were  too 
sweeping  and  too  important  to  be  made  all  at  once  and  with  so 
little  consideration ;  it  is  true  that  the  work  of  destruction  ought 
not  to  have  been  accomplished  until  a  new  system  was  ready  to 
replace  the  old ;  it  is  true  that  the  deputies  acted  under  the 
influence  of  an  excitement  that  overpowered  all  considerations  of 
statesmanship  or  even  of  justice.  Nevertheless  the  work  was 
essentially  necessary,  and  tnere  was  something  grand  and  im- 
pressive in  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  that  had  been  shown.  The 
decrees  of  the  4th  of  August  inflicted  great  temporary  disasters 
upon  France,  but  they  have  given  great  blessings  to  humanity. 
They  vindicated  for  all  time  the  freedom  of  labour  and  the  equality 
of  all  men  before  the  law. 


II.  The  Constitution,  4tii  op  August,  1789,  to  30th  of 
September,  1790. 

§  7.  The  old  system  having  perished,  the  monarchy  having 
abdicated  its  powers  to  the  assembly  and  the  nation,  the  privileges 
which  divided  classes  having  been  abolished,  it  was  now  impera- 
tively necessary  to  commence  the  great  work  of  establishing  a  new 
constitution  which  should  give  permanence  to  the  great  ct  anges 
that  had  been  made.  From  the  time  the  assembly  began  to 
grapple  with  real  definite  work,  in  which  questions  of  principle 
were  involved,  parties  began  necessarily  to  form  themselves  in  its 
midst.  On  the  right  sat  the  partisans  of  reaction,  all  members  of 
the  clergy  and  of  the  noble  class,  who  wished  not  so  much  to 
prevent  further  change  as  to  undo  what  had  been  already 
accomplished.  Hitherto  they  had  mostly  maintained  a  con- 
temptuous silence,  in  the  hope  that  the  court  would  find  some 
means  of  changing  the  course  of  affairs.  Now  that  they  began  to 
take  part  in  business  they  posed  as  the  champions  of  prerogative  and 
privilege.  But  their  conduct  was  still  factious  and  reckless  :  not  in- 
frequently they  allied  themselves  with  the  extreme  party  in  the  hope 
of  carrying  measures  which  would  bring  the  assembly  into  disrepute. 
Their  most  prominent  representatives  were  Maury,  an  ecclesiastic, 
Cazales,  a  noble  and  an  officer,  and  d'Epremesnil,  the  champion  of 
the  Parliament  of  Paris.  But  on  the  whole  the  party  was  not 
conspicuous  either  for  ability,  prudence,  or  patriotism,  and  it 
gradually  lost  ground  as  its  numbers  were  decreased  by  the  con- 
tinuous emigration. 


502  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxii. 

In  the  centre  sat  the  moderate  party,  uhe  allies  of  Necker,  headed 
by  honest  and  capable  men  such  as  Mounier,  Malouet,  Lally- 
Tollendal,  and  Clermont-Tonnerre.  They  had  been  disgusted  by 
the  popular  excesses  in  Paris  and  elsewhere,  they  were  eager  to  stop 
a  movement  which  they  could  no  longer  hope  to  control,  and  they 
wished  to  direct  all  their  efforts  to  the  formation  of  a  permanent 
and  effective  constitution.  Their  ideal  was  a  system  like  that  of 
England,  the  division  of  the  legislative  power  between  the  king  and 
two  chambers,  triennial  elections,  and  the  retention  of  executive  power 
by  the  king  and  ministers  whom  he  selects.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  triumph  of  this  party  would  have  saved  France 
from  many  of  its  subsequent  disasters,  but  unfortunately  it  was  too 
much  bound  up  with  Necker.  Had  he  been  the  great  statesman 
that  his  admirers  deemed  him,  he  might  have  directed  the  course 
of  events  and  maintained  both  himself  and  the  monarchy.  But  he 
was  a  mere  financier,  with  no  adequate  conception  of  the  great  issues 
that  were  being  raised,  and  with  no  ability  to  grapple  with  the 
great  practical  difficulties  that  stood  in  his  way.  The  failure  of  his 
administration  involved  the  defeat  of  the  party  with  which  he  was 
identified. 

The  left  was  occupied  by  the  great  mass  of  the  deputies  who 
had  no  particular  union,  and  who  by  no  means  shared  the  same 
opinions  on  all  subjects.  Generally  they  sympathised  with  the 
revolution,  and  they  were  united  by  a  common  antipathy  to 
despotism  and  to  class  privileges,  but  they  included  the  most 
opposite  views  as  to  where  the  movement  was  to  end.  On  the 
extreme  left  sat  a  small  and  as  yet  unnoticed  group  of  fanatics  who 
already  dreamed  of  a  republic.  Among  them  were  Robespierre, 
Petion,  and'Buzot ;  but  no  one  could  foretell  their  future  prominence. 
The  most  extreme  of  the  prominent  leaders  of  the  assembly  were 
the  heads  of  the  Breton  Club,  Barnave,  Duport,  and  Lameth,  whose 
youth  and  ardent  courage  made  them  willing  to  accept  and  make 
the  best  of  any  change.  They  believed  in  the  people,  and  were 
ready  to  pardon  even  its  excesses.  More  prudent  and  still  more 
prominent  were  two  men  who  played  a  great  part  in  the  constituent 
assembly,  Sieyes,  its  legislator,  and  Mirabeau,  its  orator.  Mirabeau 
was  undoubtedly  the  great  man  of  the  day.  Born  of  a  noble  family, 
he  had  been  driven  to  vice  and  despair  by  the  persecutions  of  his 
father,  and  he  had  conceived  a  bitter  loathing  for  the  political  and 
social  system  that  had  made  such  treatment  possible.  Hence  he 
had  thrown  himself  heart  and  soul  into  the  revolutionary  movement, 
had  employed  his  pen  and  his  voice  to  maintain  the  courage  of  the 
assembly  and  to  excite  the  wrath  of  the  people.  So  incessant  was 
his   activity  and  so  wide-spread  were  his  connections  that   his 


ad.  1789.  MIRABEAU.  503 

enemies  attributed  every  outbreak  to  his  intrigues.  His  attacks 
upon  the  queen  had  roused  the  bitter  enmity  of  the  court,  where 
he  was  regarded  as  the  apostle  of  rebellion  and  of  unbelief.  But 
Mirabeau,  though  liable  to  lose  his  self-control  in  fits  of  passion, 
was  not  a  mere  destroyer,  and  was  not  without  a  plan  of  his  own 
for  the  regeneration  of  France.  His  enmity  was  satisfied  by  the 
destruction  of  the  privileged  classes  from  which  he  had  severed 
himself;  he  had  no  quarrel  with  the  monarchy,  of  which  he  now 
became  the  champion.  He  was  convinced  that  the  changes  that 
bad  been  made  were  not  inconsistent  with  the  existence  of  a  strong 
central  power,  or  even  with  that  of  a  new  aristocracy.  He  was 
confident  that  he  could  build  up  a  new  organism  in  place  of  the 
old,  and  he  eagerly  sought  for  an  opportunity  to  make  the  attempt. 
His  ambition — and  this  was  well  known  both  to  friends  and 
opponents — was  to  be  a  minister.  It  would  perhaps  have  been  well 
if  the  court  could  have  made  up  their  minds  to  employ  him ;  but 
the  queen  regarded  him  as  a  monster  and  as  the  author  of  all  the 
mischief,  while  the  king  disliked  him  as  a  libertine  almost  more 
than  he  feared  him  as  a  politician.  As  long  as  he  was  excluded 
from  office,  Mirabeau  was  forced  to  side  with  the  opposition,  both  to 
maintain  the  popularity  in  which  lay  his  strength,  and  to  force  his 
way  to  the  position  that  was  denied  him.  His  great  disadvantage 
was,  that  he  had  no  organised  following — that  he  was  his  own 
party.  His  haughty  and  independent  temper  would  brook  no 
associates  on  terms  of  equality.  He  despised  the  assembly  of 
which  he  was  the  guiding  spirit;  he  despised  mediocrities  like 
Lafayette  and  Necker,  whose  popularity  made  them  a  power ;  and 
while  he  knew  of  the  intrigues  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  he  always 
regarded  that  prince  with  unmixed  contempt  Another  point  on 
which  his  conduct  was  open  to  attack  was  his  pecuniary  difficulties. 
He  was  constantly  harassed  by  his  creditors,  and  even  when  the 
death  of  his  father  left  him  a  considerable  property  he  never  had 
the  time  to  arrange  his  affairs.  These  circumstances  and  bis  lavish 
habits  made  the  acquisition  of  money  unusually  important  to  him, 
and  this  laid  him  open  to  charges  of  venality  and  corruption  which 
it  was  not  easy  to  refute.  It  is  impossible  to  assert  that  Mirabeau 
could  have  succeeded  in  carrying  out  the  grand  schemes  which  he 
so  confidently  propounded,  or  that  he  could  have  checked  the 
revolutionary  movement,  but  it  is  equally  certain  that  no  one  else 
could. 

§  8.  The  first  work  of  the  assembly  after  the  4th  of  August  was 
to  resume  the  discussion  about  the  rights  of  man,  which  ended  in  the 
issuing  of  the  declaration  on  the  27th.  It  was  a  feeble  and  un- 
necessary imitation  of  the  great  American  manifesto.    Philosophi- 


504  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxn. 

cal  definitions  were  laid  down  by  the  vote  of  a  majority,  and 
principles  were  enunciated  which,  if  logically  carried  out,  would 
put  an  end  to  all  government.  Then  the  assembly  took  into 
consideration  the  proposals  of  a  committee  which  had  been 
authorised  to  prepare  a  scheme  of  the  constitution.  The  first 
great  dispute  arose  on  the  question  whether  the  legislature  should 
consist  of  one  or  two  chambers.  The  suggestion  was  that  the  first 
chamber  should  consist  of  six  hundred  members  chosen  by  the 
people,  while  the  second  or  senate  should  contain  two  hundred 
members,  nominated  by  the  king  on  the  presentation  of  the  depart- 
ments. On  the  left  the  cry  was  raised  that  this  would  destroy  the 
equality  which  had  just  been  laid  down  in  the  declaration  of 
rights;  on  the  right  the  nobles  and  clergy  resented  a  proposal 
which  disregarded  all  their  claims  and  pretensions.  The  union  of 
these  two  extremes  decided  the  matter,  and  it  was  carried  by  a 
large  majority  that  the  legislature  should  be  indivisible.  Then 
came  the  still  more  burning  question  as  to  the  relations  of  the 
crown  and  the  legislature.  It  was  proposed  that  the  king  should 
have  a  veto  upon  all  laws  adopted  by  the  assembly.  The  left 
raised  a  loud  outcry  against  a  proposal  which  left  the  interests  and 
wishes  of  twenty-five  millions  at  the  mercy  of  one  man.  Mirabeau, 
who  had  previously  announced  his  opinion  on  this  point,  vigorously 
opposed  any  further  encroachment  upon  the  royal  power.  But 
opinion  was  b  ecoming  agitated  outside  the  assembly.  The  Palais 
Royal  taught  the  cry  a  has  le  veto  to  a  mob  which  thought  it 
meant  a  kind  of  tax.  Necker,  always  afraid  of  losing  the  popu- 
larity which  had  restored  him  to  office,  induced  the  king  to  accept 
a  compromise.  The  veto  was  to  be  suspensive  and  not  absolute, 
i.e-  the  king  could  postpone  an  act  of  the  assembly  for  four  years ; 
but  if  two  successive  legislatures  adhered  to  it  his  opposition  had 
to  be  withdrawn.  The  supporters  of  the  crown  found  themselves 
deserted  by  their  own  leader,  and  the  suspensive  veto  was  decreed 
on  the  21st  of  September. 

§  9.  Meanwhile  the  disorders  went  on  in  the  provinces  as  well  as 
in  Paris.  In  the  latter  the  number  of  representatives  had  been 
increased  from  120  to  300,  but  without  introducing  any  unanimity 
into  the  administration.  The  real  power  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
national  guard  and  of  its  idolised  commander,  Lafayette.  They 
represented  the  bourgeoisie,  or  middle  class,  and  succeeded  in 
repressing  the  worst  outrages.  The  Orleanists  saw  that  a  new 
effort  must  be  made  to  attain  their  objects.  Their  most  promiuent 
leaders  were  the  journalists,  Desmoulins,  Loustalot  and  Marat,  and 
mob-orators  like  Danton  and  St.  Huruge.  But  the  real  directors 
were  a  small  knot  of  men  who  immediately  surrounded  the  duke. 


a.d.  1789.  RIOT  AT  VERSAILLES.  505 

They  conceived  the  plan  of  either  murdering  the  king  or  of 
terrifying  him  into  flight.  In  either  case  the  duke  could  be  raised 
to  power  as  regent  if  not  as  kins.  The  discussion  about  the  veto 
had  given  occasion  for  fresh  disturbances,  and  the  question  of 
the  king's  flight  had  been  seriously  debated  at  Versailles.  But 
Louis  himself  refused  to  leave  the  coast  clear  for  his  ambitious 
and  worthless  relative.  It  was  necessary  to  try  some  more  direct 
attack.  The  conduct  of  the  court  afforded  a  convenient  opportunity. 
The  royal  guards  had  been  strengthened  by  the  arrival  of  the 
regiment  of  Flanders,  and  the  officers  of  the  former  entertained  the 
new-coiners  at  a  banquet  in  the  palace  (October).  Late  in  the 
evening  the  royal  family  appeared  in  the  hall  and  were  received  with 
an  outburst  of  enthusiasm.  It  was  reported,  probably  with  inten- 
tional exaggeration,  that  the  tricolour  had  been  trampled  under 
foot  in  drunken  excitement  and  that  all  the  guests  had  adopted 
the  white  cockade.  In  Paris  the  greatest  alarm  was  felt  and 
simulated,  and  the  most  disquieting  rumours  of  an  intended 
counter-revolution  were  industriously  circulated.  On  the  5th  of 
October  a  mob  of  women  inarched  to  Versailles  accompanied  by 
the  riff-raff  of  the  population.  They  entered  and  harangued  the 
assembly,  and  a  deputation  gained  admission  to  the  king,  who 
satisfied  them  with  promises  of  bread  and  kind  words.  The 
national  guard  called  upon  Lafayette  to  lead  them  to  Versailles 
for  the  maintenance  of  peace,  but  he  refused  to  march  till  he  had 
received  orders  from  the  municipality,  and  it  was  not  till  late  in 
the  afternoon,  after  the  mob  had  come  into  armed  collision  with 
the  guards,  that  he  appeared  upon  the  scene.  His  arrival  restored 
order,  he  replaced  the  guards  by  his  own  troops,  and  after  guarantee- 
ing the  king's  security  he  retired  to  rest.  In  the  early  morning  a 
party  of  rioters  obtained  admission  into  the  palace  by  a  neglected 
door.  Murdering  the  guards  whom  they  met,  they  advanced  to 
the  queen's  apartments,  and  it  was  only  with  great  difficulty  and 
by  the  heroic  self-sacrifice  of  her  defenders  that  she  was  enabled 
to  escape  to  the  king.  Lafayette,  who  had  been  roused  by  the 
unwelcome  intelligence  of  this  new  outbreak,  now  brought  up  his 
troops  and  cleared  the  palace.  But  outside  the  utmost  disorder 
and  excitement  prevailed,  and  the  cry  was  raised  which  had  already 
been  heard  in  the  capital,  "  the  king  to  Paris."  Louis  was 
compelled  to  show  himself  at  a  window  and  to  make  a  sign  of 
acquiescence.  Without  delay  the  compulsory  journey  had  to  be 
undertaken,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  6th  the  royal  family 
arrived  at  the  Tuileries.  They  had  been  preceded  by  the  mob 
bearing  the  heads  of  the  murdered  guards,  and  they  were  accom- 
panied by  a  crowd  of  women  who  declared  that  there  was  no 
23* 


506  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxil 

longer  any  fear  of  famine  as  they  brought  with  them  "  the  baker 
and  the  baker's  wife  and  the  little  baker's  boy." 

The  5th  of  October  marks  a  new  and  disastrous  change  in  the 
course  of  the  revolution.  The  presence  of  the  king  and  the 
government  in  Paris  confirmed  the  supremacy  which  that  city  had 
assumed  in  France,  and  gave  irresistible  powers  to  the  mob.  So 
well  appreciated  were  the  inevitable  results  that  when  the  assem- 
bly determined  to  follow  the  king,  and  took  up  its  quarters  in  the 
riding-school  near  the  Tuileries,  more  than  a  hundred  members, 
including  Mounier  and  Lally-Tollendal,  refused  to  retain  their 
seats.  It  was  no  wonder  that  men  sought  to  discover  the  originator 
of  the  popular  rising.  The  court  attributed  it  to  the  evil  influence 
of  Mirabeau,  but  his  innocence  was  subsequently  proved  to  the 
satisfaction  even  of  Marie  Antoinette,  and  the  charge  is  based 
merely  upon  the  fact  that  he  had  early  information  of  the  rising. 
The  real  authors  of  the  mischief  were  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  his 
associates,  and  subsequently  a  letter  was  found  in  his  handwriting 
to  the  effect  that  "  the  money  has  not  been  earned,  as  the  simpleton 
still  lives."  The  court  was  probably  aware  of  his  atrocious  designs, 
and  forced  him  to  retire  for  a  time  to  England.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  Mirabeau  expressed  his  contempt  for  the  prince  who 
had  wished  to  be  his  king,  and  whom  he  would  not  employ  as  his 
lackey. 

§  10.  The  removal  to  Paris  had  one  unexpected  result,  the  restora- 
tion of  comparative  order  for  a  time.  The  middle  classes,  having 
obtained  the  supremacy  that  they  desired,  showed  an  unwonted 
determination  to  exercise  it  with  firmness.  When  the  mob  rose 
and  murdered  a  baker  named  Francois,  the  assembly,  on  Mirabeau's 
motion,  carried  a  strong  measure  which  authoris  d  the  summary 
procedure  of  martial  law,  and  entrusted  its  administration  to  the 
old  court  of  the  Chatelet.  Lafayette  and  his  national  guard 
became  masters  of  Paris,  and  the  rioters,  having  lost  their  pay- 
master, retired  into  obscurity.  But  opinions  were  none  the  less 
excited  because  they  ceased  to  be  translated  into  action.  This  is 
the  era  of  the  clubs,  which  contributed  to  define  more  clearly  the 
lines  of  party  divisions,  and  which  acted  as  a  sort  of  link  between 
the  assembly  and  public  opinion.  By  far  the  most  important  was 
the  club  which  had  been  originally  founded  by  the  deputies  from 
Brittany,  but  which  obtained  the  name  of  Jacobin  from  the  quarters 
which  it  took  up  in  Paris.  Its  character  was  now  wholly  altered, 
and  it  began  to  admit  others  besides  members  of  the  assembly  and 
to  affiliate  corresponding  clubs  in  the  chief  provincial  cities.  As 
its  numbers  increased,  its  opinions  became  more  extreme,  and  several 
of  its  former  leaders,  Lafayette,  Sieves  and  Chapelier,  deserted  it  to 


a.d.  1789.  THE  CONSTITUTION.  507 

form  a  new  club,  that  of  '89.  The  nobles  and  clergy  who  were 
opposed  to  the  revolution  sought  to  imitate  the  tactics  of  their 
enemies  and  formed  a  club  of  their  own,  which,  after  several 
changes  of  name,  was  suppressed  by  the  municipality  as  a  source  of 
disorder.  These  and  numerous  other  clubs  served  to  maintain  the 
public  interest  in  political  questions,  while  the  assembly  took 
advantage  of  the  restoration  of  order  to  continue  its  work  of 
establishing  the  constitution.  It  will  be  convenient  to  summarise 
their  la  tours  instead  of  endeavouring  to  follow  the  chronological 
course  of  their  decrees,  which  took  several  months  to  elaborate. 

§  11.  One  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  tasks  which  the  as- 
sembly undertook  was  to  destroy  the  old  system  of  provincial  adminis- 
tration, as  they  had  already  destroyed  that  of  the  central  government. 
On  the  23rd  of  December,  1789,  the  old  provinces  were  completely 
abolished,  with  all  their  separate  privileges  and  institutions,  with 
all  that  marked  the  fact  that  they  had  once  been  independent 
states.  France  was  divided  into  eighty-three  departments,  whose 
boundaries  were  merely  geographical  and  whose  names  had  to  be 
invented  on  the  spot.  The  departments,  which  were  as  nearly  as 
possible  equal  in  extent,  were  subdivided  into  districts,  and  these 
again  into  rural  cantons,  containing  five  or  six  parishes,  and  into 
communes.  All  these  divisions  were  to  have  a  regular  organisation 
based  upon  the  same  model.  The  department  had  an  administra- 
tive council  of  thirty-six  members  and  an  acting  directory  of  five ; 
the  district  had  also  a  smaller  council  and  directory,  though 
subordinate  to  those  of  the  department.  The  canton  was  originally 
intended  to  be  merely  an  electoral  unit,  in  which  all  active  citizens 
assembled  to  choose  electors,  and  these  latter  were  to  choose  every 
two  years  the  members  of  the  various  councils  or  directories,  and 
also  the  deputies  to  the  next  legislative  chamber.  An  active 
citizen  was  a  man  who  paid  a  direct  tax  amounting  to  at  least 
three  days'  wages :  to  be  a  member  of  any  of  the  councils  a  man 
must  pay  at  least  fifty  days*  wages,  while  a  still  higher  qualification 
was  exacted  for  members  of  the  legislature.  These  subdivisions 
were  sufficiently  contrary  to  the  rights  of  man,  but  they  serve  to 
show  how  entirely  the  middle  class  had  the  upper  hand  at  this 
time.  The  commune,  which  was  the  most  important  of  the  newly 
organised  divisions,  was  to  be  governed  by  a  council  and  an 
executive  municipality,  their  number  were  to  be  proportioned  to 
that  of  the  population,  and  they  were  to  be  chosen,  not  by 
intermediary  electors,  but  directly  by  the  people.  These  changes 
were  not  exactly  models  of  legislative  wisdom.  Their  object  was 
to  establish  the  national  unity,  to  make  people  no  longer  Normans 
or  Bretons  or  Gascons,  but  simply  Frenchmen.    But  one  evil  was 


508  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxii. 

only  avoided  by  incurring  a  greater.  The  units  were  so  much 
stronger  than  the  central  government  that  the  44,000  communes 
seemed  likely  to  develop  into  so  many  independent  republics. 
But  it  was  a  sufficiently  striking  departure  from  the  old  system 
when  a  score  or  two  of  intendants  under  the  minister  of  finance 
governed  the  whole  of  France.  Now  it  was  reckoned  that  one 
man  out  of  every  thirty-four  was  an  elected  official.  Naturally 
the  greatest  discontent  was  aroused  in  the  provinces,  which  were 
proud  of  their  separate  existence ;  and  in  some,  as  in  Dauphine',  an 
attempt  was  made  to  oppose  the  will  of  the  assembly.  But  the 
passion  for  unity  was  strong  in  France,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
champions  of  provincial  independence  were  soon  swallowed  up  in 
the  more  dangerous  movements  of  the  privileged  classes. 

The  reforms  in  the  judicial  administration  were  almost  equally 
sweeping  and  extensive  :  that  they  were  more  prudent  is  probably 
due  to  the  presence  of  numerous  able  and  experienced  lawyers  in 
the  assembly.  The  old  parliaments,  one  of  the  sturdiest  elements 
of  the  old  regime,  disappeared  as  a  matter  of  course.  Now  that 
offices  were  no  longer  saleable  and  the  administration  of  justice  was 
gratuitous,  their  existence  became  impossible.  Trial  by  jury  was 
unanimously  introduced  in  criminal  cases,  but  the  lawyers  success- 
fully opposed  its  employment  to  decide  civil  cases  where  questions 
of  law  were  mixed  up  with  those  of  fact.  The  new  judicial 
institutions  were  naturally  based  upon  the  local  divisions.  Every 
department  had  a  criminal  court,  every  district  a  civil  court,  a 
supreme  court  of  cassation  was  established  in  Paris.  Even  the 
canton  was  made  a  judicial  unit  and  received  juges  de  paix,  or 
justices  of  the  peace.  Torture  and  lettres  de  cachet  were  prohibited, 
heresy  and  witchcraft  ceased  to  be  crimes,  and  the  punishment  of 
death  was  limited  to  a  very  few  offences.  A  great  stand  was  made 
by  the  royalists  on  the  question  whether  the  judges  should  be 
appointed  by  the  king.  But  the  natural  dread  of  royal  intervention 
in  judicial  matters  was  too  strong,  and  ifc  was  carried  that  they 
should  be  chosen  from  among  the  lawyer  class  by  the  electors  of 
the  various  districts  and  departments.  This  was  the  great  defect 
of  the  new  system.  The  old  courts  may  have  been  corrupt,  but 
they  were  at  least  independent.  In  the  administration  of  justice 
the  influence  of  the  mob  is  at  least  as  dangerous  an  evil  as  the 
despotism  of  a  monarch. 

§  12.  While  these  great  measures  were  being  discussed,  the  assem- 
bly was  always  being  confronted  with  the  great  problem  of  France, 
the  finances.  Their  condition  had  been  steadily  going  from  bad  to 
worse,  because  the  disorders  of  the  revolution  had  cut  off  many  of 
the  sources  of  revenue,  while  the  expenditure  had  been  enormously 


A.D.  1790.  THE  ASSIGNATS.  509 

increased.  Huge  sums  had  been  swallowed  up  in  providing  Paris 
with  corn,  in  organising  the  national  guard,  and  in  compensating 
the  members  of  the  parliaments.  The  assembly  had  naturally 
wished  to  postpone  the  granting  of  money  until  the  constitution 
was  completed,  but  the  pressure  of  immediate  necessities  had  been 
too  strong.  Necker  pursued  his  usual  policy  of  disguising  the  real 
condition  of  things,  and  sought  only  to  postpone  bankruptcy  by 
temporary  palliatives.  He  had  demanded  and  obtained  two  loans, 
one  of  thirty  and  another  of  eighty  millions,  but  through  deficient 
information  the  assembly  fixed  the  rate  of  interest  too  low,  and 
neither  was  successful.  Then  he  demanded  a  patriotic  contribution 
of  a  fourth  of  every  income,  the  assessment  to  be  made  on  the 
declaration  of  each  individual.  This  had  been  carried  by  the  iuij>e- 
tuous  oratory  of  Mirabeau,  who  insisted  that  as  the  assembly 
depended  for  its  financial  information  on  the  minister,  he  must  be 
implicitly  trusted  and  must  accept  the  sole  responsibility  for  the 
measures  which  he  recommended.  Still  the  needs  of  the  govern- 
ment were  as  pressing  as  ever,  and  Necker's  resources  seemed  to  be 
exhausted.  He  had  hoped  for  a  moment  that  the  tithes  might  be 
employed  for  state  uses,  but  the  deputies  had  preferred  to  make  a 
present  of  them  to  the  landowners.  It  was  in  these  circumstances 
that  Talleyrand  pointed  to  what  seemed  at  first  sight  a  source  of 
boundless  wealth,  the  estates  of  the  church.  He  maintained  that 
the  clergy  were  not  the  owners  but  only  the  administrators  and 
trustees  of  their  domains,  and  he  therefore  proposed  that  the  nation 
should  appropriate  them,  and  at  the  same  time  undertake  to  provide 
for  the  clergy  and  for  the  expenses  of  public  worship.  A  tremen- 
dous outcry  was  raised  by  the  class  whom  it  was  proposed  to 
despoil,  but  in  vain,  and  it  was  decreed  that  the  property  of  the 
church  stood  at  the  disposal  of  the  nation.  It  was  hoped  that  this 
measure  would  give  renewed  security  to  public  credit,  but  as  the 
hope  was  disappointed  it  became  necessary  to  proceed  to  action.  A 
decree  of  the  19th  of  December,  1789,  ordered  the  sale  of  church 
property  to  the  value  of  400  millions.  But  the  general  feeling  of 
insecurity  was  so  great  that  no  purchasers  could  be  found,  and  for 
some  time  the  edict  was  fruitless.  It  was  not  for  three  months 
that  a  way  was  found  out  of  the  difficulty.  The  muncipalities, 
Paris  at  their  head,  undertook  to  purchase  the  estates  in  the  hoj>e 
of  gradually  selling  them  to  individuals  and  making  a  profit  out  of 
the  transaction.  As  they  could  not  afford  to  pay  in  ready  money 
they  were  allowed  to  issue  bonds  on  which  interest  was  given,  and 
these  were  employed  by  the  state  to  satisfy  its  creditors.  Before 
long  this  use  of  paper  money  was  adopted  by  the  government  itself 
on  a  larger  scale.     Assigned*  in  proportion  to  a  given  amount  of 


510  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxil 

church  property  were  issued  by  the  state  and  their  circulation  was 
made  compulsory.  On  application  the  holder  of  one  of  these 
assignats  could  realise  in  land,  and  thus  the  property  was  gradually 
sold,  while  becoming  immediately  available  for  the  needs  of  the 
exchequer.  Thus  at  last  the  financial  problem  was  solved,  though 
only  for  a  time  and  not  without  ^disastrous  results  iu  the  future. 

The  clergy,  who  had  at  first  been  more  in  sympathy  with  the 
revolution  than  the  nobles,  became  now  equally  antagonistic,  and 
did  all  in  their  power  to  obstruct  the  progress  of  affairs.  The 
reforming  party  now  discovered  that  the  church  was  an  essential 
part  of  the  old  regime,  and,  as  a  privileged  and  exceptional  body, 
was  inconsistent  with  the  revolutionary  organisation.  The  financial 
needs  which  had  suggested  the  attack  on  property  were  replaced  by 
other  and  less  practical  motives  when  it  came  to  altering  the  con- 
stitution. There  were  a  number  of  Jansenists  in  the  assembly 
who  had  a  long  score  of  oppression  and  ill-treatment  to  settle  with 
the  orthodox  clergy.  There  were  a  still  larger  number  of  men  who 
had  imbibed  the  doctrines  of  Voltaire  and  the  encyclopaedists,  and 
who  were  not  likely  to  neglect  an  opportunity  of  giving  expression 
to  their  opinions.  The  first  step  was  taken  by  destroying  the 
monasteries  and  all  the  orders  except  those  which  employed  them- 
selves in  works  of  charity.  Their  wealth  was  confiscated,  but  their 
members  received  pensions  from  the  state.  In  July,  1790,  the 
assembly  took  a  further  step,  and  decreed  the  civil  constitution  of  the 
clergy.  The  old  geographical  divisions  were  abolished  and  every 
department  was  made  into  a  bishopric.  The  bishops  and  parish 
priests  were  to  be  chosen,  like  the  secular  magistrates  and  officials, 
by  the  electors  of  the  departments  and  districts.  The  cathedral 
chapters  were  abolished,  no  demand  was  to  be  made  for  a  papal 
confirmation,  and  the  authority  of  no  bishop  or  metropolitan  was  to 
be  recognised  whose  see  did  not  lie  within  the  boundaries  of  France. 
The  pecuniary  treatment  of  the  church  was  neither  lavish  nor  par- 
simonious. The  salaries  of  the  bishops  were  lowered,  but  those  01 
the  cures  were  raised. 

The  civil  constitution  roused  the  clergy  to  open  war  against  the 
revolution,  which  at  this  time  celebrated  with  great  pomp  the  first 
anniversary  of  the  14th  of  July.  The  assembly  wTas  exasperated 
into  following  up  one  false  step  by  another.  In  November  it  was 
ordered  that  all  the  clergy  should  take  an  oath  to  observe  the  civil 
constitution  under  penalty  of  dismissal.  This  provoked  an  imme- 
diate schism  which  gave  speedy  occasion  for  a  civil  war.  An 
enormous  number  of  priests  refused  the  oath  and  were  replaced  by 
others.  But  the  refractory  priests  were  in  most  cases  the  most 
virtuous,  and  naturally  retained  their  hold  on  their  congregations  in 


ad.  1790.  THE  CONSTITUTION  511 

many  places.  This  schism  proved  one  of  the  most  serious  obstacles 
to  the  revolution.  Before  this  tbe  assembly  had  completed  its 
attack  upon  the  nobles  by  abolishing  all  titles  and  liveries.  Hence- 
forth the  privileged  classes  formed  a  close  alliance  for  the  recovery 
of  their  rights.  "  The  opposition  of  the  magistrates  had  caused 
agitation  without  result ;  that  of  the  clergy  kindled  a  civil  war ;  that 
of  the  nobles,  in  which  the  other  classes  combined,  was  destined  to 
produce  the  foreign  invasion  of  France." 

§  13.  In  1790  a  quarrel  broke  out  between  England  and  Spain 
about  the  territory  of  Nootka  Sound,  in  California,  and  it  seemed  likely 
that  the  Family  Compact  of  the  Bourbons  would  involve  France  in  the 
contest.  This  gave  rise  to  an  important  discussion  as  to  whether 
the  right  of  making  peace  and  war  should  be  invested  in  the  crown 
under  the  new  constitution.  The  revolutionary  party,  still  in- 
fluenced by  an  overpowering  suspicion  and  dread  of  the  royal 
power,  wished  to  transfer  this  right  to  the  assembly.  Mirabeau 
triumphantly  pointed  out  that  sufficient  trammels  had  Wen  im- 
posed to  remove  all  danger  of  royal  despotism,  and  denounced  the 
absurdity  of  attributing  an  essential  function  of  the  executive 
to  a  legislative  assembly.  This  defection  of  tbe  great  tribune 
disconcerted  the  majority.  Tbe  Jacobins  put  up  Barnave  to 
answer  him,  and  a  pamphlet  was  hawked  about  the  street,  "  The 
Great  Treason  of  Count  Mirabeau."  But  the  next  day  Miral>eau 
returned  to  the  attack,  tore  Barnave's  eloquent  sophistries  to  pieces, 
and  compelled  the  reluctant  assembly  to  accept  a  compromise.  It 
was  decreed  that  "  war  can  only  be  decided  upon  by  a  decree  of  the 
assembly,  based  upon  a  formal  and  express  proposition  from  the 
king  and  sanctioned  by  him.  The  king  alone  can  maintain  relations 
with  foreign  powers,  appoint  negotiators,  take  preliminary  measures 
for  war,  and  direct  its  operations."  In  spite  of  this  victory,  as  it  was 
regarded  at  the  time,  tbe  royal  power  was  seriously  lessened.  The 
title  of  "King  of  the  French"  was  substituted  for  that  of  "  Kfeqg 
of  France,"  and  the  holder  was  regarded  merely  as  the  chief  official  of 
an  all-powerful  people.  His  domains  were  taken  as  national  propt  r ty, 
and  a  civil  list  of  25  million  francs  allowed  him  in  their  stead. 

The  rapid  march  of  the  revolution  must  not  be  attributed  only 
to  the  energy  of  the  extreme  party.  The  adherents  of  the  old 
regime  pursued  a  miserable  policy,  which  showed  that  their  passions 
had  overcome  their  reason.  Instead  of  accepting  what  was  in- 
evitable and  conciliating  the  people  by  a  moderation  which  would 
have  won  them  many  adherents,  they  sough  r  only  to  discredit 
their  adversaries  by  irritating  them  into  taking  violent  measures. 
By  studiously  insulting  speeches,  by  disorderly  conduct,  which 
several  times  brought  the  assembly  to  the  verge  of  open  fighting, 


512  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxn. 

they  discredited  themselves  and  the  monarchy;  and  when  the 
most  important  questions  came  on  for  decision  they  usually  walked 
out  without  voting.  Equally  blameable  was  the  invincible  weak- 
ness and  vacillation  of  the  king,  who  remained  perfectly  passive, 
and  could  never  bring  himself  to  refuse  his  sanction  to  the  most 
harmful  decrees.  But  the  most  culpable  of  all  were  the  ministers, 
Necker  at  their  head,  who  simply  obliterated  themselves  and  left 
the  whole  responsibility  of  the  government  to  the  assembly  and 
the  local  councils. 

§  14.  The  true  policy  of  the  king  was  to  have  allied  himself  closely 
with  the  moderate  party,  and  to  have  exercised  by  their  means  an 
influence  over  the  course  of  events.  There  was  one  man  whose 
friendship  was  as  valuable  as  his  enmity  was  dangerous,  Mirabeau, 
who  after  the  abolition  of  titles  became  plain  M.  Riquetti.  An 
opponent  of  the  old  regime,  but  a  supporter  of  the  monarchy,  he 
took  the  first  step  in  offering  his  assistance  to  the  court.  His  most 
intimate  friend,  the  count  de  Lamarck,  was  a  Belgian  nqble  who  was 
attached  both  by  origin  and  sympathy  to  Marie  Antoinette,  and  he 
acted  as  mediator  in  the  matter.  Mirabeau,  falsely  accused  of  being 
an  author  of  the  rising  on  the  5th  of  October,  was  really  profoundly 
opposed  to  the  king's  residence  in  Paris.  Directly  afterwards  he 
drew  up  a  memorial,  in  which  he  urged  Louis  to  escape  to  some 
other  town  in  France,  and  dwelt  earnestly  on  the  inevitable  results 
of  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  Paris  mob.  The  document  was 
conveyed  by  Lamarck  to  the  count  of  Provence,  but  no  notice  was 
taken  of  it.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Mi  rah  a  u  conceived  the 
design  of  forcing  himself  into  the  ministry,  and  to  facilitate  this 
he  proposed  that  the  ministers  should  be  invited  to  take  seats  in 
the  assembly.  But  his  attitude  and  ambition  inspired  distrust 
amongst  his  former  associates,  and  a  law  was  carried  (6  November, 
1789)  that  no  member  of  the  assembly  should  hold  office  during 
its  session.  This  was  a  direct  blow  to  all  his  hopes,  and  also  to 
the  prospects  of  stable  government  in  France.  It  was  evident  that 
the  prejudices  against  him  at  court  were  very  strong,  and  for  some 
time  he  gave  way  to  despair.  Lamarck  left  Paris  until  he  was 
suddenly  recalled  by  the  Austrian  ambassador,  de  Mercy.  It  had 
at  last  been  decided  to  make  use  of  Mirabeau,  but  the  king  in- 
sisted that  the  matter  should  be  kept  an  absolute  secret  from  the 
ministers.  The  agreement  was  made  in  May,  1790.  The  king 
paid  Mirabeau  6000  francs  a  month,  and  discharged  all  his  debts, 
amounting  to  208,000.  Mirabeau,  on  his  side,  undertook  to  defend 
the  monarchy,  to  keep  the  king  informed  about  the  course  of 
affairs,  and  to  advise  him  as  to  the  policy  which  he  considered 
advisable.      The  arrangement  was  hardly  followed  by  the  results 


a.d.  1790-1791.       DEATH  OF  MIRABEAU.  513 

that  were  expected  by  either  party.  Mirabeau's  advice  was  taken, 
but  rarely  followed,  and  he  found  that  he  was  no  more  powerful 
than  he  had  been  before.  He  still  urged  the  king  to  leave  Paris, 
even  at  the  risk  of  exciting  civil  war;  but  he  warned  him  against 
encouraging  a  foreign  invasion,  which  would  only  unite  the  whole 
nation  against  him.  A  great  obstacle  in  his  way  was  Lafayette, 
now  the  most  powerful  man  in  France,  whom  he  regarded  with 
mingled  distrust  and  contempt,  but  whom  he  was  compelled  to 
try  and  gain  over  without  success.  The  return  of  the  duke  of 
Orleans  was  a  slight  advantage,  because  it  raised  a  rival  to  the 
popular  general,  who  seemed  to  aspire  to  the  part  of  a  second 
Cromwell.  But  on  the  whole  the  situation  of  affairs  was  very 
adverse.  The  queen,  on  whose  courage  and  decision  he  relied  to 
influence  the  king,  took  no  keen  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  was 
easily  induced  to  take  a  hopeful  view  of  things.  Necker  and  most 
of  the  ministers,  whom  he  still  denounced  with  bitter  malignity  in 
the  assembly,  were  hostile,  and  it  was  not  for  some  time  that  he 
established  a  connection  with  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  M.  de 
Montmorin.  The  departure  of  Mercy  to  the  Netherlands  was  a 
great  blow  to  him,  as  he  thus  lost  the  only  man  who  could  have 
induced  the  king  and  queen  to  adopt  his  views.  Id  September, 
1790,  Necker  suddenly  threw  up  his  office  and  quitted  France, 
where  his  departure  excited  no  regret  and  hardly  any  attention. 
Soon  afterwards  his  colleagues,  with  the  exception  of  Montmorin, 
were  dismissed.  But  Mirabeau  reaped  none  of  the  expected  ad- 
vantages from  the  change.  The  new  ministers  were  nearly  all 
nominees  of  Lafayette,  and  all  co-operation  with  them  was  im- 
practicable. Still  he  continued  his  prodigious  activity,  and  sought, 
by  a  regular  organisation  in  Paris  and  the  provinces,  to  prepare 
public  opinion  for  a  reaction.  He  had  no  intention  of  restoring 
the  old  system,  and  he  had  easily  convinced  the  king  that  such  a 
ihing  was  impossible.  But  he  thought,  and  rightly,  that  France 
might  be  socially  democratic  aud  yet  subject  to  a  strong  and  orderly 
government.  The  first  essential  was  to  induce  the  king  to  seek 
some  other  residence,  and  Lamarck  was  sent  to  sound  the  fidelity 
of  M.  de  Bouille,  the  governor  of  Metz.  Mirabeau  became  more 
and  more  sanguine  as  his  grand  scheme  seemed  to  approach  realisa- 
tion. His  eloquence  was  triumphantly  displayed  in  denouncing 
the  proposal  of  a  tyrannical  law  to  prevent  emigration.  But  his 
health  had  long  been  undermined  by  his  incessant  labours,  and  by 
the  excesses  of  his  private  life.  On  the  27th  of  March,  1791,  he 
was  seized  by  a  serious  illness,  and  on  the  2nd  of  April  he  died  in 
the  arms  of  Lamarck.  With  him  perished  the  greatest  man  of  the 
revolutionary  epoch,  and  the  last  hope  of  the  French  monarchy. 


514  MODEEN  EUKOPE.  Chap.  xxii. 

§  15.  The  position  of  the  king  was  naturally  not  improved  by  the 
loss  of  his  most  powerful  ally,  and  the  project  of  flight  continued  to 
occupy  the  attention  of  the  court.  The  people  wero  profoundly 
indignant  at  the  employment  of  non-juring  priests  by  the  royal 
family,  and  when  the  king  proposed  to  pass  Easter  at  St.  Cloud  his 
carriage  was  forcibly  arrested  by  the  mob.  Bailly  and  Lafayette 
did  all  in  their  power  to  induce  the  people  to  respect  the  liberty  of 
their  sovereign.  The  national  guard  refused  to  obey  their  leader, 
who  resigned  his  command,  only  to  resume  it  after  three  days. 
This  proof  that  he  was  a  prisoner  impelled  the  king  to  resume 
the  plan  which  had  already  been  concerted.  On  the  evening  of  the 
20th  of  June  he  left  the  Tuileries  with  the  queen  and  their  three 
children,  and  took  the  road  to  Montmedy,  where  the  troops  were 
prepared  for  his  reception.  At  the  same  time  his  brother,  the  count 
of  Provence,  departed  by  another  road,  and  succeeded  in  reaching 
Brussels  without  risk.  But  Louis  XVI.  was  less  fortunate.  At 
St.  Menehould  he  was  recognised,  and  at  Varennes  he  was  arrested. 
Bouille'  with  his  dragoons  arrived  too  late  to  release  him,  the  troops 
were  even  doubtful  in  their  allegiance,  and  their  commander 
hastened  to  join  the  emigrants  beyond  the  frontier.  The  un- 
fortunate king  was  brought  back  to  Paris  and  escorted  to  the 
Tuileries  amidst  the  ominous  silence  of  an  enormous  crowd. 

The  news  of  his  departure,  which  became  public  on  the  morning 
of  the  21st,  created  a  profound  impression  in  the  capital.  For  a 
moment  the  opponents  of  the  revolution  hoped  for  an  outbreak  of 
anarchy  which  would  favour  and  justify  their  reactionary  designs. 
But  the  assembly  showed  itself  equal  to  the  occasion.  After  a 
proclamation,  which  the  king  left  behind  to  explain  his  motives,  had 
been  read,  it  was  decreed  that  the  ministers  and  all  other  function- 
aries should  be  bound  to  obey  the  assembly ;  that  an  oath  should 
be  taken  to  that  effect  both  by  them  and  by  the  military  officers  ; 
that  all  edicts  should  have  the  force  of  law  without  sanction 
during  the  king's  absence ;  that  foreign  courts  should  be  assured  of 
the  pacific  intentions  of  France ;  and  that  commissioners  should  be 
appointed  to  arrange  for  the  defence  of  the  frontiers.  "  In  less  than 
four  hours,"  says  Ferrieres,  "  the  assembly  was  invested  with  all 
powers,  the  government  went  on,  there  was  no  shock  to  public 
tranquillity.  Paris  and  France  learnt  by  this  experience,  which  has 
proved  so  disastrous  to  royalty,  that  the  monarch  is  almost  always 
a  stranger  to  the  government  which  exists  in  his  name." 

On  the  king's  return  it  was  decided  that  his  provisional  suspen- 
sion should  be  continued  until  the  completion  of  the  constitution, 
and  that  he  should  be  strictly  guarded.  The  next  three  months 
were  a  real  interregnum  in  France,  and  during  this  period  party 


ajk  1791.  THE  CONSTITUTION.  515 

differences  and  passions  revived  with  a  vigour  that  seemed  to 
threaten  a  renewal  of  the  disorders  of  1789.  More  than  200  of  the 
extreme  royalists  protested  against  the  king's  suspension  and  with- 
drew from  the  assembly.  On  the  other  hand  the  most  advanced 
section  of  the  Jacobins,  and  the  Orleanist  party  which  revived  under 
these  favourable  circumstances,  clamoured  that  the  kinj;  had  for- 
feited his  crown,  and  demanded  either  a  new  ruler  or  a.  republic. 
The  destruction  of  the  monarchy  would  involve  the  utter  ruin  of 
the  constitution  which  the  assembly  had  spent  so  much  time  and 
labour  in  preparing.  The  majority,  who  regarded  their  own  work 
with  a  reverence  almost  amounting  to  awe,  were  not  prepared  to 
sacrifice  it  for  the  gratification  of  a  few  fanatics  like  Robespierre, 
Pe'tion,  Danton,  Brissot  and  Marat.  But  Robespierre  succeeded  in 
gaining  the  ear  of  the  people  and  in  maintaining  his  supremacy  in 
the  Jacobin  club.  It  is  at  this  crisis  that  he  becomes  for  the  first 
time  a  great  power  in  France.  His  enemies  were  compelled  to 
secede  and  to  form  a  new  club  of  their  own,  the  Feuillants  or  the 
Constitutionalists.  Lafayette,  Bailly  and  Sieyes  found  themselves 
reinforced  by  unaccustomed  allies,  Barnave,  the  two  Laroeths, 
Duport,  Chapelier  and  others,  and  for  a  time  they  seemed  to  carry 
all  before  them.  But  the  Jacobins  stood  firm,  and  their  affiliations 
in  the  provinces  soon  gave  them  a  great  superiority.  Their 
emissaries  stirred  the  people  to  fresh  outbreaks  in  order  to  intimidate 
the  assembly.  On  the  17th  of  July  the  national  guard  came  into 
violent  collision  with  the  mob  on  the  Champ  de  Mars,  and  after 
long  hesitation  Lafayette  gave  the  fatal  order  to  fire.  Two  hundred 
were  killed  or  wounded  and  the  tumult  was  suppressed,  but 
Lafayette's  popularity  was  gone. 

§  16.  The  constitution  had  already  been  completed  by  the  spring 
of  1791.  In  May  Robespierre  had  carried  a  self-denying  ordinance 
which  was  destined  to  ruin  all  that  had  been  accomplished.  1 1 
was  decided  that  no  member  of  the  present  assembly  should  be 
admissible  either  as  an  elector  or  as  a  deputy  to  its  successor. 
This  entrusted  the  government  at  a  critical  time  to  men  without 
experience,  who  would  naturally  be  induced  to  question  the  wisdom 
of  their  predecessors  and  who  would  be  elected  at  a  time  of  un- 
paralleled excitement.  The  adoption  of  this  lamentable  and  fatal 
decree  was  due  to  a  combination  of  the  extreme  left  with  the  reckless 
party,  of  reaction  who  cared  little  to  what  evils  they  ex|«osed  France 
so  long  as  they  overthrew  the  hated  constitution.  The  last  few 
months  were  passed  in  revising  the  work  already  accomplished,  and 
only  the  firmness  of  the  moderate  majority  prevented  the  adoption 
of  fundamental  changes.  Finally,  to  secure  the  permanence  of  thoir 
creation  they  decreed  that  "  the  nation  has  the  right  to  revise  its 


516  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxn. 

constitution  when  it  pleases ;  but  the.  assembly  declares  that  its 
interest  invites  it  to  suspend  that  right  for  thirty  years." 

On  the  3rd  of  September  the  constitution  was  submitted  to  the 
king,  who  demanded  time  for  its  consideration.  On  the  14th  he 
issued  a  letter  in  which  he  said :  "  I  accept  the  constitution.  I 
engage  to  maintain  it  within,  to  defend  it  against  all  attacks  from 
without,  to  enforce  its  execution  by  all  the  means  that  it  places  at 
my  disposal ;  I  declare  that,  informed  of  the  adhesion  which  the 
great  majority  of  the  people  gives  to  the  constitution,  I  renounce 
the  share  which  I  had  claimed  in  the  work ;  that,  as  I  am  responsi- 
ble to  the  nation  alone,  no  one  else,  when  I  have  made  this  renun- 
ciation, has  the  right  to  complain."  The  last  acts  of  the  constituent 
assembly  were  a  futile  attack  upon  the  Jacobin  club,  and  a  decree  of 
amnesty  to  all  persons  accused  and  imprisoned  for  complicity  in  the 
king's  flight.     On  the  30th  of  September  it  dissolved  itself. 

III.  Europe  and  the  Revolution. 

§  17.  The  course  of  events  in  France  was  naturally  followed  with 
the  keenest  interest  and  anxiety  by  the  European  powers.  The 
declaration  of  the  rights  of  man  involved  open  hostility  to  the 
principles  on  which  the  government  of  other  states  was  carried  on. 
The  spread  of  the  revolutionary  propaganda,  which  was  avowed  as  an 
object  by  so  many  of  the  most  enthusiastic  Frenchmen,  was  a  danger 
which  could  not  be  disregarded  by  rulers  who  wished  to  maintain 
the  old  regime.  Many  of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  were  allied  by 
family  ties  with  the  royal  family  of  France,  and  regarded  their 
sufferings  with  unmingled  pity  and  horror.  The  kings  of  Spain 
and  Naples  were  themselves  Bourbons,  and  looked  up  to  Louis  XVI. 
as  the  head  of  their  house.  The  king  of  Sardinia,  Victor 
Amadeus  III.,  was  the  father-in-law  of  the  count  of  Artois.  The 
successive  emperors,  Joseph  H.  and  Leopold  1L,  and  also  the  elector 
of  Cologne,  were  brothers  of  Marie  Antoinette.  Moreover  open 
inroads  were  made  upon  the  rights  of  neighbouring  princes  at 
the  very  outbreak  of  the  revolution.  The  county  of  Venaissin  and 
the  city  of  Avignon  had  belonged  to  the  papacy  ever  since  the 
14th  century,  but  in  consequence  of  disorders  which  were  aroused 
by  the  civil  constitution  of  the  church,  the  constituent  assembly 
had  decreed  their  union  with  France  and  their  formation  into  an 
84th  department.  Again,  in  Alsace  and  other  border-provinces 
which  had  once  belonged  to  the  empire,  a  number  of  rights  and 
possessions  had  been  expressly  reserved  by  treaty  to  several 
German  princes.  All  these  were  abolished  by  the  famous  resolu- 
tions of  the  4th  of  August  and  by  the  subsequent  measures  to  effect 


a.d.  1791.        EUROPE  AND  THE  REVOLUTION.  517 

the  unity  of  France.  Although  compensation  had  been  offered,  it 
was  too  scanty  to  be  accepted.  The  injured  princes,  including  the 
great  Rhenish  electors,  the  bishops  of  Strasburg,  Speier  and  Basel, 
the  rulers  of  Wurtemberg,  Zweibrucken,  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Baden 
and  many  others,  clamoured  for  redress  to  the  diet,  which  adopted 
their  cause  and  called  upon  the  emperor  to  take  practical  measures 
to  carry  out  its  dedrees. 

These  circumstances  gave  great  encouragement  to  the  hopes  of 
the  emigrants,  who  never  disguised  their  policy  of  forming  an 
European  coalition  against  France,  and  restoring  the  old  system  of 
government  with  the  help  of  an  irresistible  force.  They  established 
a  sort  of  court  in  Coblentz,  and  their  followers  thronged  in  all  the 
neighbouring  towns  of  the  Rhine  district.  The  king's  brothers 
claimed  to  represent  the  real  government  of  France,  and  as  such  to 
conduct  independent  negotiations.  They  were  utterly  reckless  of 
the  dangers  to  which  their  conduct  exposed  Louis  XVI. ;  and  when 
he  remonstrated  with  them  they  replied  that  they  knew  he  was 
not  a  free  agent,  and  therefore  they  would  pay  no  attention  to 
letters  which  must  be  dictated  to  him.  All  the  frivolities  and 
rivalries  of  the  old  court  were  revived  at  Coblentz.  A  man** 
merits  were  reckoned  by  the  date  of  his  emigration,  and  when 
Cazales,  who  had  uphold  the  cause  of  the  monarchy  with  con- 
spicuous courage  to  the  last  moment,  arrived  among  them,  he  was 
treated  with  scornful  coolness.  The  incapable  Calonne  became  a 
sort  of  prime  minister,  and  was  not  a  whit  more  earnest  or  compe- 
tent at  Coblentz  than  he  had  been  at  Versailles. 

§  18.  Offers  of  sympathy  and  assistance  were  not  slow  in  arriving 
to  encourage  the  extravagant  hopes  of  the  emigrants.  The  electors  of 
Cologne  and  Trier,  in  whose  territories  they  had  found  a  home,  were 
eager  to  espouse  a  cause  which  involved  interests  of  their  own.  By 
a  visit  to  Turin  the  count  of  Artois  had  secured  the  co-operation 
of  his  father-in-law,  the  king  of  Sardinia.  The  kings  of  Naples 
and  Spain  expressed  their  willingness  to  fulfil  their  obligations  as 
members  of  the  House  of  Bourbon.  Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden,  who 
had  restored  autocracy  in  his  own  kingdom,  was  eager  to  head  a 
crusade  in  the  great  cause  of  monarchy.  He  was  encouraged  by 
his  recent  enemy,  Catharine  II.  of  Russia,  who  saw  a  grand 
advantage  for  her  plans  in  the  east  if  she  could  involve  the  western 
powers  in  a  great  war  with  France.  The  susceptible  Frederick 
William  II.  of  Prussia,  who  looked  back  with  complacency  to  the 
ease  with  which  he  had  restored  the  stadtholder  in  the  Hague,  and 
who  was  profoundly  touched  by  the  disasters  of  Louis  XVI.,  was 
not  likely  to  refuse  to  join  in  a  general  movement  for  his  assistance. 
But  the  man  to  whom  every  one  looked  to  decide  the  question 


518  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxil 

whether  Europe  should  or  should  not  interfere  in  France,  was  the 
cool  and  cautious  emperor  Leopold  II.  He  had  escaped  from  most 
of  the  difficulties  which  the  imprudence  of  his  elder  brother  had 
bequeathed  to  him.  He  had  avoided  a  threatened  rupture  with 
Prussia  by  the  treaty  of  Reichenbach ;  he  had  put  down  the 
rising  in  Belgium,  and  had  appeased  the  internal  troubles  of 
Hungary.  At  first  sight  it  seemed  that  he  must  inevitably 
espouse  the  cause  of  the  falling  French  monarchy.  His  affection 
for  his  sister,  his  experience  of  the  dangers  of  a  revolutionary 
movement  in  Belgium  and  Liege,  the  neighbourhood  of  these 
provinces  to  France,  and  his  duty  as  emperor  to  redress  the  wrongs 
of  his  injured  vassals,  all  seemed  to  point  in  the  same  direction. 
But  Leopold  was  opposed  by  temperament  to  hasty  measures  and 
to  a  military  policy,  and,  like  Joseph  II.,  he  made  the  interests  of 
Austria  his  first  care.  He  had  not  yet  arranged  terms  of  peace 
with  the  Porte,  and  until  then  his  relations  with  Prussia  were 
uncertain.  Above  everything,  he  was  anxious  about  the  ambition 
of  Russia,  and  was  determined  not  to  leave  Catharine  free  to  carry 
out  her  will  in  Turkey  and  Pobnd.  But  the  importunity  of  the 
diet,  and  the  news  of  the  king's  attempted  flight  and  arrest  at 
Varennes,  forced  him  into  some  approach  to  action.  From  Padua 
he  issued  a  circular  (6  July)  to  the  Europtan  powers,  in  which  he 
called  upon  them  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  French  king  as  their 
own,  to  refuse  to  recognise  any  laws  in  France  unless  the  king  were 
restored  to  liberty  and  accepted  them  of  his  own  free  will,  and  in  case 
these  representations  were  disregarded  to  resort  to  arms.  But  the 
circular  served  no  purpose  except  to  excite  new  indignation  in 
France,  and  to  make  the  imprisonment  of  the  royal  family  more 
severe.  Leopold  was  driven  still  further  towards  intervention 
against  his  will.  He  concluded  the  treaty  of  Sistowa  with  the 
Porte  and  drew  closer  to  Prussia.  By  personal  flattery  he  gained 
a  complete  mastery  over  the  Prussian  envoy,  Bischofswerder,  who 
signed  a  preliminary  treaty  with  Austria  (25  July)  in  opposition 
to  the  express  instructions  of  his  own  court.  From  this  time  the 
policy  of  Frederick  the  Great  and  Hertzberg  was  abandoned  at 
Berlin,  and  the  king  acted  in  defiance  of  the  strong  feeling  that  still 
existed  against  an  alliance  with  Austria.  On  the  27th  of  August 
Leopold  and  Frederick  William  held  a  conference  at  Pilnitz.  To 
their  ill-concealed  disgust  the  count  of  Artois  thrust  his  presence 
upon  them,  and  demanded  their  consent  to  a  ready-made  scheme  in 
which  the  selfish  arrogance  of  the  emigrants  was  clearly  dis- 
played. The  scheme  was  definitely  rejected,  and  the  emigrants 
were  warned  that,  though  their  residence  on  German  soil  was 
tolerated,  they  would  not  be  allowed  to  conduct  armed  preparations 


A.D.  1791.         THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  519 

The  emperor  and  king  then  issued  a  joint  declaration,  in  which 
they  maintained  that  the  restoration  of  order  and  of  monarchy  in 
France  were  matters  of  great  moment  for  the  whole  of  Europe, 
invited  the  other  powers  to  co-operate  with  them  in  the  work,  and 
"  then  and  in  that  case n  promised  active  intervention.  The 
italicised  words  give  the  key  to  Leopold's  policy.  He  was  deter- 
mined to  avoid  a  war  if  possible.  He  knew  already  that  Pitt's 
ministry  had  virtually  decided  on  the  neutrality  of  England,  and 
that  therefore  the  hypothetical  case  in  which  action  was  necessary 
could  not  exist.  The  declaration  of  Pilnitz,  accompanied  by  the 
answer  to  the  count  of  Artoi*,  was  really  an  assurance  of  peace, 
instead  cf  being  the  origin  of  the  war,  as  French  historians  have 
represented.  Leopold  urged  Louis  XVI.  to  accept  the  constitution* 
and  was  delighted  when  the  kin*;  followed  his  advice  on  the 
14th  of  September.  As  Louis  now  recovered  his  crown,  and  at  any 
rate  nominally  his  liberty,  the  emperor  issued  a  circular  to 
announce  that  the  necessity  for  an  European  coalition  no  longer 
existed.  The  question  whether  there  should  be  war  or  not 
depended  now  upon  the  attitude  of  France  itself. 

IV.  The  Legislative  Assembly. — Outbreak  of  War. — Fall 
of  the  Monarchy. 

§  19.  The  second  national  assembly  of  France,  which  had  been 
chosen  according  to  the  forms  of  the  new  constitution  during  the  exist- 
ence of  its  predecessor,  held  its  first  sitting  on  the  1st  of  October, 
1791.  It  contained  745  members,  of  whom  more  than  300  wen: 
lawyers,  and  about  70  journalists.  From  the  first  it  was  evident  that 
the  legislative  assembly,  as  it  called  itself,  was  wholly  different  in 
character  from  the  constituent.  The  self-denying  ordinance  had 
excluded  all  the  former  deputies,  the  court  nobles  and  clergy  had 
exercised  no  influence  over  the  elections,  there  were  absolutely  no 
adherents  of  the  old  monarchy  and  class  privileges.  The  extreme 
right  was  formed  by  the  constitutional  party,  or  Feuillants,  the 
firm  supporters  of  the  constitution  and  eager  for  the  establishment 
of  a  permanent  government.  Their  leading  luemlwrs,  Dumas, 
Beugnot,  Vaublanc,  etc.,  were  not  men  of  great  importance,  but 
they  were  supported  by  the  bulk  of  the  middle  classes,  by  a 
majority  of  the  national  guard,  and  by  the  great  reputation  of  men 
like  Lafayette,  Barnave  and  Bailly.  This  was  the  pariy  with 
which  the  king  ought  to  have  allied  himself.  But  Louis  XVI.  at 
this  time  was  surrounded  by  royalist  ministers,  of  whom  the  chief 
were  Bertrand  de  Moleville,  Delessart  and  Duportail,  and  he  still 
cherished  the  hope  of  evading  the  checks  imposed  by  the  constitu- 


520  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxii. 

tion  which  he  had  formally  accepted.  Moreover,  the  queen  had  an 
intense  personal  hatred  of  Lafayette,  who  was  now  the  only  man 
who  could  stay  the  course  of  the  revolution.  It  was  a  great 
misfortune,  both  for  themselves  and  for  France,  that  the  FeuiMants 
at  this  time  lost  their  hold  upon  the  capital.  In  consequence  of 
changes  introduced  by  the  constitution  Bailly  resigned  the  oflBce 
of  mayor,  and  Lafayette  the  command  of  the  national  guard.  The 
latter  was  now  entrusted  to  six  officers,  who  held  it  for  a  month  in 
turn.  Lafayette  was  a  candidate  for  the  mayoralty,  but  the  court 
blindly  gave  its  support  to  his  rival,  Petion,  a  leader  of  the  Jacobins, 
who  obtained  a  majority  of  votes.  This  was  a  great  blow  to  the 
constitutionalists.  A  minority  in  the  assembly,  powerless  in  the 
commune,  they  soon  found  themselves  reduced  to  complete  insig- 
nificance in  the  rapid  onward  march  of  events. 

On  the  left  of  the  assembly  were  the  men  who  wished  to  develop 
the  revolution,  i.e.  to  introduce  a  republic.  They  were  divided  into 
two  sections,  the,  Jacobins,  who  were  afterwards  known  as  the 
Mountain,  and  the  Girondists.  The  Jacobins,  led  by  Bazire, 
Merlin  de  Thionville,  Couthon,  etc.,  were  strong  neither  in  numbers 
nor  in  reputation,  but  they  had  the  all-important  support  of  their 
great  club,  with  Robespierre  at  its  head,  and  they  were  backed  up  by 
the  active  demagogues  and  the  mob  of  the  lower  classes.  Far  more 
numerous  and  important,  as  regards  the  assembly  itself,  were  their 
rivals,  headed  by  men  from  the  Gironde,  and  from  other  districts 
of  southern  France.  They  were  nearly  all  young  men,  and  ardent 
believers  in  the  sacred  cause  of  revolution.  They  disliked  the 
monarchy,  and  they  relied  upon  the  people.  Their  strength  lay  in 
their  eloquence,  their  weakness  in  their  want  of  statesmanship  and 
of  practical  experience.  They  formed  an  almost  unique  collection 
of  orators,  but  they  proved  utterly  incapable  of  governing  France. 
The  guiding  spirit  of  the  Girondists  was  Madame  Roland,  whose 
husband  was  one  of  the  deputies.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  of 
the  leaders  were  Vergniaud,  the  orator  of  the  party,  Condorcet,  the 
philosopher  who  aspired  to  play  the  part  of  Sieves  in  the  new 
assembly,  Guadet,  Gensonne,  Isnard,  and  Barbaroux.  Brissot, 
deputy  fur  Paris  and  a  disciple  of  Thomas  Payne,  who  had  at 
one  time  been  dictator  of  the  Jacobin  club,  was  the  most  ex- 
perienced and  practical  of  the  Girondists,  who  were  at  first  called 
after  him,  but  his  influence  gradually  declined  before  the  more 
attractive  but  shadowy  enthusiasm  of  Madame  Roland  and  her 
immediate  circle.  Dumouriez  was  also  regarded  as  a  member 
of  this  group,  but  he  soon  emancipated  himself  from  the  bonds  cf 
party  to  play  a  brief  but  dazzling  part  of  his  own.  Besides  these 
three  well-de6ned  divisions  of  the  assembly,  there  were  some  200 


a.d.  1791.         THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.  521 

independent  members,  who  formed  the  centre  and  whose  votes  were 
the  great  object  of  the  various  party  leaders. 

§  20.  From  the  first  it  was  evident  that  the  relations  of  the  king 
with  the  assembly  were  not  likely  to  be  very  cordial.  The  revolution 
was  threatened  by  two  dangerous  enemies,  the  emigrants,  who  were 
urging  on  a  foreign  invasion,  and  the  non-juring  bishops  and  priests 
who  were  doing  all  in  their  power  to  excite  domestic  rebellion. 
The  latter  were  really  the  more  dangerous,  and  already  their  bitter 
denunciations  of  the  "  intruders,"  as  they  called  the  clergy  who 
accepted  the  civil  constitution,  had  aroused  tumults  in  Calvados, 
Gevaudan  an  I  La  Vendee.  The  Girondists  clamoured  for  repressive 
measurrs.  On  the  30th  of  October  it  was  decreed  that  the  count  <»f 
Provence,  unless  he  returned  within  two  months,  should  foifeitall 
rights  to  the  regency.  On  the  9th  of  November  an  edict  threatened 
the  emigrants  with  confiscation  and  death  unless  they  returned  to 
their  allegiance  before  the  end  of  the  year.  On  the  29th  of 
November  came  the  attack  upon  the  non-jurors.  They  were  called 
upon  to  take  the  oath  within  eight  days,  when  lists  were  to  be 
drawn  up  of  those  who  refused;  these  were  then  to  forfeit  their 
pensions,  and  if  any  disturbance  took  place  in  their  district  they 
were  to  be  removed  from  it,  or  if  their  complicity  were  proved  they 
were  to  be  imprisoned  for  two  years.  The  king  accepted  the 
decree  against  his  brother,  but  he  opposed  his  veto  to  the  other  two. 
The  Girondists  and  Jacobins  eagerly  seized  the  opportunity  for  a 
new  attack  upon  the  monarchy.  They  maintained  that  the  two 
decrees  were  not  laws,  but  practical  measures  of  immediate  impor- 
tance, and  that  the  veto  was  out  of  the  question  in  such  a  case. 
There  was  considerable  weight  in  their  arguments,  but  the  fault 
lay  not  with  the  king  but  with  the  constituent  assembly.  By 
making  the  veto  suspensive  they  implied  that  it  referred  only  to 
legislative  enactments;  but  they  had  not  expressly  stated  this, 
and  they  had  failed  to  provide  for  circumstances  which  had  never 
occurred  to  them.  The  blame  rests  partly  on  the  exceptional  and 
deranged  position  of  affairs.  The  decrees  were  really  intended, 
whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  to  protect  the  kingdom  against  Ibnigfl 
and  civil  war.  As  such  they  ought  to  have  originated  with  the 
king  and  ministers,  and  then  been  submitted  to  the  assembly  for 
approval,  instead  of  originating  with  the  assembly,  and  being 
exposed  to  the  royal  veto.  It  is  one  of  innumerable  instances  of 
the  fatal  way  in  which  the  legislature  at  this  time  usurped,  instead 
of  controllins,  the  functions  of  the  executive. 

§  21.  Throughout  the  winter  attention  was  devoted  almost  exclu- 
sively to  foreign  affairs.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  emperor  was  really 
eager  for  peace,  and  that  as  long  as  he  remained  in  that  mood  there 
24 


522  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxn. 

was  little  risk  of  any  other  prince  taking  the  initiative.  At  the 
same  time  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  Leopold's  tone  towards 
the  French  government  was  often  too  haughty  and  menacing  to  be 
conciliatory,  and  also  that  the  open  preparations  of  the  emigrants 
in  neighbouring  states  constituted  an  insult  if  not  a  danger  to 
France.  The  Girondists,  the  most  susceptible  of  men,  only  ex- 
pressed the  national  sentiment  in  dwelling  upon  this  with  bitterness, 
and  in  calling  for  vengeance.  At  the  same  time  they  had  conceived 
the  definite  idea  that  their  own  supremacy  could  best  be  obtained 
and  secured  by  forcing  on  a  foreign  war.  This  was  expressly 
avowed  by  Brissot,  who  took  the  lead  of  the  party  in  this  matter. 
Robespierre,  on  the  other  hand,  partly  through  temperament  and 
partly  through  jealousy  of  his  brilliant  rivals,  was  inclined  to  the 
maintenance  of  peace.  But  on  this  point  the  Feuillants  were  agreed 
with  the  Gironde,  and  so  a  vast  majority  was  formed  to  force  the 
unwilling  king  and  ministers  into  war.  The  first  great  step  was 
taken  when  Duportail,  who  had  charge  of  military  affairs,  was 
replaced  by  Narbonne,  a  Feuillant.  Louis  XVI.  was  compelled  to 
issue  a  note  (14  December,  1791)  to  the  emperor  and  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  Trier  to  the  effect  that  if  the  military  force  of  the 
emigrants  were  not  disbanded  by  the  15th  of  January  hostilities 
would  be  commenced  against  the  elector.  The  latter  at  once 
ordered  the  cessation  of  the  military  preparations,  but  the  emigrants 
not  only  refused  to  obey  but  actually  insulted  the  French  envoy. 
Leopold  expressed  his  desire  for  peace,  but  at  the  same  time 
declared  that  any  attack  on  the  electorate  of  Trier  would  be 
regarded  as  an  act  of  hostility  to  the  empire.  These  answers  were 
unsatisfactory,  and  Narbonne  collected  three  armies  on  the  frontiers 
under  the  command  of  Rochambeau,  Lafayette,  and  Luckner,  and 
amounting  together  to  about  150,000  men.  On  the  25th  of  January 
an  explicit  declaration  was  demanded  from  the  emperor,  with  a 
threat  that  war  would  be  declared  unless  a  satisfactory  answer  was 
received  by  the  4th  of  March. 

Leopold  II.  saw  all  his  hopes  of  maintaining  peace  in  western 
Europe  gradually  disappearing,  and  was  compelled  to  bestir  himself. 
He  ratified  the  decrees  of  the  diet  against  the  aggressions  in  Alsace, 
and  on  the  7th  of  February  he  finally  concluded  a  treaty  with  the 
king  of  Prussia.  The  two  princes  guaranteed  to  each  other  their 
respective  territories,  and  agreed  upon  mutual  assistance  in  case  of 
attack.  On  the  1st  of  March,  while  still  hoping  to  avoid  a  quarrel, 
Leopold  II.  died  of  a  sudden  illness,  and  with  him  perished  the  last 
possibility  of  peace.  His  son  and  successor,  Francis  II.,  who  was 
now  twenty-four,  had  neither  his  father's  ability  nor  his  experience, 
and  he  was  naturally  more  easily  swayed  by  the  anti-revolutionary 


A.D.  1791-1792.  OUTBREAK  OF  WAR.  523 

party.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether  Leopold  himself  could  have 
prevented  the  speedy  outbreak  of  war.  The  Girondists  combined 
all  their  efforts  for  au  attack  upon  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs, 
Delessart,  whom  they  accused  of  truckling  to  the  enemies  of  the 
nation.  Delessart  was  committed  to  prison,  and  his  colleagues  at 
once  resigned.  The  Gironde  now  came  into  office.  The  ministry 
of  home  atlairs  was  given  to  Roland;  of  war  to  Servan;  of  finance  to 
Claviere.  Dumouriez  obtained  the  foreign  department,  Dnranthon 
that  of  justice,  and  Lacoste  the  marine.  Its  enemies  called  it  "  the 
ministry  of  the  sansculottes"  Dumouriez  introduced  a  more 
dictatorial  tone  into  the  foreign  relations,  and  provoked  an  uitm  r 
from  Vienna  in  which  was  demanded  the  establishment  of  order  in 
France  for  the  security  of  Europe,  aud  the  restoration  to  theii  righta 
of  the  pope,  the  clergy,  and  the  German  princes.  This  settled  the 
question,  and  on  the  20th  of  April  Louis  XVI.  appeared  in  the 
assembly  and  read  with  trembling  voice  a  declaration  of  war 
against  the  king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia. 

§  22.  The  outbreak  of  war  startled  Europe  and  found  Austria 
isolated.  Prussia  and  Sardinia  were  willing  to  move,  but  had  to 
organise  their  forces.  Russia  was  occupied  in  Poland ;  Spain  wm 
uncertain,  and  England  neutraL  The  moat  ardent  champion  of 
royalty,  Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden,  had  died  on  the  29th  of  March. 
Dumouriez  determined  to  take  advantage  of  these  circumstances 
for  the  extension  of  the  French  boundaries,  and  he  ordered  Luckner, 
Lafayette  and  Rochambeau  to  co-oi>erate  in  an  attack  u|>on  Belgium, 
where  it  was  hoped  that  the  recently  suppressed  rebellion  would 
revive.  But  the  French  army  was  completely  disorganised  by 
recent  changes,  the  soldiers  distrusted  their  officers,  and  on  the 
first  approach  of  the  enemy  the  cry  was  raised  of  treason,  and 
all  fled  panic-stricken.  Rochambeau  resigned  in  disgust,  and 
Lafayette  and  Luckner  contented  themselves  with  standing  on  the 
defensive. 

This  first  disaster  roused  a  great  outcry  in  Paris,  where  the  most 
invincible  suspicions  were  expressed  about  the  treachery  of  the  court 
and  the  "  Austrian  committee "  which  was  supposed  to  surround 
the  queen.  The  mob  was  armed  with  pikes  and  regularly  organised, 
and  from  this  time  the  "  pikemen,"  the  force  of  the  lower  classes, 
became  a  formidable  rival  to  the  national  guard  of  the  bourgeoisie. 
The  assembly  declared  itself  in  permanent  session,  disbanded  the 
royal  guard,  and  then  issued  two  very  extreme  decrees.  One,  pro- 
posed by  Servan  without  consulting  either  the  king  or  his  own 
colleagues,  ordered  the  formation  in  Paris  of  a  camp  of  20,000 
volunteers  from  the  departments.  This  force,  ostensibly  destined 
for  the  defence  of  the  capital  against  invasion,  was  really  intended 


524  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxn. 

for  the  maintenance  of  the  Girondist  supremacy.  The  other  decree 
authorised  the  summary  banishment  of  non-juring  priests  on  the 
simple  denunciation  of  twenty  citizens.  The  king  interposed  his 
veto  to  both  measures,  and  when  Roland  wrote  him  a  letter 
containing  severe  strictures  upon  his  conduct,  he  dismissed  him, 
together  with  Servan  and  Claviere,  who  were  also  closely  identified 
with  the  Gironde.  Dumouriez  and  the  two  other  ministers  whom 
the  king  wished  to  keep,  now  demanded  the  sanction  of  the 
decrees,  and  as  he  was  still  obstinate  about  the  clergy  they  also 
resigned. 

§  23.  Louis  now  tried  to  ally  himself  with  the  Feuillants,  who 
rallied  for  his  defence.  The  new  ministers,  all  obscure  men,  were 
chosen  exclusively  from  their  ranks.  Lafayette,  who  kept  an  anxious 
eye  upon  domestic  events,  took  the  impolitic  step  of  writing  an  out- 
spoken letter  to  the  assembly,  in  which  he  denounced  the  Jacobin 
club  as  the  source  of  all  evils  and  demanded  its  suppression.  This 
attempt  at  dictation  only  urged  the  majority  to  extremes.  On  the 
20th  of  June  a  great  organised  rising  took  place  in  Paris.  The  mob 
first  proceeded  to  the  assembly  to  present  a  petition  for  the  recall 
of  the  ministers,  and  then  carried  their  grievances  to  the  Tuileries. 
The  guards  refused  to  oppose  them,  and  the  crowd  poured  into  the 
palace.  Louis,  who  showed  conspicuous  courage,  was  forced  into 
a  corner,  where  he  had  to  wear  the  red  cap  of  the  Jacobins  and  to 
drink  to  the  people's  health.  In  another  room  Marie  Antoinette 
and  her  children  were  exposed  for  hours  to  the  insults  of  the  mob. 
At  last  Petion,  whose  conduct  left  little  doubt  that  he  was  a 
promoter  of  the  riot,  arrived  to  terminate  the  disorder,  and  the 
palace  was  cleared  without  difficulty  or  bloodshed. 

The  first  result  of  the  20th  of  June  was  a  reaction  in  favour  of 
the  constitution  and  the  king.  The  Feuillants  took  the  aggressive, 
Petion  and  other  leaders  of  the  riot  were  formally  accused.  But 
the  favourable  opportunity  was  lost  by  the  blindness  of  the  king. 
He  expected  a  speedy  release  by  the  foreign  troops,  and  was  un- 
willing to  tie  his  hands  by  an  alliance  with  any  party  to  the 
revolution.  Lafayette  hurried  to  Paris  to  restore  order  by  his 
personal  presence.  But  he  was  coolly  received  by  the  assembly, 
which  reproached  him  for  deserting  his  command  ;  and  when  he 
tried  to  raise  his  old  troops  of  the  national  guard  against  the  clubs 
he  was  foiled  by  the  direct  influence  of  the  court.  He  retired  in 
disgust,  the  constitutional  party  sunk  into  entire  insignificance,  and 
the  last  hope  of  saving  the  monarchy  was  gone. 

§  24.  The  foreign  invasion,  on  which  the  king  relied  for  secu- 
rity, really  assured  the  victory  of  his  enemies.  Francis  II.  was 
unanimously  elected  emperor  on  the  3rd  of  July,  and  his  corona- 


a.d.  1792.  THE  PARIS  MOB.  525 

tion  gave  the  opportunity  for  a  great  assembly  of  German  \  run -es 
and  of  the  emigrant  nobles.  The  Prussian  king  had  now  arrived 
with  80,000  troops,  and  it  only  remained  to  concert  the  military 
measures.  The  French  people,  thus  thteatened,  felt  that  they 
could  no  longer  trust  a  king  whose  sympathies  were  inevitably  on 
the  side  of  their  foes.  This  sentiment  was  taken  advantage  of 
by  Girondists  and  Jacobins  to  resume  the  designs  which  had  been 
interrupted  by  the  failure  of  the  20th  of  June.  Vergniaud,  in  a 
speech  of  equal  bitterness  and  eloquence,  denounced  the  king  as  the 
chief  source  of  danger  to  the  country,  and  maintained  that  his 
treachery  paralysed  their  aims  and  rendered  all  attempts  at  defence 
hopeless.  The  camp  of  20,000  men,  which  Louis  at  last  authorised, 
was  summoned  to  Soissons ;  but  it  was  decreed  that  the  volunteers 
from  the  departments  should  march  through  Paris  on  their  way. 
The  contingent  from  Marseilles  brought  with  them  the  famous 
song,  composed  by  Rouget  de  Lisle,  which  was  destined,  as  the 
Marseillaise,  to  be  the  war-cry  of  the  revolutionary  armies.  On 
the  11th  of  July  the  assembly  declared  "the  country  in  danger,' 
and  set  itself  at  once  to  take  precautionary  measures.  Pe'tion,  who 
had  been  suspended  by  the  directory  of  the  department,  was,  on  the 
popular  demand,  formally  acquitted  and  restored  to  his  office.  The 
great  national  lete  was  held  as  usual  on  the  14th  of  July,  and  gave 
a  new  illustration  of  the  depths  to  which  the  monarchy  was  reduced. 
The  king  was  compelled  to  renew  an  oath  which  every  one  knew 
to  be  insincere,  and  Pe'tion  was  the  hero  of  the  day.  The  im- 
prudent manifesto  of  the  Prussian  commander,  the  duke  of 
Brunswick  (27  July),  in  which  he  threatened  Paris  with  military 
execution  and  total  destruction  if  the  royal  family  were  harmed, 
added  fresh  fuel  to  the  rapidly  growing  excitement.  The  mob 
demanded  the  deposition  of  the  king,  the  summons  of  a  national 
convention,  and  the  accusation  of  Lafayette.  As  the  assembly 
showed  signs  of  resenting  this  dictation,  and  especially  refused  the 
decree  against  Lafayette,  it  was  decided  to  force  its  hand  by  a  new 
rising.  The  Jacobins,  always  ready  to  execute  what  the  Girondists 
could  only  conceive,  undertook  to  organise  an  attack  upon  the 
Tuileries  on  the  night  of  the  9th  of  August  No  popular  move- 
ment was  ever  more  adroitly  and  carefully  arranged.  At  midnight 
the  signal  was  given,  and  the  insurgents  assembled  in  the  Faubourg 
St.  Antoine.  Their  first  act  was  to  undertake  the  municipal 
government.  The  existing  council  was  dissolved  and  a  provisional 
Commune,  of  which  Danton  was  the  head,  appointed  to  take  its 
place.  The  measures  which  had  been  taken  to  defend  the  palace 
were  adroitly  countermanded.  Mandat,  the  commander  of  the 
national  guard,  was  summoned  to  the  municipality,  and  when  he 


526  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxil 

appeared  was  committed  to  prison.  On  the  way  he  was  assassi- 
nated. The  Commune  appointed  in  his  place  the  brewer  Santerre, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  20th  of  June.  About  5  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  king  held*  a  review  of  the  troops  assembled  in  the 
gardens,  and  discovered  to  his  horror  that  they  were  untrust- 
worthy. 20,000  men  appeared  to  attack  the  palace,  and  resistance 
was  hopeless.  In  this  crisis  the  king  took,  the  only  coarse  that 
was  o])en  to  him  ;  with  his  wife  and  children  he  escaped  to  the 
assembly,  where  Vergniaud  assured  him  of  their  protection. 
Meanwhile  a  contest  had  commenced  between  the  mob  and  the 
Swiss  guards,  who  had  received  no  orders  to  desert  their  posts.  The 
first  volley  of  the  guards  cleared  the  Place  du  Carroussel,  but  the 
insurgents  returned  to  the  attack,  and  their  numbers  assured  them 
an  ultimate  victory  over  the  heroic  hand  ul  of  defenders.  A 
deputation  of  the  assembly  was  sent  to  calm  the  people,  but  could 
gain  no  hearing.  The  deputies  sat  in  impotent  silence,  listening 
to  the  sounds  of  the  combat  that  raged  in  their  neighbourhood.  By 
11  o'clock  the  hopeless  struggle  was  over,  and  the  mob  began  to 
stream  into  the  hall,  bearing  the  trophies  of  their  victory. 

§  25.  The  10th  of  August  was  decisive  for  the  history  of  France. 
Not  only  the  monarchy  but  the  assembly  was  now  at  the  mercy 
of  the  mob.  The  Girondists  had  good  reason  to  repent  of  the 
policy  they  had  pursued.  The  supreme  power  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  revolutionary  Commune  of  Paris,  and  there  it  was  not  they 
but  the  Jacobins  who  were  dominant.  The  assembly  could  do 
nothing  but  register  the  decrees  dictated  to  them.  The  king 
was  suspended  and  ordered  to  reside  in  the  Luxemburg,  and  a 
National  Convention  was  summoned  to  revise  the  constitution. 
The  Girondists,  Roland,  Servan,  and  Claviere  were  restored  to 
office,  but  with  them  Dauton  obtained  the  ministry  of  justice. 
The  assembly  was  compelled  to  sanction  the  change  in  the 
municipality,  and  to  confirm  the  election  of  the  Commune, 
which  proceeded  to  usurp  all  the  functions  of  government.  Its 
numbers  were  raised  from  60  or  70  to  288,  and  among  the  newly 
elected  members  was  Robespierre,  who  had  hidden  himself  on  the 
10th  of  August,  but  who  now  came  forward  to  reap  the  advantage 
of  a  rising  in  which  he  dared  not  take  a  part.  He  and  Dan  ton 
became  the  guiding  spirit  of  the  new  body  which  undertook  to  rule 
France.  The  Commune  transferred  Louis  XVI.  from  the  Luxemburg 
to  the  Temple,  and  appointed  its  own  commissioners,  Petion  and 
Santerre,  to  guard  him  :  it  ordered  the  destruction  of  all  statues  of 
kings,  and  demanded  from  the  assembly  the  appointment  of  an 
exceptional  tribunal  to  try  the  enemies  of  the  people.  The  deputies 
again  gave  way,  and  on  the  17th  of  August  decreed  the  formation 


a.d.  1792.  THE  SEPTEMBER  MASSACRES.  527 

of  this  tribunal,  which  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  sections  and  was 
to  decide  without  appeal.  The  edicts  for  the  confiscation  of  the 
property  of  emigrants  and  for  the  banishment  of  non-juring  priests 
were  now  put  into  force,  and  the  municipalities  were  authorised  to 
arrest  persons  on  suspicion. 

§  26.  Meanwhile  the  danger  of  invasion  was  as  great  as  ever.  On 
the  30th  of  July  the  Prussians,  under  the  command  of  Brunswick, 
but  accompanied  by  the  king,  had  started  from  Coblentz  and  marched 
by  Luxemburg  to  the  frontier  of  Champagne.  They  were  opposed  by 
two  armies  under  the  command  of  Lafayette  and  Luckner,  while  a 
Uurd  French  force  under  Biron  and  Custine  defended  Alsace.  Then 
came  the  news  of  the  10th  of  August,  and  the  question  was  raised 
whether  the  army,  like  the  majority  of  the  departments,  would 
approve  the  action  of  the  Parisians.  Lafayette  did  not  hesitate  to 
pronounce  against  the  Jacobins,  and  called  upon  Luckner  to  march 
with  him  upon  Paris  to  restore  order.  But  the  soldiers  weie  not 
prepared  to  take  such  an  extreme  course,  and  the  other  officers,  with 
Oumouriez  at  their  head,  maintained  that  the  duty  of  Frenchmen 
was  to  oppose  the  foreign  enemy  rather  than  their  fellow-country- 
men. Lafayette,  declared  a  traitor  by  the  assembly  and  deserted 
even  by  Luckner,  gave  up  all  hope  and  fled  with  his  friends  towards 
Holland.  On  his  way  he  was  arrested  by  the  enemy,  who  treated 
him  as  a  prisoner  of  war  and  detained  him  in  close  confinement  till 
the  treaty  of  Campo-Formio.  His  command  was  given  to  Dumou- 
riez,  aud  Luckner  was  replaced  by  Kellermann.  These  disorders 
gave  a  great  advantage  to  the  Prussians.  Longwy  capitulated  on 
the  23rd  of  August,  and  the  fall  of  Verdun  on  the  2nd  of  September 
left  the  road  open  to  Paris. 

The  imminence  of  this  great  danger  roused  great  excitement 
in  Paris,  and  gave  occasion  for  scenes  of  horror  far  worse  than  any 
that  had  yet  been  witnessed.  The  assembly  ordered  defensive 
measures  to  be  taken,  and  tried  to  regain  its  independence  by  sup- 
pressing the  Commune.  But  the  Commune  not  only  refused  to  be  sup- 
pressed,  but  took  the  whole  conduct  of  the  defence  out  of  the  bands 
of  the  assembly.  Dan  ton  was  now  the  dictator  of  Paris,  and,  with 
the  conviction  that  all  means  were  justifiable  to  save  the  country, 
he  determined  to  defend  Paris  at  once  against  foreign  and  domestic 
enemies.  His  avowed  policy  was  to  "strike  terror  into  the 
royalists."  The  police-committee  of  the  Commune  was  strength* 
ened  by  the  addition  of  Marat,  the  apostle  of  murder,  and  other 
members.  On  the  night  of  the  29th  of  August  the  barriers  were 
shut,  and  each  house  was  visited  by  commissioners  under  the 
pretext  of  seeking  for  arms,  but  really  with  the  intention  of 
discovering  the  men  who  were  suspected  of  royalist  tendencies. 


528  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxil 

Three  or  four  thousand  priests,  nobles,  officers,  &c.,  were  thrown  into 
prison.  Even  these  arbitrary  measures  did  not  satisfy  the  zealous 
champions  of  popular  security.  On  the  night  of  the  3rd  of 
September,  after  the  news  had  been  received  of  the  fall  of  Verdun, 
the  signal  was  sounded  for  a  new  St.  Bartholomew.  An  organised 
band  of  not  more  than  five  or  six  hundred  men  visited  each  of  the 
prisons  in  turn  and  massacred  their  inmates.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  butchers  acted  under  the  instructions  of  the 
Commune,  and  received  regular  pay  for  their  work.  For  three 
days  the  slaughter  went  on  with  machine-like  regularity.  The 
citizens,  as  if  stupefied,  made  no  attempt  to  stop  the  horrors ;  the 
national  guard  had  been  disorganised  by  Santerre ;  the  assembly 
and  the  ministers  were  equally  powerless.  When  Roland  demanded 
the  punishment  of  the  miscreants,  the  police  committee  decided  to 
arrest  him,  and  it  was  only  Dantons  influence  that  prevented  its 
being  done.  At  least  two  thousand  men  perished  in  the  massacre, 
which  stopped  only  when  the  prisons  were  empty.  A  few  indi- 
viduals, e.g.  Barnave,  were  saved  by  Danton.  Among  the  slain 
was  the  princess  of  Lamballe,  the  friend  and  confidante  of  the 
queen,  whose  head  was  paraded  on  a  pike  before  the  windows  of 
the  Temple.  The  committee  actually  wrote  to  the  authorities  of 
the  chief  towns  to  encourage  them  to  similar  measures,  in  order 
that  they  might  "  march  against  the  enemy,  and  leave  behind  no 
brigands  to  murder  their  wives  and  children."  At  Versailles, 
Rheims,  Meaux,  Lyons  and  Orleans,  the  horrible  counsel  was  fol- 
lowed. This  was  the  first  result  of  the  triumph  of  the  Gironde 
and  of  the  efforts  of  foreign  powers  to  restore  order  in  France ! 

§  27.  Meanwhile  the  danger  which  had  served  as  a  pretext  for 
these  outrages  had  passed  away.  Directly  after  the  fall  of  Verdun 
Dumouriez,  assisted  by  the  lethargic  movements  of  the  Prussians, 
hastened  to  occupy  the  passes  of  the  forest  of  Argonne,  "  the 
Thermopyla3  of  France."  Again  everything  seemed  lost,  when  an 
Austrian  detachment  under  Clairfait  carried  a  neglected  pass 
and  threatened  the  French  in  the  rear.  But  Dumouriez  succeeded 
in  repairing  his  error.  Leaving  Grandpre  he  occupied  a  strong 
position  at  St.  Me'nehould,  on  the  south  side  of  the  forest,  and  was 
there  joined  by  Kellermann's  army  from  Metz.  A  Prussian  attack 
was  ordered  against  the  neighbouring  height  of  Valmy,  but  it  came 
to  nothiug  more  than  a  simple  cannonade.  The  French  troops, 
which  were  beginning  to  be  inspired  by  the  revolutionary  spirit, 
showed  an  unexpected  firmness  which  astounded  both  the  Prussians 
and  the  emigrants.  This  slight  success  decided  the  campaign,  and 
from  this  moment  the  invaders  began  to  retreat.  Dumouriez  had 
saved  France. 


a.d.  1792.  THE  CONVENTION.  529 

By  this  time  the  elections  to  the  Convention  had  taken  place.  The 
rules  prescribed  by  the  constitution  were  no  longer  observed.  Every 
Frenchman  over  twenty-one  years  <>f  age  was  considered  an  active 
citizen,  and  every  such  citizen  over  twenty-five  was  eligible  as  an 
elector  or  as  deputy.  No  exclusive  regulation  was  any  louder  in 
force,  so  that  members  both  of  the  constituent  and  of  the  legislative 
assembly  could  be  chosen.  On  the  21st  of  September,  the  day 
after  the  cannonade  at  Valmy,  the  Convention  met,  and  its  first 
Ml  was  to  declare  that  France  was  no  longer  a  monarchy  but  a 
republic. 

24* 


530  MODERN  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
THE  FRENCH  REPUBLIC  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  COALITION. 

I,  The  National  Convention  and  the  King's  Death. — §  1.  Parties 
in  the  Convention.  §  2.  Quarrels  between  the  Gironde  and  the  Moun- 
tain. §  3.  The  war ;  French  aggressions  in  Savoy  and  Germany. 
§  4.  Conquest  of  Belgium  ;  ill-treatment  of  the  province.  §  5.  Trial 
of  Louis  XVI. ;  his  condemnation  and  death.  II.  Fall  of  thk  Gironde 
and  Reign  of  Terror  to  Robespierre's  Death. — §  6.  Formation  of 
the  European  coalition  against  France.  §  7.  Renewal  of  party  conflicts 
in  Paris.  §  8.  Rising  in  La  Vendee ;  treason  of  Dumouriez.  §  9. 
Attack  of  the  Girondists;  popular  risings;  fall  of  the  Gironde.  §  10. 
Provincial  revolts;  military  reverses  of  the  French.  §11.  Consti- 
tution of  1793 ;  Committee  of  Public  Safety.  §  12.  Suppression  of 
provincial  revolts.  §  13.  Success  of  the  revolutionary  armies.  §  14. 
The  reign  of  Terror;  introduction  of  the  new  Calendar.  §  15.  The 
Mountain  splits  into  the  three  parties  of  Robespierre,  Hebert  and 
Danton  ;  Robespierre  triumphs  over  his  opponents.  §  16.  Opposition 
to  Robespierre  ;  his  fall  and  death.  III.  Thermidorian  Reaction 
and  End  of  Convention. — §  17.  Reaction  against  the  Terror.  §  18. 
French  victories  in  1794;  treaty  of  Basel,  and  break-up  of  the  Coalition. 
§  19.  Risings  in  Paris  ;  royalist  expedition  to  Quiberon.  §  20.  Con- 
stitution of  the  Year  III. ;  end  of  the  Convention.  IV.  The  Directory. 
— §  21.  Success  of  the  domestic  administration  of  the  Directory. 
§  22.  Campaign  of  1795  in  Germany.  §  23.  Campaign  of  1796 ; 
Bonaparte  in  Italy ;  the  Archduke  Charles  in  Germany.  §  24. 
Bonaparte  invades  Austria ;  preliminaries  of  Leoben ;  treacherous 
treatment  of  Venice.  §  25.  Coup  d'etat  of  the  18th  Fructidor.  §  26. 
Treaty  of  Campio  Formio.  §  27.  Bonaparte's  expedition  to  Egypt. 
§  28.  Second  Coalition ;  French  disasters  in  1799.  §  29.  Discontent 
in  France  ;  Bonaparte's  return ;  coup  d"€tat  of  the  18th  Brumaire. 
§  30.  Constitution  of  the  Year  VIII.  ;  establishment  of  the  Consulate. 

I.    The  National  Convention  and  the  King's  Death. 

§  1.  The  Convention  contained  749  members,  of  whom  65  had 
sat  in  the  constituent  and  164  in  the  legislative  assembly.  The 
deputies  had  been  chosen  under  the  immediate  influence  of  the 
September  massacres.  In  Paris  the  Commune  and  its  adherents  had 
their  own  way.  Robespierre  was  first  deputy,  then  came  Danton, 
Collot  d'Herbois,  Camille  Desmoulins,  &c,  and  finally  Marat  and 
the  duke  of  Orleans,  now  Philippe  EgalitS.     But  in  the  provinces 


a.d.  1792.  THE   CONVENTION.  531 

there  was  a  strong  feeling  of  jealousy  against  the  preponderance  of 
the  capital,  combined  with  horror  at  the  recent  outrages,  and  at 
most  of  the  elections  Girondists  were  returned.  It  was  charac- 
teristic of  the  revolution  that  the  extreme  party  of  one  aesembly 
became  the  moderates  of  the  next.  Not  a  royalist  or  a  constitution- 
alist could  be  found,  and  the  Girondists  occupied  the  extreme  right. 
They  were  confident  in  their  superior  numbers  and  in  their  hold  on 
the  ministry  from  which  Danton  had  retired  on  his  election  as  deputy. 
Their  old  leaders,  Vergniaud,  Brissot,  Condorcet,  Guadet,  and 
Gensonnd,  had  been  re-elected,  and  were  strengthened  by  several  new 
comers.  They  were  determined,  by  reducing  the  Commune  to  obedi- 
ence, to  recover  the  power  they  had  lost  since  the  2nd  of  September, 
and  also  to  free  the  departments  from  Parisian  dictation.  On  the 
upper  benches  on  the  left  sat  the  deputies  of  Paris  with  some  thirty 
others,  and  received  from  their  position  the  name  of  the  Mountain. 
There  was  little  difference  of  principle  between  them  and  the 
Gironde.  Both  parties  were  republican,  and  both  had  ap|  ealed  to 
the  people  to  support  their  measures.  But  the  Girondists  wished 
for  orderly  government,  and  a  reaction  from  the  recent  excesses  led 
them  to  distrust  the  mob,  and  to  incline  tow  ards  the  bourgeois  class. 
They  had  become  conservative  now  that  they  had  secured  all  that 
they  wished.  The  Mountain,  on  the  other  hand,  was  eager  to 
continue  the  revolution.  Their  leaders  wished  to  obtain  the  power 
which  the  Girondists  now  held.  They  were  prepared  to  accept  all  the 
consequences  of  the  most  extreme  democracy,  and  they  denounced 
as  treason  any  attempt  to  thwart  the  will  of  the  sovereign  people. 
Their  strength  lay  in  their  unity,  in  the  support  of  the  Commune, 
now  the  first  power  of  the  state,  and  in  their  ability  to  call  in 
the  mob  to  aid  them  against  the  majority.  Between  the  two 
parties  were  a  large  number  of  independent  members,  known  as 
the  Plain  or  the  Marsh,  who  alternately*  leant  to  the  side  of  the 
Gironde  or  the  Mountain  as  they  were  influenced  by  conviction  or 
by  fear. 

§  2.  The  first  measures  of  the  Convention  were  unanimous.  They 
legalised  a  Republic  which  had  existed  since  the  10th  of  August, 
and  they  determined  to  date  the  commencement  of  a  new  era  from 
the  2l8t  of  September,  which  begins  the  year  I.  of  the  Republic. 
As  the  former  constitution  had  thus  ceased  to  exist,  it  was  decreed 
that  all  officers  should  be  re-elected,  and  that  all  laws  should  be 
kept  that  were  not  expressly  repealed,  and  appointed  a  committee 
to  consider  a  new  constitution.  In  this,  as  in  all  the  other  com- 
mittees, the  Girondists  had  an  overwhelming  majority.  To  secure 
the  confiscated  wealth,  it  was  ordered  that  the  emigrants  should  be 
banished  for  ever,  and  that  if  any  of  them  should  be  found  on  French 


532  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxm. 

soil,  or  be  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands,  they  should  be  put  to 
death.  These  measures  having  been  agreed  to,  the  two  hostile 
parties  came  into  collision  on  a  report  of  the  ministry  about  the 
condition  of  the  state.  The  Girondists  denounced  the  recent 
massacres,  demanded  the  punishment  of  their  authors,  and  openly 
attacked  Danton,  Robespierre  and  Marat,  as  an  ambitious  trium- 
virate who  aimed  at  the  establishment  of  a  dictatorship.  This 
charge  was  the  grand  card  of  the  Girondists,  but  they  played  it  too 
soon  and  too  imprudently.  They  had  no  evidence  to  support  it,  and 
by  making  too  much  of  their  opponents  they  helped  to  bring  about 
the  very  result  which  they  dreaded  and  denounced.  The  three 
accused  rose  in  their  defence.  Danton  adroitly  turned  the  tables 
on  the  Girondists  by  accusing  them  of  a  desire  to  break  France  up 
into  innumerable  republics  by  making  the  departments  independent 
of  the  capital.  These  mutual  accusations  of  a  dictatorship  and  of 
federalism  became  the  chief  party-weapons  in  the  Convention. 
Robespierre,  as  usual,  dilated  upon  his  own  virtues.  When  Marat 
appeared  at  the  rostrum,  a  howl  of  execration  rose  from  the  right 
and  centre  of  the  Assembly.  Many  of  the  deputies  affected  to 
believe  that  such  a  monster  of  iniquity  never  existed,  and  that  his 
writings  were  the  work  of  a  royalist  who  sought  to  throw  discredit 
on  the  revolution.  Marat  exulted  in  the  rage  of  his  adversaries, 
insisted  upon  speaking,  and  gloried  in  the  truth  of  the  charge  that 
had  been  brought  against  him.  His  cynical  audacity  raised  the  idea 
that  he  was  insane,  the  accusation  was  dropped,  and  the  Assembly 
proceeded  to  the  order  of  the  day. 

Soon  afterwards  the  Girondists  renewed  their  attack,  which  was 
this  time  concentrated  against  Robespierre,  and  led  by  Lou  vet. 
After  obtaining  an  interval  of  eight  days  to  prepare  his  defence, 
Robespierre  demolished  the  flimsy  case  of  his  accusers  amid  the 
applause  of  his  supporters.  The  Plain  evidently  regarded  these 
accusations  as  merely  personal  quarrels,  to  which  no  weight  was  to 
be  attached.  The  conduct  of  the  Gironde  was  in  the  highest  degree 
injudicious.  They  made  a  charge,  failed  to  substantiate  it,  and  let 
it  drop.  Their  attacks  served  only  to  give  greater  prominence  and 
popularity  to  their  hated  rivals.  They  decreed  the  re-election  of 
the  Commune,  but  took  no  steps  to  prevent  the  same  men  from 
returning  to  power.  They  alienated  Danton,  the  most  moderate 
member  of  the  Mountain,  who  was  willing  to  prevent  the  further 
shedding  of  blood  and  might  easily  have  been  won  over  from  his 
associates.  Their  ministers  were  equally  incapable  and  wanting  in 
a  real  policy.  The  party  tended  to  disintegration,  and  lost  the 
advantage  of  superior  numbers.  Only  thirty  members  habitually 
voted  together,  and  even  they  often  differed  on  important  measures. 


a.d.  1792.  FRENCH  AGRESSIONS.  533 

This  was  a  very  serious  weakness  when  contrasted  with  the  perfect 
organisation  of  the  Mountain. 

§  3.  Meanwhile  the  war  was  still  going  on.  The  first  check  at 
Valmy  had  decided  the  campaign  of  the  Prussians  in  Champagne. 
Their  troops  were  already  suffering  from  disease,  and  from  inclement 
weather.  An  energetic  movement  of  the  French  might  have  anni- 
hilated the  invaders,  but  Dumouriez,  who  kept  an  anxious  eye  upon 
events  in  Paris,  preferred  to  negotiate.  He  hoped  to  gain  a  great 
triumph  for  France,  by  inducing  Prussia  to  desert  the  coalition  and 
to  recognise  the  Republic  by  a  treaty.  He  knew  that  the  duke  of 
Brunswick  and  most  of  his  soldiers  detested  the  Austrians  and  the 
emigrants  far  more  than  they  did  the  revolution,  and  that  the  king 
was  eager  to  have  his  bands  free  for  the  complications  in  Poland. 
But  Frederick  William  wished  for  a  general  not  a  separate  peace,  and 
was  too  chivalrous  to  desert  Austria  at  the  first  reverse.  The  nego- 
tiations were  carried  on  long  enough  to  allow  the  Prussians  an 
undisturbed  retreat  from  French  soil  and  were  then  broken  off. 

This  first  success  inspired  the  French  with  a  confidence  hitherto 
unfelt,  and  changed  the  whole  character  of  the  war.  No  longer 
satisfied  to  defend  their  frontiers,  they  determined  to  spread  the 
revolutionary  dogmas  by  force,  and  to  excite  a  general  rising  of 
peoples  against  their  kings.  The  Convention  issued  a  formal  in- 
vitation to  all  discontented  subjects  to  appeal  to  France  fur  aid.  And 
this  propaganda  was  by  no  means  disinterested.  The  democracy 
was  fully  as  aggressive  as  the  monarchy,  and  the  idea  of  extending 
France  to  its  "natural"  boundaries,  so  dear  to  Louis  XIV.,  was 
revived  with  equal  resolution  by  the  republic.  Already  in  Septem- 
ber the  army  of  the  south  had  entered  Savoy  to  punish  Victor 
Amadeus  III.  for  his  alliance  with  the  house  of  Bourbon.  As  the 
dukes  of  Savoy  had  extended  their  territories  southwards,  and 
become  an  Italian  power  as  kings  of  Sardinia,  they  had  lost  their 
hold  over  the  French-speaking  population  of  their  original  duchy. 
The  people  everywhere  welcomed  the  French,  the  Piedmont  troops 
found  resistance  to  be  impossible,  and  in  November  both  Savoy  and 
Nice  were  formally  annexed  to  France  as  the  departments  of  Mont 
Blanc  and  the  Maritime  Alps.  Montesquieu  was  now  ordered  to 
attack  the  aristocratic  republic  of  Geneva.  The  admission  of  troops 
from  Berne  was  treated  as  a  breach  of  former  treaties  and  a  pretext 
for  hostilities.  But  Montesquieu,  a  marquis  under  the  old  regime, 
was  by  no  means  prepared  to  accept  the  revolutionary  interpretation 
of  the  law  of  nations,  and  opened  negotiations  with  the  besieged 
city.  For  this  act  of  disobedience  he  was  formally  accused  before 
the  Convention  and  had  to  seek  safety  in  Switzerland.  Geneva  was 
spared  for  the  moment. 

These  successes  in  the  south  were  speedily  surpassed  by  those  in 


534  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxin. 

Germany.  The  constitution  of  the  Empire  was  as  hopelessly  divided 
and  impotent  as  ever.  Nowhere  was  the  general  disintegration  more 
conspicuous  than  in  the  "  Priest's  Road,"  the  chain  of  ecclesiastical 
states  along  the  Rhine  valley.  The  advance  of  the  Prussians  into 
France  left  these  states  defenceless,  and  in  September  a  French 
detachment  under  Custine  advanced  to  the  attack.  He  was  an 
enthusiastic  partisan  of  the  revolution,  and  his  watchword  was  "  war 
to  the  palaces  and  peace  to  the  cottages."  Speier  and  Worms  fell 
into  his  hands,  and  the  princes  of  the  neighbouring  states  fled  in 
reckless  haste  before  an  incapable  general  and  a  handful  of  recruits. 
Nothing  more  disgraceful  to  Germany  had  been  experienced  since 
the  Hussite  wars.  Mainz,  the  chief  city  of  western  Germany, 
surrendered  without  striking  a  blow  (21  Oct.),  and  Frankfort  for 
a  short  time  was  occupied  by  the  French. 

§  4.  Dumouriez  in  the  meantime  was  no  less  active  in  the  north. 
Leaving  Kellermann  to  pursue  the  Prussians,  he  induced  the 
ministry  to  approve  his  favourite  scheme  of  an  invasion  of  Belgium. 
Everything  seemed  to  mark  out  Belgium  as  an  easy  prey  for  the 
French.  The  government  of  Joseph  II.  had  provoked  a  revolt 
against  Hapsburg  rule,  which  had  been  put  down  by  Leopold  without 
any%  cessation  of  discontent.  The  provinces  were  still  only  loosely 
bound  together,  and  there  was  no  force  to  defend  them,  except 
some  20,000  Austrian  troops  under  the  divided  command  ofClairfait 
and  the  duke  of  Saxe-Teschen,  who  had  already  failed  in  an  attack 
upon  Vauban's  great  fortress,  Lille.  Circumstances  were  very  favour- 
able for  the  dashing  tactics  of  Dumouriez.  A  single  victory  at  Jem- 
mappes  (6  Nov.),  the  first  pitched  battle  of  the  war,  decided  the 
campaign.  The  Austrians  retired  and  Dumouriez  advanced  as  far 
as  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Everywhere  the  people  welcomed  the  French 
as  deliverers,  and  it  seemed  probable  that  Holland,  equally  weakened 
by  party  divisions,  would  prove  as  easy  a  conquest. 

The  Convention  was  eager  to  reap  the  fruits  of  these  great  suc- 
cesses: In  defiance  of  treaties  which  France  had  guaranteed  over 
and  over  again,  it  ordered  the  ojiening  of  the  Scheldt,  and  declared 
Antwerp  a  free  port  (6  Nov.).  A  decree  of  the  15th  of  December 
went  still  further  in  its  avowed  hostility  to  the  powers  of  Europe : 
"In  every  country  that  shall  be  occupied  by  French  armies,  the 
generals  shall  announce  the  abolition  of  all  existing  authorities  :  of 
nobility,  serfdom,  of  all  feudal  rights  and  all  monopolies.  They  shall 
proclaim  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  convoke  assemblies  of 
the  inhabitants  to  form  a  provisional  government,  to  which  no 
officer  of  a  former  government,  no  noble,  and  no  member  of  a 
privileged  corporation  shall  be  eligible.  They  shall  appropriate 
for  the  French  Republic  all  property  belonging  to  the  sovereign  and 
bis  adherents  or  to  any  civil  and  religious  corporation:     The  French 


a.d.  1792.  THE  CONVENTION.  535 

nation  will  treat  as  enemies  any  people  which,  refusing  liberty  and 
equality,  desires  to  preserve  its  prince  and  privileged  classes  or  to 
make  any  accommodation."  It  is  evident  that  the  Convention  looked 
to  the  liberated  and  conquered  peoples  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
war.  The  first  attempt  to  put  these  peculiar  principles  into  force 
was  made  in  Belgium,  where  it  sensibly  cooled  the  ardour  of  the 
people  for  their  French  deliverers.  A  number  of  commissioners, 
with  Danton  at  their  head,  were  despatched  to  establish  a  republican 
government  in  a  province  which  was  treated  as  if  it  bad  been  con- 
quered. Their  reckless  confiscations,  and  especially  their  attacks 
upon  the  monasteries  and  the  clergy,  aroused  the  greatest  indignation 
among  a  people  which  was  then,  as  now,  the  most  religious  in  Europe. 
No  one  was  more  indignant  than  Dumouriez  himself,  who  aspired 
to  establish  a  protectorate  in  Belgium,  and  who  saw  all  the  fruits  of 
bis  victory  snatched  from  him  by  the  rapacious  envoys  of  the 
Jacobin  Club.  Unable  to  protect  the  people  from  oppression,  he 
returned  to  Paris,  where  be  found  that  events  had  taken  a  new  and 
most  unwelcome  turn. 

§  5.  The  party  conflicts  in  the  Convention  went  on  with  over- 
increasing  bitterness,  and  at  last  the  Mountain  discovered  a  new 
means  of  discrediting  their  opponents  and  securing  their  own 
supremacy.  They  demanded  that  the  king  should  be  brought  to 
justice  as  an  enemy  of  the  nation.  They  saw  in  his  d» ath  a  perma- 
nent rupture  with  the  past  history  of  France,  ami  they  hoped  to  crush 
the  Girondists,  if  they  tried  to  defend  him,  under  a  obavge  of 
royalism.  The  Jacobin  club  organised  a  series  of  petitions  in  which 
the  death  of  the  king  was  demanded  in  terms  of  revolting  barbarity. 
The  more  moderate  deputies  pointed  to  the  constitution  of  1791, 
which  decreed  the  personal  inviolability  of  the  monarch,  and  imposed 
in  certain  cases  the  penalty  of  deposition.  This  j  enalty  had  been 
already  inflicted,  and  neither  the  Convention  nor  any  other  body 
could  proceed  further.  Finally,  the  question  was  entrusted  to  a 
committee,  which  reported  that  the  king  could  lawfully  l>e  tried 
by  the  Convention.  On  this  report  a  great  debate  was  commenced 
on  the  13th  of  November.  The  Gironde,  imperfectly  apprehending 
the  tactics  of  their  enemies,  still  ■  ished  to  maintain  the  constitution, 
while  the  Plain  inclined  to  adopt  the  rejtort.  But  St.  Just  and 
Uobespierre,  who  on  this  point  assumed  the  lead  of  the  Mountain, 
took  a  much  bolder,  and  from  their  point  of  view  a  more  manly,  line. 
They  maintained  that  the  assembly  was  composed  of  statesmen,  not 
of  judges,  that  the  king's  guilt  had  already  been  decide!  by  his 
deposition,  that  a  dethroned  ki  g  was  dangerous  to  a  republic,  and 
that  the  letter  of  the  constitution  could  not  prohibit  a  measure 
which  was  necessary  for  the  public  safety.  They  demanded  the 
king's  death  at  once  and  without  trial,  by  the  sacred  right  of  revolu- 


536  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiii. 

tion.  These  extreme  proposals,  which  appealed  to  the  passions  and 
the  fears  of  the  multitude,  forced  the  hand  of  the  opposition.  The 
Girondists,  fearing  the  loss  of  their  popularity  if  they  appeared  as 
advocates  for  the  king,  joined  the  Plain  and  voted  for  his  trial  hefore 
the  Convention,  which  was  decreed  on  the  2nd  of  December.  Before 
thi3,  the  discovery  of  a  secret  cupboard  in  the  Tuileries  had 
brought  to  light  all  the  papers  of  the  king,  his  correspondence  with 
Mirabeau  and  Bouille,  and  all  the  schemes  that  had  been  enter- 
tained for  his  release  or  his  restoration  to  power.  These  papers 
were  the  chief  basis  of  the  formal  accusation  that  was  drawn  up 
ngainst  him. 

Ever  since  the  11th  of  August  Louis  XVI.  had  been  a  close 
prisoner  in  the  Temple,  and  in  October  he  had  undergone  the  further 
punishment  of  being  separated  from  his  family.  Never  had  his 
character  appeared  so  admirable  as  during  this  period  of  trouble.  The 
irresolution  which  had  been  so  fatal  a  quality  had  entirely  disap- 
peared when  all  responsibility  of  government  was  removed.  On  the 
13th  of  December  he  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  Convention,  and 
made  no  attempt  to  deny  the  authority  of  those  who  were  at  once 
his  accusers  and  judges.  Barere,  the  president,  read  the  charges 
and  asked  the  questions  that  had  been  previously  agreed  uixm. 
Louis  replied  quietly  and  firmly,  declared  his  ministers  responsible 
for  his  public  acts,  and  denied  the  authenticity  of  the  concealed 
documents.  The  only  accusation  that  moved  him  was  that  of 
having  shed  the  blood  of  the  citizens  on  the  10th  of  August.  On 
his  withdrawal  a  stormy  debate  followed,  and  the  hostile  factions 
nearly  came  to  blows.  In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  Mountain, 
it  was  decided  to  accept  the  kind's  demand  that  counsel  should  be 
heard  in  his  defence.  He  chose  Target,  who  refused,  and  Tronchet. 
At  this  crisis  Malesherbes,  the  most  virtuous  of  French  ministers, 
came  forward  to  offer  his  services  to  the  king  under  whom  he  had 
held  office.  Louis  XVI.  was  profoundly  touched  by  this  proof  of 
a  devotion  which  even  the  Convention  could  not  fail  to  appreciate. 
On  the  26th  of  December  the  defence,  which  had  been  prepared  with 
enormous  labour,  was  pronounced  by  Deseze,  an  advocate  who  had 
been  associated  with  Malesherbes  and  Tronchet.  His  speech  was  a 
masterpiece  of  temperate  and  convincing  reasoning,  and  if  it  lacked 
the  highest  qualities  of  eloquence,  it  was  because  the  king  himself 
refused  to  stoop  to  an  appeal  for  mercy  to  his  judges.  The  debate 
in  the  Convention  was  resumed  on  the  next  day.  The  Girondists, 
whose  conduct  throughout  shows  their  weakness  as  a  party,  were 
anxious  to  save  the  king,  but  dared  not  pronounce  openly  for  his 
acquittal.  They  proposed  a  formal  appeal  to  the  people,  which 
gratified  their  republican  predilections,  and  would  at  the  same  time 
remove  the  responsibility  from  their  own    shoulders.     But    the 


A.D.  1792-1793.     EXECUTION  OF  LOUIS  XVL  537 

Jacobins  became  more  imperative  as  their  triumph  seemed  assured. 
They  filled  the  galleries  with  their  turbulent  adherents,  who 
threatened  with  death  those  deputies  who  endeavoured  to  save  the 
accused  prince.  At  last  the  debate  was  closed  on  the  14th  of 
January,  1793,  and  three  questions  were  formally  proposed  to  the 
assembly.  (1)  Is  Louis  Capet  guilty?  (2)  Should  an  appeal  to 
the  people  be  allowed?  (3)  What  punishment  should  be  inflicted  ? 
The  first  question  was  answered  in  the  affirmative  almost  with 
unanimity,  and  the  appeal  was  rejected  by  484  votes  to  292. 
Lanjuinais  then  proposed  that  three-fourths  of  the  votes  should  be 
necessary  for  condemnation,  but  Danton  carried  his  motion  that  a 
simple  majority  should  settle  the  matter.  On  the  third  question 
votes  were  given  orally  by  each  member  in  turn,  and  as  several  took 
the  opportunity  to  explain  their  motives,  the  process  lasted  for 
twenty-five  hours.  All  the  machinery  of  terrorism  was  put  into 
working  to  influence  the  irresolute  Girondists,  and  with  fatal  success. 
Yergniaud,  the  most  eloquent  advocate  of  justice  and  mercy  in  the 
preceding  debates,  was  now  president  of  the  Convention,  and  voted 
for  "death  to  avoid  a  civil  war,"  and  his  example  decided  many  of 
those  who  were  still  wavering.  Philip  of  Orleans,  amidst  general 
execration,  voted  for  the  execution  of  the  head  of  his  family. 
Finally,  Vergniaud  rose  to  declare  the  result  in  a  trembling  voice. 
721  deputies  voted,  so  that  361  were  necessary  to  form  a  majority. 
366  voted  for  death  absolutely,  and  67  for  the  same  punishment 
with  various  conditions ;  286  were  in  favour  of  imprisonment  or 
exile  ;  and  two  voted  for  the  galleys.  The  Girondists  made  a  last 
effort  to  get  the  sentence  reprieved  for  a  time,  but  they  were  de- 
feated by  34  votes.  On  the  20th  of  January,  Louis  XVI.  was 
allowed  a  final  and  agonising  interview  with  his  family;  on  the 
next  day  he  met  his  death  with  heroic  fortitude  in  what  is  now  the 
Place  de  la  Concorde.  The  character  of  Louis  has  been  admirably 
summed  up  by  Mignet,  the  most  phlegmatic  of  the  republican 
historians.  "  He  was  the  best  but  the  feeblest  of  kings.  His  an- 
cestors bequeathed  to  him  a  revolution.  He  was  more  fitted  than 
any  of  them  to  prevent  or  to  terminate  it ;  for  he  was  capable  of 
being  a  reforming  king  before  it  broke  out,  or  of  acting  as  a  con- 
stitutional king  afterwards.  He  is  perhaps  the  only  prince  who 
had  no  passions,  not  even  that  of  power,  and  who  united  the  two 
essential  qualities  of  a  good  king,  fear  of  God  and  love  of  the  people. 
He  perished  the  victim  of  passions  which  he  did  not  share  :  of  those 
of  his  adherents  to  which  he  was  a  stranger,  and  of  those  of  the 
multitude  which  he  had  not  excited.  History  will  say  of  him  that, 
with  a  little  more  force  of  character,  he  would  have  been  a  unique 
ruler." 


538  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxin. 

II.  Fall  of  the  Gironde.     Reign  of  Terror.    Death 
of  Robespierre. 

§  6.  By  the  execution  of  Louis  XVI.  the  revolution  broke  down 
all  the  bridges  behind  it,  and  at  the  same  time  bade  defiance 
to  the  monarchical  states  of  Europe.  The  immediate  result 
was  the  increase  of  enemies  both  without  and  within.  England 
had  been  studiously  neutral  until  its  own  interests  were  touched 
by  the  threatened  annexation  of  Belgium  and  the  opening  of  the 
Scheldt.  From  that  moment  Pitt  determined  on  a  war  against 
the  "  armed  opinions  "  which  defied  the  obligations  of  treaties  and  the 
public  law  of  Europe.  He  had  been  already  strengthened  by  the 
secession  of  Burke  from  the  Whigs,  and  the  king's  death,  which 
stirred  popular  opinion  to  its  depths,  removed  all  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  an  active  policy.  Chauvelin,  the  French  envoy  in  London, 
was  dismissed,  and  the  Convention,  eagerly  accepting  what  was  in- 
evitable, declared  war  against  Great  Britain  on  the  8th  of  February, 
1793.  The  accession  of  England  was  speedily  followed  by  the 
completion  of  the  anti-revolutionary  coalition.  Holland,  as  usual, 
followed  in  the  footsteps  of  its  powerful  neighbour.  Spain,  where 
the  liberal  d'Aranda  had  been  supplanted  in  the  ministry  by  Charles 
IV.'s  incapable  favourite,  Godoi,  was  involved  in  the  war  in  March  ; 
Portugal,  the  Papal  States,  and  Naples  joined  the  alliance.  Russia 
exulted  in  circumstances  which  left  her  free  to  act  in  Poland.  The 
only  neutral  states  were  Switzerland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Venice, 
and  Turkey. 

§  7.  These  external  dangers  caused  a  momentary  cessation  of 
party  conflicts  in  the  Convention.  A  levy  of  300,000  men  was 
decreed ;  the  incapable  Pache  was  removed  from  the  ministry  of 
war  and  replaced  by  Beurnonville ;  800  millions  of  assiynats  were 
issued  ;  and  the  numbers  of  the  national  guard  were  nearly  doubled. 
But  the  truce  was  only  momentary.  The  Girondists  had  consented 
to  the  king's  death  in  order  to  save  themselves,  but  they  were  not 
destined  to  receive  the  expected  reward  of  their  dishonour.  Roland, 
who  had  contributed  directly  to  bri?^g  about  the  fate  of  Louis  XVI., 
resigned  office  immediately  afterwards.  His  associates  found  them- 
selves confronted  by  the  implacable  hostility  of  the  Mountain  and  of 
the  Commune.  Pache  was  consoled  for  his  dismissal  by  being  elected 
mayor  of  Paris,  but  his  influence  was  small  compared  with  that  of 
his  subordinates,  Chaumette  and  Hebert.  Marat  and  Robespierre 
were  determined  to  rid  themselves  of  opponents  who  stood  in  the 
way  of  their  designs,  and  urged  the  mob  to  violent  measures  against 
the  traitors  who  had  endeavoured  to  save  the  tyrant.  Danton  alone 
of  the  Jacobins  was  inclined  to  moderate  courses.    He  had  formed  in 


l.r.  1793.  DUMOURIEZ.  539 

Belgium  a  connection  with  Dumouriez,  and  was  quite  willing  to  come 
to  terms  with  the  Gironde.  But  the  influence  of  Madame  Roland 
and  Guadet  was  too  strong  to  allow  of  an  alliance  with  the  author 
of  the  massacres  of  September,  and  Danton  was  forced  by  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation  to  support  the  associates  whom  he  was 
anxious  to  desert.  This  was  a  fatal  error  on  the  part  of  the 
Girondists,  who  tried  in  vain  to  absorb  the  attention  of  the  assembly 
in  the  scheme  of  a  new  constitution  which  had  been  drawn  up  by 
Condorcet.  Party  feeling  was  too  inflamed  for  an  abstract  debate, 
and  before  long  external  events  came  to  the  assistance  of  the 
Jacobins. 

§  8.  The  levy  of  300,000  men  provoked  a  rising  in  the  province  of 
La  Vendee,  where  the  ancient  regime  survived  in  its  entirety,  and 
where  the  priests  and  nobles  had  lost  none  "1"  their  influence 
the  virtuous*  and  ignorant  peasantry.  Able  and  courageous  1. 
were  found  in  Chatelineau,  Stoffiet,  (harette,  d'Elbee  and  La 
Rochejaquelin,  and  for  a  long  time  they  were  able  to  foil  all  the 
attempts  that  were  made  to  put  down  the  rebellion.  Danger 
always  tended  to  increase  the  fanati.  is:u  of  the  capital,  and  at  this 
time  domestic  revolt  was  rendered  more  serious  by  successes  of  the 
foreign  enemies  of  France.  The  Austrians  and  Prussians  had 
determined  on  great  exertions  to  recover  Belgian]  ami  Main/.,  whirl) 
had  been  lost  in  1792.  Dumouriez,  who  had  failed  in  the  objects  of 
his  journey  to  Paris,  returned  to  the  army  with  orders  to  attempt  the 
redueti  ;  1 1  Hand.  Ordering  one  detachment  under  Vale- 
watch  the  Austrians,  and  another  under  Miranda  to  take  Maestrirht 
and  then  to  join  him  at  Utrecht,  he  crossed  the  frontier  and  took 
Breda  and  Gertruydenberg.  He  was  recalled  by  the  news  that  the 
Austrian  commander,  the  Prince  of  Coburg,  had  entered  Helgium, 
driven  Valence  back  to  Louvain,  and  forced  Miranda  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Maastricht.  Hurrying  back,  Dumouriez  risked  an  engage- 
ment at  Neerwinden  (18  March)  and  was  defeated.  This  check 
decided  him  to  put  into  immediate  execution  a  plan  which  he  had 
entertained  ever  since  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  This  was  nothing 
less  than  to  put  down  the  revolution  in  Paris,  to  restore  the  con- 
stitution of  1791,  and  to  give  the  crown  to  the  young  sou  of  Orleans, 
Louis  Philippe,  duke  of  Chartres,  who  was  at  the  time  serving  in 
his  army.  He  had  intended  to  carry  out  this  programme  with  all 
the  prestige  of  a  great  conqueror,  but,  as  this  was  now  impossible, 
he  determined  to  appeal  to  the  enemies  of  France.  The  matter 
was  arranged  in  negotiations  with  the  Austrian  general  Mack,  and 
Dumouriez  made  no  secrecy  of  his  intentions  to  the  envoys  whom 
the  Convention  had  dispatched  on  the  first  news  of  his  treachery. 
He  tried  to  obtain  possession  of  Lille  and  Valenciennes,  but  the 


540  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiii. 

gates  were  closed  against  him.  Like  Lafayette  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances, lie  discovered  that  the  soldiers,  hitherto  devoted  to  him, 
preferred  their  country  to  their  general,  and  were  by  no  means  so 
dissatisfied  with  the  revolution  as  to  consent  to  a  foreign  invasion 
of  France.  Dumouriez,  foiled  on  every  side,  fled  to  the  Austrians, 
and  after  twenty  years  of  inglorious  exile  died  in  London.  The 
command  of  his  army  was  entrusted  to  Dampierre. 

§  9.  The  news  of  Dumouriez'  treachery  gave  new  vigour  to  the 
attack  upon  the  party  of  the  Gironde,  with  which  he  had  formerly 
identified  himself.  In  order  to  purge  themselves  of  suspicion,  the 
Girondists  accused  Danton  of  complicity  with  the  general,  whose 
acquaintance  he  had  made  in  Belgium,  but  the  only  result  was  to 
make  an  irreconcilable  enemy  of  the  most  pacific  of  the  de  na- 
gogues.  The  general  terror  enabled  the  Mountain  to  carry-  the 
most  extreme  measures.  The  duke  of  Orleans  and  all  Bourbons 
were  exiled,  the  non-juring  priests  were  everywhere  persecuted,  all 
the  remaining  property  of  the  emigrants  was  confiscated,  and  the 
revolutionary  tribunal  commenced  its  activity.  On  the  6th  of  April 
a  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  consisting  of  nine  members,  renew- 
able every  month,  was  appointed  with  dictatorial  power.  Marat,  as 
head  of  the  Jacobin  club,  got  up  popular  peiitions  which  demanded 
the  arrest  of  twenty-two  Girondists.  This  attack  upon  the  privi- 
leges of  deputies  produced  a  momentary  alliance  between  the  right 
and  centre  of  the  Convention.  Marat  was  formally  accused,  but  was 
acquitted  by  the  revolutionary  tribunal,  and  returned  to  his  seat 
amidst  the  applause  of  the  mob. '  Every  day  the  popular  passion 
increased  in  vehemence,  and  the  Convention,  which  on  the  10th  of 
May  began  to  sit  in  the  Tuileries,  saw  itself  threatened  by  an 
armed  force.  Guadet  proposed  to  annul  the  existing  authorities  in 
the  city,  but  his  party  could  never  agree  upon  aciive  measures,  and 
Barere  was  able  to  carry,  as  a  compromise,  the  appointment  of  a 
commission  of  twelve  to  enquire  in'o  the  rela'ions  between  the 
Convention  and  the  Commune.  The  Twelve  commenced  their  work 
with  great  vigour,  and  ordered  the  arrest  of  Hebert,  one  of  the  most 
active  promoters  of  disorder.  The  result  was  a  popular  rising,  which 
compelled  the  Convention  to  decree  the  release  of  Hubert  and  the 
suppression  of  the  Twelve.  On  the  next  day  the  Girondists 
recovered  their  supremacy  and  the  Twelve  were  restored.  But  the 
mob  had  felt  their  power  and  were  not  inclined  to  submit  to  defeat. 
On  the  31st  of  May,  a  regular  insurrection  was  planned  and  carried 
out,  under  the  leadership  of  Henriot,  who  now  succeeded  Santerre 
as  commander  of  the  naiional  guard.  Robespierre  wished  to  direct 
the  popular  fury  against  the  leaders  of  the  Gironde,  but  the  real 
object  of  the  rising  was  the  suppression  of  the  Twelve,  and  it  sub- 


A.D.  1793.  FALL  OF  THE  GIRONDISTS.  541 

sided  when  this  was  decreed  for  the  second  time.  Danton  was 
satisfied  with  the  fall  of  a  commission  which  threatened  to  extend 
its  enquiries  back  to  the  preceding  September,  but  his  associates 
were  determined  to  secure  a  decisive  victory.  On  the  2nd  of  June, 
80,000  men,  with  Henriot  at  their  head,  besieged  the  Tuilerics  and 
demanded  the  arrest  of  the  Twelve  and  of  the  chief  Girondists. 
Barere  proposed  that  the  accused  deputies  should  suspend  them- 
selves from  their  functions,  and  several  yielded  in  the  vain  hope  of 
appeasing  their  enemies.  But  meanwhile  the  undisguised  dictation 
of  the  mob  had  irritated  those  members  of  the  Mountain,  who 
regarded  the  national  assembly  as  inviolable.  The  Convention 
advanced  in  a  body  to  the  entrance  and  ordered  their  besiegers 
to  withdraw.  Henriot's  answer  was  to  point  his  cannon  at  the 
deputies,  who  returned  in  dismayed  consciousness  of  their  impo- 
tence. Marat,  who  revelled  in  the  success  of  the  intimidation,  drew 
tip  the  list  of  the  proscribed,  and  the  imprisi •nnimt  was  decreed 
of  the  twelve  members  of  the  commission  ami  twenty-two  of  the 
Girondist  leaders,  including  Vergniaud,  Guadet,  Gensonne',  Brissot, 
IVtion,  Lanjuinais,  etc. 

§  10.  The  fall  of  the  Gironde  was  a  great  triumph  for  the 
Mountain,  but  it  only  added  to  the  dangers  which  threatened 
France.  Most  of  the  imprisoned  deputies  escaped,  and  raised  the 
standard  of  revolt  in  Caen.  More  than  fifty  departments  rallied  to 
their  side  and  declared  against  the  tyrannieal  supremacy  of  Paris. 
The  spirit  of  the  opposition  is  manifested  in  the  conduct  of 
Charlotte  Corday,  who  journeyed  alone  to  Paris  in  order  to  avenge 
the  Gironde  by  the  murder  of  Marat  (13  July).  She  herself 
perished  on  the  scaffold,  and  divine  honours  were  paid  to  her 
victim.  The  flames  of  civil  war  extended  in  every  direction.  In 
the  south,  Lyons,  Marseilles,  Toulon,  Nismes  and  a  number  of 
other  towns  declared  against  the  Convention.  In  the  north  the 
province  of  Calvados  took  up  arms  for  the  monarchy.  The  armies 
of  La  Vendee,  no  longer  content  with  escaping  conquest,  took  the 
aggressive  and  attacked  Nantes,  in  order  to  make  themselves" 
masters  of  the  Loire  and  to  open  a  connection  with  England.  But 
all  these  movements  were  paralysed  by  want  of  union.  The 
Girondists  had  no  sympathy  with  the  royalists,  who  sought  to 
direct  a  rebellion  which  they  could  never  have  originated.  And 
internal  discord  only  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  foreign  invaders 
of  France,  who  now  made  it  their  chief  object,  not  to  put  down  the 
revolution,  but  to  make  conquests  for  themselves.  The  English 
and  Austrians  took  Conde*  and  Valenciennes  and  once  more  opened 
the  route  to  Paris.  The  successes  of  Custine  in  Germany  had 
already  been  reversed,  and  Mainz,  which  alone  offered  any  resistance, 


542  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiii. 

was  recovered  by  the  Prussians  on  the  22nd  of  July.  The 
Spaniards  defeated  the  French  troops  in  the  Pyrenees,  and  20,000 
Piedmontese  invaded  France  on  the  side  of  the  Alps.  The  capital 
was  threatened  with  famine,  and,  to  make  matters  worse,  the  Eng- 
lish Government  declared  all  French  ports  in  a  state  of  blockade. 

§  11.  It  was  while  affairs  wTere  in  this  critical  condition  that  the 
Mountain  undertook  the  sole  conduct  of  government  in  France. 
They  had  hitherto  resisted  all  attempts  of  the  Girondists  to 
establish  a  new  constitution  in  place  of  that  of  1791.  They  now 
undertook  the  work  themselves,  and  in  four  days  drew  up  a 
constitution,  as  simple  as  it  was  democratic,  which  was  issued  on 
the  24th  of  June.  Every  citizen  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  could 
vote  directly  in  the  election  of  deputies,  who  were  chosen  for  a 
year  at  a  time,  and  were  to  sit  in  a  single  assembly.  The 
assembly  had  the  sole  power  of  making  laws,  but  a  period  was 
fixed  during  which  the  constituents  could  protest  against  its 
enactments.  The  executive  power  was  entrusted  to  twenty-four 
men,  who  were  chosen  by  the  assembly  from  candidates  nominated 
by  electors  chosen  by  the  original  voters.  Twelve  out  of  the 
twenty-four  were  to  be  renewed  every  six  months.  But  this  con- 
stitution was  intended  merely  to  satisfy  the  departments,  and  was 
never  put  into  practice.  The  condition  of  France  required  a 
greater  concentration  of  power,  and  tins  was  supplied  by  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety.  Ever  since  the  6th  of  April  the 
original  members  of  the  Committee  had  been  re-elected,  but  on  the 
10th  of  July  its  composition  was  changed.  Danton  ceased  to  be  a 
member,  and  Barere  was  joined  by  Ilobespierre,  St.  Just,  Couthon, 
Billaud-Varennes,  Collot  d'Herbois,  and,  in  a  short  time,  Carnot. 
These  men  became  the  absolute  rulers  of  France. 

The  Committee  had  no  difficulty  in  carrying  their  measures  in 
the  Convention,  from  which  the  opposition  party  had  disappeared. 
All  the  state  obligations  were  rendered  uniform  and  inscribed  in 
"  the  great  book  of  the  national  debt."  The  treasury  was  filled  by 
«,  compulsory  loan  from  the  rich.  Every  income  between  1000 
and  10,000  francs  had  to  pay  ten  per  cent.,  and  every  excess  over 
10,000  francs  had  to  be  contributed  in  its  entirety  for  one  j'ear. 
To  recruit  the  army  a  levee  en  masse  was  decreed.  "  The  young 
men  shall  go  to  war;  the  married  men  shall  forge  arms  and 
transport  supplies;  the  wives  shall  make  tents  and  clothes  and 
serve  in  the  hospitals ;  the  children  shall  tear  old  linen  into  lint ; 
the  aged  shall  resort  to  the  public  places  to  excite  the  courage  of 
the  warriors  and  hatred  against  kings."  Nor  were  measures 
neglected  against  domestic  enemies.  On  the  6th  of  September  a 
revolutionary  army,  consisting  of  6000  men  and  1200  artillerymen, 


A.D.  1793.  INTERNAL  REVOLTS.  543 

was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Committee  to  carry  out  its  orders 
throughout  France.  On  the  17th  the  famous  "law  of  the 
suspects  "  was  carried.  Under  the  term  "  suspects  "  were  included 
all  those  who  by  words,  acts  or  writings  had  shown  themselves  in 
favour  of  monarchy  or  of  federalism,  the  relatives  of  the  emigrants, 
etc.,  and  they  were  to  be  imprisoned  until  the  peace.  As  the 
people  were  in  danger  of  famine,  a  maximum  price,  already 
established  for  corn,  was  decreed  for  all  necessaries ;  if  a  merchant 
gave  up  his  trade  he  became  a  suspect,  and  the  hoarding  of  provisions 
was  punished  by  death.  On  the  10th  of  October  the  Convention 
definitely  transferred  its  powers  to  the  Committee,  by  subjecting 
all  officials  to  its  authority  and  by  postponing  the  trial  of  the  new 
constitution  until  the  peace. 

§  12.  Even  before  the  central  government  had  been  strengthened 
by  these  decrees,  great  progress  had  been  made  in  the  suppression 
of  internal  rebellions.  The  movement  in  the  north  was  the  first  to 
succumb.  The  royalist  general,  Wimpfen,  was  defeated  on  the 
15th  of  July,  and  on  the  3rd  of  August  the  commissioners  of  the 
Convention  entered  Caen,  which  was  treated  with  unusual  clemency. 
Soon  afterwards  Bordeaux,  the  centre  of  apparition  in  the  west, 
tendered  its  submission  and  accepted  the  constitution.  In  the 
.south  the  republican  forces  carried  all  Itefr-re  them.  Marseilles  was 
taken  on  the  23rd  of  August,  and  Toulon  only  saved  itself  for  a 
time  by  calling  to  its  assistance  the  English  admiral,  Hood;  in 
December  it  had  to  surrender  to  the  genius  of  Kapoleoa  Bonaparte. 
I,  the  most  formidable  opp  neut  of  the  capital,  was  besieged 
fniu  August  till  October,  and  when  it  was  finally  captured  the 
Convention  decreed  its  utter  destruction  and  the  erection  on  its  >ite 
of  a  pillar  with  the  inscription,  "  Lyons  made  war  against  freedom, 
Lyons  is  no  more."  The  people  of  La  Vendee,  in  spite  of  t  heir 
heroism,  were  doomed  to  the  same  fate.  The  attack  upon  Nantes 
had  failed  and  their  leader  Chatelineau  had  fallen.  The  province 
was  now  invaded,  and  the  garrison  of  Mainz,  U»ui.d  by  its  capitula- 
tion not  to  serve  against  the  foreign  enemy,  was  transferred  to  this 
scene  of  warfare.  The  Vendeans  were  no  match  for  regular  troops, 
and  after  they  had  experienced  four  successive  defeats,  more  than 
80,000  of  them  attempted  to  escape  into  Brittany.  The  attempt 
was  repulsed,  and  a  scattered  remnant  of  this  large  force  was  driven 
to  return  homewards.  The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  decided  to 
exterminate  a  population  which  it  was  impossible  to  pacify,  and  the 
province  was  given  up  to  a  military  execution.  By  the  end  of 
1793  almost  the  whole  of  France  had  submitted,  and  the 
revolutionary  commissioners  were  as  absolute  in  the  departments 
as  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  was  in  Paris. 


544  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxm. 

§  13.  Almost  equally  successful  was  the  conduct  of  the  war  with 
the  foreigners,  and  here,  too,  fortune  favoured  the  French.  Just 
as  the  internal  revolts  were  weakened  by  the  discord  between 
Girondists  and  royalists,  so  the  efforts  of  the  allies  were  paralysed 
by  the  ill-feeling  that  arose  between  Austria  and  Prussia  about  the 
second  partition  of  Poland.  It  was  this  which  prevented  the 
Prussians  from  advancing  after  the  capture  of  Mainz,  and  thus  lost 
the  favourable  moment  for  an  advance  upon  Paris.  At  the  same 
time  the  open  substitution  of  a  policy  of  territorial  aggrandisement 
for  the  disinterested  motives  which  had  been  professed  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  alienated  from  the  coalition  all  those  classes 
among  the  French  who  might  otherwise  have  sympathised  with 
them.  The  victory  of  the  democracy  in  Paris  reacted  up«-n  the 
military  administration.  Carnot,  a  man  of  great  organising 
genius,  undertook  the  control  of  the  war.  The  old  aristocratic 
generals,  such  as  Custine  and  Montesquieu,  were  replaced  by  men 
who  had  risen  from  the  ranks,  like  Jourdan,  Hoche  and  Pichegru. 
Thus  was  restored  that  unanimity  between  the  commanders  and 
the  central  government  which  had  given  the  French  their  great 
successes  at  the  end  of  1792,  and  the  interrup:ion  of  which  had  led 
to  i  he  subsequent  disasters. 

After  the  capture  of  Conde  and  Valenciennes  the  English  and 
Austrians,  instead  of  continuing  their  advance,  separated  to  secure 
their  own  selfish  interests.  The  prince  of  Coburg  attacked  and 
took  Quesnoy,  and  the  dnke  of  York  laid  siege  to  Dunkirk,  an  old 
object  of  greed  to  England.  Houchard,  who  had  succeeded  Custine 
in  the  command  of  the  northern  army,  was  ordered  to  attack  the 
English,  and  by  a  slight  success  at  Hondscoote  he  forced  York  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Dunkirk  (6  Sept.),  As  Houchard's  conduct  was 
considered  unsatisfactory,  Carnot  replaced  him  by  Jourdan,  who 
defeated  the  Austrians  at  Wattignies  (16  Oct.).  The  prince  of 
Coburg  retired  behind  the  Sambre,  and  effected  a  junction  with  the 
English,  while  the  French  went  into  winter  quarters.  Meanwhile, 
another  Austrian  army  under  Wurmser  had  invaded  Alsace  in  con- 
junction with  the  Prussians  under  Brunswick,  forced  the  lines  of 
Weissemburg,  and  almost  succeeded  in  taking  Strasburg.  But  the 
jealousy  between  the  two  commanders  and  between  their  respective 
armies  ruined  an  undertaking  which  had  been  so  successfully 
undertaken.  The  French,  led  by  Hoche  and  Pichegru,  and 
inspired  by  the  presence  of  St.  Just  as  commissioner  of  the 
Convention,  took  the  aggressive,  recovered  the  lines  of  Weissemburg, 
and  forced  the  invaders  to  retire  upon  the  Rhine. 

§  14.  These  successes  were  glorious  to  France,  but  they  were 
gullied  by  the  terrible  measures  which  the  victorious  party  thought 


a.d.  1793.  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  545 

itself  justified  in  taking  against  domestic  enemies.  The  "reign  of 
terror"  was  inaugurated  in  Paris  with  the  same  sophistical 
professions  of  virtue  that  had  been  employed  to  justify  religious 
persecutions  in  past  ages.  The  prisons  were  crammed  with  more 
than  5000  suspects,  arrested  under  the  decree  of  the  17th  of 
September.  The  revolutionary  tribunal,  hitherto  almost  inactive, 
now  commenced  its  bloodthirsty  functions.  The  first  victim  was 
Custine,  accused  of  treachery  in  the  surrender  of  Mainz  and 
Valenciennes.  Marie  Antoinette  followed  her  husband  to  the 
scaffold  with  not  inferior  courage  on  the  16th  of  October.  The 
imprisoned  Girondists,  with  Vergniaud  at  their  head,  shared  the 
same  fate.  Many  of  their  associates  who  had  escaped,  Roland, 
m,  and  Uuzot,  evaded  the  vengeance  of  their  implacable 
enemies  by  suicide.  Philip  of  Orleans,  Madame  Roland,  Bailly, 
Barnave,  Houchard,  and  a  number  of  other  men  scarcely  less 
distinguished,  perished  by  the  guillotine.  Among  the  almost 
innumerable  victims  of  the  terror  was  the  famous  Madame 
Dubarry,  once  the  all-powerful  mistress  of  Louis  XV.  In  Lyons, 
Toulon,  and  above  all  at  Nantes,  the  same  horrors  were  repeated 
with  even  less  pretence  of  judicial  forms. 

In  order  to  complete  the  separation  from  the  past  a  new 
calendar  was  introduced  on  the  6th  of  October.  The  year,  which 
began  on  the  22nd  of  September,  was  divided  into  twelve  equal 
months  :  vendemiaire,  brumaire,  frimaire,  for  the  autumn  ;  nivose, 
plumose,  ventose,  for  winter ;  germinal,  floreal,  prairial,  for  spring ; 
messidor,  thermidor,  fructidor,  for  summer.  Each  month  con- 
tained three  decades,  and  the  ten  days  of  etch  were  named  after 
their  numerical  order:  primidi,  duodi,  tridi,  jwarticU,  quintidi, 
sextidi,  septidi,  octidi,  nonidi,  decadi.  Every  tenth  day  was  to  be 
a  day  of  rest  Five  supplementary  days  were  added  at  the  end  of 
the  year,  called  sans-culotides,  and  dedicated  respectively  to  Genius, 
to  Labour,  to  Actions,  to  Recompenses,  and  to  Opinion.  The 
abolition  of  the  Christian  calendar,  and  with  it  of  the  old  Sundays 
and  festivals,  naturally  led  to  an  attack  upon  Christianity  itself. 
But  in  this  we  see  the  first  trace  of  divisions  in  the  jwirty  which 
had  hitherto  carried  everything  before  it  by  united  and  unscrupu- 
lous action. 

§  15.  For  some  time  the  Mountain  had  been  tending  to  split 
into  three  distinct  divisions,  representing  the  views  of  its  original 
leaders — Danton,  Robespierre,  and  Marat.  Danton's  party  had 
justified  the  employment  of  terror  by  the  necessity  of  saving  the 
country  ;  but,  now  that  this  objectj&ad  been  attained,  they  wished 
to  return  to  a  more  merciful  policy.  They  were  nicknamed  the 
u  moderates,"  and  their  views  were  powerfully  expressed  in  Lt 
25 


546  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiii. 

Vieux  Cordelier  of  Camille  Desmoulins.  They  were  supported  by 
the  vast  majority  of  the  bourgeois  class,  but  since  Danton's  retire- 
ment they  had  lost  all  hold  upon  the  government,  and  they  were 
discredited  by  the  looseness  and  luxury  of  their  private  life.  The 
party  of  Marat  had  been  deprived  of  its  real  leader  by  the  act  of 
Charlotte  Corday,  but  it  had  a  number  of  prominent  representatives, 
and  it  was  all-powerful  in  the  Commune,  f  Chaumette  and  his 
substitute  Hebert  were  its  political  chiefs ;  Ronsin,  commander  of 
the  revolutionary  army,  its  general ;  the  atheist,  Anacharsis  Clootz, 
its  apostle."  The  club  of  the  Cordeliers,  from  which  the  Dantonists 
had  been  excluded,  was  entirely  composed  of  its  partisans.  These 
men,  known  as  the  exageres  or  Hebertists,  gloried  in  the  worst 
excesses  of  the  revolution,  and  wished  to  destroy  all  religion  in 
France.  Their  opinions  were  shamelessly  expressed  in  the  in- 
famous paper,  Pere  Duchene,  of  which  Hebert  was  the  proprietor 
and  editor.  They  took  the  lead  in  the  destruction  of  the  royal 
tombs  at  St.  Denis,  and  they  forced  the  Convention  to  decree  the 
abolition  of  the  Catholic  faith  and  to  adopt  the  religion  of  freedom 
and  equality.  On  the  10th  of  November  they  celebrated  the 
famous  "  feast  of  reason  "  in  Notre  Dame,  where  the  goddess  was 
represented  by  a  prostitute.  These  obscene  rites  excited  the  out- 
spoken disgust  of  Robespierre,  who  was  a  sincere  believer  in  the 
deism  which  he  had  extracted  from  the  writings  of  Rousseau,  and 
who  adopted  Voltaire's  phrase  that  "  if  God  did  not  exist  it  would 
be  necessary  to  invent  Him."  Robespierre  occupies  a  middle 
position  between  the  indulgents  on  the  one  side,  and  the  extreme 
party  on  the  other.  He  was  still  master  of  the  Jacobin  club  and 
its  affiliated  societies,  and  with  his  allies,  St.  Just,  Couthon,  Billaud- 
Varennes,  and  Collot  d'Herbois,  he  could  command  a  secure  majo- 
rity in  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety.  The  Committee  was  now 
definitely  opposed  to  the  Commune,  and  determined  to  crush  its 
rival  by  the  destruction  of  the  Hebertists.  At  the  same  time 
Robespierre  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  Danton  and  his 
adherents,  who  made  vigorous  efforts  to  draw  him  over  to  their 
side.  He  resolved  on  the  destruction  of  the  two  parties  which 
threatened  to  ruin  the  republic,  the  one  by  their  anarchical  excesses, 
the  other  by  their  ill-timed  levity  ;  and  he  pursued  his  aim  with  a 
combination  of  obstinacy  and  dissimulation  which  excited  the 
admiration  of  his  followers  and  the  bitter  wrath  of  his  deceived 
opponents.  He  first  allied  himself  with  the  Dantonists,  and  on  the 
15th  of  March,  He'bert,  Chaumette,  Anacharsis  Clootz,  Ronsin  and 
others  were  arrested  and  soon  afterwards  executed.  A  universal 
feeling  of  relief  spread  through  Paris  and  France  at  the  punishment 
of  these  ruffians,  but  it  was  speedily  dissipated   on  the  30th  of 


a.d.  1793-1794.  ROBESPIERRE.  547 

March,  when  Danton,  Camille  Desmoulins,  and  several  of  their 
associates  were  also  conducted  to  prison.  The  accusation  was 
managed  by  St.  Just,  but  it  broke  down  beneath  the  invectives  of 
Danton,  who  pointed  triumphantly  to  his  past  conduct,  denounced 
the  treachery  of  his  accusers,  and  defeated  all  the  efforts  that  were 
made  to  silence  him.  So  great  was  the  impression  made  by  his 
defence,  that  the  Convention  was  forced  to  decree  the  termination 
of  the  trial,  and  the  accused  were  condemned  with  revolutionary 
promptness.  On  the  5th  of  April  the  Dantonists,  fifteen  in  number, 
were  led  to  the  scaffold,  and  met  their  fate  with  a  resolution  worthy 
of  a  better  cause.  A  few  days  later  the  last  remnants  of  the  two 
defeated  parties,  including  the  widows  of  Hubert  and  of  Desmoulius, 
were  got  rid  of  in  the  same  way. 

Robespierre  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  power,  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety  was  as  yet  undivided,  the  Commune,  in  which 
Fleuriot  had  succeeded  Pache,  was  devoted  to  him,  and  the  Con- 
vention did  not  dare  to  question  his  will.  The  roup)  of  terror  was 
continued  with  increased  severity.  Nearly  600  victims  perished 
between  March  and  June,  and  among  them  were  Louis  Wis 
sister  Elizabeth,  the  virtuous  Mslesherbes  and  his  family,  and  a 
number  of  men  who  had  played  an  active  part  in  the  constituent  and 
legislative  assemblies.  Carrier  at  Nautes,  and  Joseph  Lebon  at  A  rras, 
even  surpassed  the  cruelties  of  the  capital.  At  the  same  time  Robes- 
pierre took  steps  to  revive  religion  in  France  under  new  forms. 
On  the  7th  of  May,  he  carried  a  decree  by  which  the  Convention 
formally  recognised  the  existence  of  a  supreme  being  and  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  A  month  later  he  presided,  with  almost 
pontifical  dignity,  over  the  "  festival  of  the  supreme  being,"  which 
was  intended  to  drive  from  men's  minds  all  recollection  of  the 
orgies  of  the  feast  of  reason. 

§  16.  But  before  long  the  unity  of  the  revolutionary  government 
was  destroyed  by  the  rise  of  new  parties.  On  the  one  hand  were 
the  most  bloodthirsty  of  the  leaders,  Billaud-Varennes  and  Collot 
d'Herbois,  who  were  jealous  of  the  ascendancy  of  Robespierre,  and 
were  anxious  to  carry  the  terror  to  extremes  from  which  even  he 
shrank.  They  were  joined  by  Barere,  whose  command  of  feeble 
epigrams  gave  him  undeserved  prominence,  and  who  was  im- 
pelled by  cowardice  to  desert  any  cause  that  seemed  to  be  failing. 
As  compared  with  these  men,  Hobespierre  and  his  immediate 
associates,  Couthon  and  St.  Just,  were  moral  and  moderate.  They 
had  at  last  begun  to  perceive  an  end  of  the  revolution  in  their 
own  dictatorship  and  the  adoption  of  their  sentimental  deism  by 
the  people.  The  terror  was  to  end  when  they  had  inaugurated  the 
"reign  of  virtue."    Robespierre  went  so  far  as  to  demand   tht 


548  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxm. 

recall  of  the  infamous  Carrier,  and  to  oppose  the  action  of  the 
Cornite  de  surete  generate,  which  directed  the  administration  of 
justice  and  police.  The  real  moderates  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  were  the  men  like  Carnot,  who  belonged  to  no  party,  and 
devoted  themselves  to  the  executive  business  that  devolved  on 
them. 

The  opposition  to  Robespierre  was  formed  by  the  union  of  the 
extreme  adherents  of  Billaud  and  Collot  with  the  remnants  of 
Danton's  party  and  all  who  were  revolted  by  the  cruelty  of  the 
existing  system.  Indignant  at  the  slightest  resistance  to  his  will, 
Robespierre  determined  to  continue  the  terror  until  all  his  enemies 
had  been  destroyed,  and  proposed  to  the  Convention  the  infamous 
law  of  the  22nd  Prairial  (10  June).  The  revolutionary  tribunal 
was  to  be  divided  into  four  sections  in  order  to  increase  its  activity, 
the  only  penalty  that  it  could  impose  was  death,  and  no  proof  of 
guilt  was  required  except  a  "moral"  conviction  of  the  jurors. 
Hitherto  no  deputy  could  be  brought  to  trial  except  by  decree  of 
the  Convention,  now  all  that  was  required  was  an  order  of  the 
Committee.  The  measure  was  received  with  terrified  horror,  but 
Robespierre's  personal  ascendancy  was  still  so  great  that  it  was 
carried.  But  from  this  time  the  opposition  could  not  rest  until  it 
had  secured  its  safety  by  the  overthrow  of  the  tyrant.  An  attack 
was  made  upon  Catharine  Theot,  an  old  woman  who  was  accused 
of  founding  a  sect  for  the  worship  of  Robespierre  as  a  new  Messiah ; 
and  the  latter  was  so  chagrined  that  he  retired  from  public  life  for 
a  fortnight.  This  was  a  fatal  error  at  a  moment  when  energetic 
action  would  have  foiled  all  the  plans  of  his  enemies.  St.  Just 
vainly  urged  him  to  act  with  daring.  The  fact  was,  that  Robes- 
pierre had  hitherto  taken  advantage  of  movements  originated  by 
others,  and  never  organised  a  coup  d'etat  of  his  own  accord.  To 
the  last  minute  he  believed  that  his  personal  influence  would  over- 
awe opposition,  and  that  the  employment  of  force  would  be  un- 
necessary. The  Commune  was  now  his  chief  stronghold,  but  no 
actual  preparations  had  been  made  when  the  final  attack  was  made 
by  his  enemies  in  the  Convention  on  the  9th  Thermidor  (27 
July).  After  a  stormy  debate,  in  which  Robespierre  vainly  strove 
to  obtain  a  hearing,  his  arrest  was  decreed,  together  with  that  of 
Couthon  and  St.  Just.  Lebas  and  Robespierre's  younger  brother 
shared  the  same  fate  on  their  own  demand. 

Meanwhile  the  leaders  of  the  Commune,  Fleuriot,  Payan,  and 
Henriot,  were  assembled  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  On  the  news  that 
the  triumvirs  were  arrested,  they  at  once  gave  the  signal  for  a 
general  insurrection.  Henriot,  as  he  made  the  round  of  the 
streets  to  call  the  people  to  arms,  was  seized  by  two  members  of 


a.d.  1794.  DEATH  OF  ROBESPIERRE.  549 

the  Convention.  But  this  reverse  was  only  temporary.  The 
agents  of  the  Commune  succeeded  in  releasing  not  only  llenriot  but 
Robespierre  and  his  fellow-prisoners,  who  arrived  in  triumph  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  It  was  a  critical  moment  for  the  Convention  when 
Henriot,  resuming  the  command  of  the  troops,  induced  them  to 
turn  their  cannon  upon  the  Tuileries.  But  the  gunners  refused  to 
fire,  and  the  deputies  were  encouraged  to  declare  their  opponents 
outlaws.  An  armed  force  was  organised  under  Barras  and  marched 
upon  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  populace  was  not  really  eager  to 
support  the  triumvirs,  and  no  resistance  was  made  to  the  troops  of 
the  Convention.  Robespierre  and  his  associates  were  still  discussing 
what  measures  to  adopt  when  the  enemy  reached  the  hall.  All 
except  Couthon  and  St.  Just  made  futile  attempts  to  commit 
suicide :  they  were  seized,  identified  before  the  revolutionary 
tribunal,  and  thence  despatched  to  the  scaffold,  where  they  perished 
(28  July).  The  fall  of  Robespierre's  head  was  greeted  with  thunders 
of  applause  by  the  assembled  crowd.  His  name  has  been  identified 
with  all  the  worst  excesses  of  the  revolution  and  handed  down  to 
the  execration  of  posterity.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  was  the 
ruthless  villain  that  he  has  been  depicted.  He  was  certainly  a 
better  man  than  Marat,  Hebert,  Collot  dUerbofa,  or  Barere,  and  from 
some  points  of  view  he  is  more  estimable  than  Danton.  The  hatred 
against  him  is  due  not  so  much  to  the  enormity  of  his  crimes,  black 
though  they  are,  as  to  the  feeling  of  horrified  surprise  that  so  much 
evil  in  the  world  could  be  effected  by  so  insignificant  a  man. 
Robespierre  owed  his  position  not  to  his  abilities,  which  were  me- 
diocre, but  to  the  persistence  of  a  shallow  intellect  working  within 
narrow  limits.  His  egregious  vanity  helped  him,  by  blinding  his 
eyes  both  to  moral  turpitude  and  to  tactical  errors.  He  was  fitted 
by  nature  to  be  the  despot,  partly  respected  and  partly  feared,  of  a 
town  council  or  a  board  of  guardians  :  the  malice  of  destiny  called 
him  to  be  an  active  agent  in  an  earth-shaking  revolution. 

iii.  tliermdorian  reaction.    end  op  convention. 
27  July,  1794,  to  26  October,  1 

§  17.  The  fall  of  Robespierre  was  followed  by  a  quarrel  between 
the  two  parties  who  had  combined  to  bring  it  about.  The  party  of 
the  Committees,  headed  by  Billaud-Varennes,  Barere  and  Collot 
d'Herbois,  nad  aimed  merely  at  the  establishment  of  their  own 
power,  and  had  no  idea  of  altering  the  system  of  government.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  moderates  and  Dantonists,  Boissy  d*Anglas, 
Sieyes,  Chenier,  Tallien,  FreVon,  Barras,  etc.,  wished  to  terminate  the 
terror  and  to  restore  confidence  by  a  period  of  peace  and  lenity. 


550  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxur. 

Public  opinion  was  on  their  side,  they  had  a  majority  in  the  Con- 
vention, and  after  a  brief  struggle  they  succeeded  in  carrying  their 
measures.  The  vacancies  in  the  Committees  of  Public  Safety  and  of 
General  Security  were  filled  by  Thermidorians,  and  thus  freed  from 
the  control  of  Billaud.  The  law  of  22  Prairial  was  repealed,  Ihe 
revolutionary  tribunal  suspended,  and  its  president,  Fouquier- 
Tinville,  brought  to  trial.  In  order  to  weaken  the  authority  of  the 
Committees,  the  law  by  which  a  third  of  their  members  were  re- 
newed every  month  was  strictly  enforced,  and  Billaud  with  his 
adherents,  rinding  themselves  powerless,  resigned  their  seats.  The 
maximum  was  abolished,  and  the  Commune  of  Paris  was  replaced 
by  two  Committees,  of  finance  and  police,  nominated  by  the 
Convention.  The  terrorists  had  no  longer  any  constitutional 
position,  and  their  only  hope  lay  in  exciting  a  movement  of  the  mob 
by  the  help  of  the  Jacobin  club.  To  meet  this  danger  an  irregular 
force  was  formed  of  members  of  the  wealthy  class,  known  as  the 
jeunesse  doree  of  Freron.  A  series  of  collisions  between  them  and 
the  Jacobins  ended  in  the  closing  of  the  famous  club  by  decree  of 
the  Convention  (Dec.  1794).  The  reaction  reached  its  climax  when 
Carrier,  the  brutal  oppressor  of  Nantes,  was  tried  and  executed. 
The  liberty  of  the  press  was  restored,  an  amnesty  was  granted  to 
the  Vendeans,  and  finally,  after  long  debates,  the  63  Girondists, 
who  had  been  expelled  in  October,  1793,  recovered  their  seats  in  the 
Convention.  Billaud,  Collot,  and  Barere  were  arrested,  and  the  two 
first  were  exiled. 

§  18.  The  reaction  in  Paris  was  materially  aided  by  the  success 
which  attended  the  French  arms  in  the  campaign  of  1794.  Austria 
and  Prussia  were  hopelessly  alienated  by  the  recent  affairs  in  Poland, 
and  the  latter  made  no  secret  of  its  wish  to  retire  from  the  western 
war.  England,  the  most  active  member  of  the  coalition,  suggested 
that  the  Prussian  troops  should  remain  at  the  expense  of  the  allies. 
As  Austria  refused  to  contribute  anything  for  this  purpose,  England 
had  to  undertake  the  whole  burden.  In  April  Lord  Malmesbury 
concluded  a  treaty  at  the  Hague,  by  which,  in  return  for  a  subsidy, 
60,000  Prussians  under  Mollendorf  were  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  maritime  powers.  This  being  settled,  it  was  determined  to 
take  Landrecies  and  to  advance  thence  upon  Paris.  Coburg,  the 
Austrian  commander,  took  the  town  on  the  30th  of  April,  but  the 
advance  of  Pichegru,  with  the  army  of  the  north,  compelled  him  to 
give  up  the  project  of  invasion  and  to  stand  on  the  defensive.  The 
English  troops  under  the  duke  of  York  were  defeated  at  Turcoing, 
and  Ypres  was  taken  by  Pichegru's  lieutenant,  Moreau.  But  the 
campaign  was  decided,  not  so  much  by  French  victories,  as  by 
Kosciusko's  revolt  in  Poland,  which  French  intrigues  had  helped  to 


A.D.  1794-1795.  FRENCH  VICTORIES.  551 

bring  about.  The  attention  of  the  two  great  German  powers  was 
suddenly  called  away  to  the  east.  In  spite  of  the  treaty  of  the 
Hague,  Mollendorf  refused  to  march  to  the  Netherlands,  and  the 
Prussians  remained  obstinately  inactive  on  the  Rhine,  while  their 
king  hurried  off  to  Poland.  Thugut  determined  to  sacrifice  Belgium 
to  the  chance  of  acquiring  territories  nearer  home.  The  French 
pressed  on  to  attack  Charleroi ;  Prussian  inaction  enabled  Carnot  to 
supply  numerous  reinforcements  under  Jourdan,  and  after  a  long 
and  obstinate,  but  indecisive  battle  at  Fleurus  (26  June),  Coburg 
retreated  behind  the  Meuse,  while  York  retired  into  Brabant. 
Pichegru  entered  Brussels,  and  the  Netherlands  were  once  more  in 
French  possession.  French  victories  on  the  side  of  Piedmont  and 
the  Pyrenees  completed  the  humiliation  of  the  allies.  Their  only 
success  was  at  sea,  where  Howe  utterly  defeated  the  French  fleet  off 
Ushant  on  the  first  of  June. 

Coburg,  the  most  capable  general  of  the  allies,  resigned  his  com- 
mand in  disgust  at  the  shameful  evacuation  of  Belgium,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Clairfait.  After  a  short  delay,  the  French  resumed 
their  advance,  drove  the  Austrians  across  the  Rhine,  and  occupied 
Cologne,  Bonn,  and  Coblentz  in  rapid  succession.  The  retirement  of 
the  Prussians  at  the  same  time  gave  to  France  absolute  possession 
of  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  Pichegru,  regardless  of  the  winter, 
now  invaded  Holland,  which  was  defended  by  the  English  under 
Walmoden,  the  duke  of  York  having  been  recalled.  No  real  resist- 
ance was  made  to  the  invaders,  who  crossed  the  rivers  on  the  ice,  and 
a  regiment  of  cavalry  captured  the  Dutch  fleet  in  the  Texel.  The 
stadt holder  fled  with  his  family  to  England,  and  Holland  was  made 
into  the  Batavian  republic  in  complete  dependence  upon  France. 

1794  was  a  great  year  to  France  :  in  addition  to  Savoy  and  Nice, 
she  had  conquered  Belgium,  Holland,  Germany  left  of  the  Rhine, 
and  stripe  of  Piedmont  and  northern  Spain.  The  coalition  fell  to 
pieces  under  these  repeated  blows.  The  grand-duke  of  Tuscany, 
brother  of  Francis  II.,  was  the  first  to  come  to  terms  with  the 
republic  (Feb.  1795).  The  obvious  interests  of  Prussia  and  the 
persistence  of  the  ant i- Austrian  party  at  Berlin,  overcame  at  last 
the  scruples  of  Frederick  William  II.,  and  a  treaty  was  signed  at 
Basel  in  April.  France  retained  the  Prussian  territories  to  the  left 
of  the  Rhine  on  the  understanding  that  on  the  conclusion  of  peace 
some  compensation  should  be  given  on  the  right  bank.  France 
recognised  the  neutrality  of  the  states  of  Northern  Germany  as  the 
allies  of  Prussia.  In  June,  Spain  followed  the  contagious  example, 
and  purchased  peace  by  ceding  the  Spanish  Port  of  St.  Domingo.  One 
of  the  obstacles  to  this  treaty  was  removed  by  the  death  of  the 
dauphin,  whom  the  royalists  called  Louis  XVII.  (8  June).     The 


552  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiii. 

unfortunate  prince  had  never  been  freed  from  his  imprisonment 
in  the  Temple.  The  royal  title  was  now  assumed  by  the  count  of 
Provence  as  Louis  XVIII. 

§  19.  The  triumph  over  foreign  enemies  by  no  means  terminated 
the  distress  in  France.  The  assignats  were  debased  and  Paris  was 
threatened  with  famine.  The  opponents  of  the  reaction  took 
advantage  of  the  discontent  to  provoke  a  rebellion  against  the  Con- 
vention. On  1  Prairial  (May  20,  1795)  the  assembly  was  attacked 
by  the  mob,  which  demanded  "bread  and  the  constitution  of 
'93."  One  of  the  deputies  was  shot,  and  for  six  hours  disorder  and 
outrage  prevailed  as  in  the  early  days  of  the  revolution.  But  the 
dominant  party  had  taken  precautions  against  attack,  and  20,000 
regular  troops  under  General  Menou  put  down  the  rising.  The 
leaders  of  the  mob  were  executed.  But  the  success  of  the  re- 
actionary party  involved  a  new  danger  by  encouraging  the  royalists. 
The  English  government  opened  negotiations  with  the  Chouans  in 
Brittany  and  the  leaders  of  La  Vendee.  In  order  to  give  con- 
sistency to  the  anti-revolutionary  movements,  it  was  determined  to 
invite  a  number  of  emigrants  to  France,  and  they  landed,  with  the 
count  of  Artois  at  their  head,  in  the  peninsula  of  Quiberon.  But  the 
scheme  was  foiled  by  the  activity  of  Hoche.  After  driving  the 
emigrants  from  French  soil,  he  turned  upon  the  rebels,  and  succeeded 
in  suppressing  them  by  a  judicious  combination  of  firmness  and 
conciliation.  In  1796  Charette  and  Stofflet,  the  Vendean  leaders, 
were  captured  and  shot. 

§  20.  Meanwhile,  the  Convention  had  drawn  up  a  new  con- 
stitution, the  work  of  the  Girondists.  Legislative  power  was 
entrusted  to  two  councils,  one,  the  Conseil  des  Anciens,  consisting 
of  250  members  over  40  years  of  age,  the  other  of  500  members 
over  30.  Every  year  a  third  of  each  council  was  to  retire  in  favour 
of  new  members.  The  deputies  were  to  be  chosen  by  electors 
nominated  by  the  primary  assemblies  which  consisted  of  all  citizens 
over  21  and  paying  a  direct  tax.  The  executive  was  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  a  Directory  of  five  persons,  one  of  whom  was  to  retire 
every  year.  The  Five  Hundred  were  to  nominate  ten  candidates  for 
each  place  in  the  Directory,  and  from  these  ten  the  final  selection 
was  to  be  made  by  the  smaller  council.  The  retiring  director  was 
determined  by  lot.  The  fear  of  a  complete  reversal  of  their  policy 
induced  the  Convention  to  add  a  special  article,  that  two-thirds  of 
the  new  assembly  should  be  chosen  from  among  its  own  members, 
and  only  one  third  was  to  be  freely  elected.  If  the  electors  refused 
to  choose  these  two-thirds,  then  the  Convention  would  select  them 
itself.  This  undisguised  resolution  to  preserve  the  rule  of  the 
dominant  majority  naturally  roused  the  bitter  indignation  ofal] 


a.d.  1795.  THE  DIRECTORY.  553 

opponents,  whether  royalists  or  terrorists.  The  Convention  was  called 
upon  to  face  a  new  rising  in  Paris  on  the  13  Vende'miaire  (5  Oct.). 
The  command  of  the  troops  was  entrusted  to  Barras,  but  he  handed 
on  the  responsibility  to  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  a  young  Corsican,  born 
just  at  the  time  when  Choiseul  annexed  that  island  (1768),  who 
had  won  considerable  reputation  in  the  siege  of  Toulon,  but  who 
had  recently  been  removed  from  his  command  on  account  of  his 
supposed  connection  with  Robespierre.  Bonaparte  took  his  measures 
with  characteristic  decision.  Cannon  were  brought  up  from  a 
neighbouring  camp,  and  volleys  of  grape-shot  speedily  dispersed  the 
rebels  with  great  loss.  On  the  26th  of  October  the  Convention 
was  dissolved,  and  the  new  constitution  came  into  operation. 

IV.    The  Directory.    26  October,  1795,  to  9  November,  1799. 

§  21.  On  the  27th  of  October  the  newly  elected  deputies  were 
joined  by  twice  their  number  of  members  of  the  Convention,  and 
the  whole  body  was  divided  into  the  two  prescribed  councils.  The 
Five  Hundred  took  up  their  quarters  in  the  riding-school  where  the 
Constituent  Assembly  had  sat,  while  the  250  Ancients  remained  in 
the  Tuileries.  The  first  duty  of  the  new  legislature  was  the 
election  of  the  five  Directors,  and  out  of  the  fifty  nominees  the 
Ancients  chose  La  Re\eillere-Lepaux,  Letourneur,  Re  w  bell,  Sieves, 
and  Barras.  On  the  refusal  of  Sieves  to  accept  ottoS)  Carnot  was 
selected  in  his  place.  The  Directors  were  installed  in  the 
Luxemburg,  which  was  assigned  as  the  seat  of  the  executive 
government,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  settle  their  respective 
functions.  Rewbell,  an  active  and  experienced  lawyer,  assumed 
the  control  of  justice,  finance  and  foreign  affairs;  La  Reveillere,  a 
feeble  enthusiast  for  what  he  called  "  theophilanthropy,"  became 
a  sort  of  minister  for  home  affairs ;  Barras,  better  fitted  for  intriguo 
than  for  government,  took  the  police;  Letourneur  managed  the 
navy  and  the  colonies ;  while  the  direction  of  the  war  fell  into  the 
experienced  hands  of  Carnot.  The  choice  of  the  Directors  illustrates 
the  primary  object  of  the  dominant  majority,  which  was  to  prevent 
the  possibility  of  a  restoration  of  the  monarchy.  They  were  all 
men  who  had  voted  for  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  had  thus 
given  hostages  to  the  republic. 

The  internal  condition  of  France  was  calculated  to  inspire  the 
new  government  with  despair.  The  Directors  "entered  the 
Luxemburg  without  finding  even  a  table  to  write  upon,  and  the 
state  was  in  no  better  order  than  the  palace."  The  exchequer  was 
empty,  the  a&siguats  had  fallen  to  a  thousandth  part  of  their 
nominal  value,  the  army  was  without  pay,  and  the  people  were 
25* 


554  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxin. 

without  food.  The  abolition  of  the  maximum  had  done  nothing  to 
restore  confidence,  while  it  had  removed  the  compulsory  character 
of  production  and  exchange.  The  Directors  Mere  not,  as  a  body, 
men  of  distinguished  ability,  yet  they  succeeded  in  grappling  with 
these  difficulties  with  fair  success.  The  comparatively  settled 
character  of  their  rule  did  more  than  anything  else  to  put  an  end 
to  the  general  sense  of  insecurity,  which  was  the  chief  cause  of  the 
stagnation  of  trade.  Agriculture  and  all  kinds  of  industry  revived, 
as  the  feverish  interest  in  politics  declined,  and  the  clubs  were 
deserted  for  the  fields  and  the  workshop.  But  the  finances  proved 
a  crucial  difficulty.  The  number  of  assignats  in  circulation 
amounted  nominally  to  45,000,000,000  francs,  and  further  issue 
was  impossible.  After  several  expedients  had  been  tried,  the 
Directors  determined  to  issue  a  new  kind  of  paper-money,  mandats 
territoriaux,  each  of  which  entitled  the  holder  on  demand  to  a 
specified  portion  of  the  national  domains.  Mandats  to  the  value  of 
800  millions  sufficed  to  buy  up  all  the  debased  assignats,  and  the 
block  from  which  the  latter  were  printed  was  broken.  The 
mandats,  on  account  of  the  comparative  ease  of  realisation,  were  at 
first  welcomed  by  the  people,  and  their  issue  gave  temporary  relief 
to  the  government.  But  before  long  depreciation  began,  and  the 
State  advanced  nearer  and  nearer  to  bankruptcy. 

But  the  real  credit  of  the  Directory  in  its  early  months  lies  not 
so  much  in  any  particular  measures,  as  in  the  fact  that  the  domestic 
history  of  France  loses  for  a  time  its  exciting  character.  Parties 
were  at  last  exhausted  by  their  incessant  struggles,  and  though 
they  had  no  special  enthusiasm  for  the  government  they  preferred 
it  to  anarchy.  Brittany  and  La  Vendee  were  pacified  by  the 
admirable  measures  of  Hoche.  The  old  party  of  the  Jacobins  made 
a  despairing  effort,  under  Babceufs  leadership,  to  recover  their 
ascendancy  in  Paris,  but  the  plot  was  detected  and  its  originators 
were  put  to  death  (May,  1796).  The  quietude  of  internal  politics 
was  accompanied,  and  partly  caused,  by  a  tremendous  extension  of 
the  foreign  war. 

§  22.  The  establishment  of  a  settled  government  in  France 
offered  a  favourable  opportunity  for  a  general  peace,  but  England 
and  Austria,  who  had  answered  the  treaty  of  Basel  by  a  new 
offensive  alliance  (May,  1795),  refused  to  take  advantage  of  it. 
Thugut,  who  directed  foreign  politics  at  Vienna,  was  inspired  with 
bitter  enmity  towards  Prussia,  and  was  eager  to  compensate 
Austria  for  its  exertions  by  acquiring  territory.  In  England,  Pitt 
for  a  long  time  strenuously  resisted  the  growing  antipathy  to  the 
war,  and  when  at  last  he  opened  negotiations,  he  found  that  France 
would  not  grant  his  most  essential  demand,  the  restoration  of  the 


a.d.  1795-1796.  PROGRESS  OP  THE  WAR.  555 

Netherlands  to  Austria.  Moreover,  the  allies  were  encouraged  by 
the  fact  that  the  desertion  of  Prussia  had  not  led,  as  was  expected, 
to  a  complete  collapse  of  the  war  in  Germany.  The  French  had 
begun  the  campaign  by  capturing  the  great  fortress  of  Luxemburg, 
and  their  two  armies,  under  Pichegru  and  Jourdan  respectively, 
received  orders  to  cross  the  Rhine  and  take  Mainz.  But  Pichegru, 
the  conqueror  of  Belgium  and  Holland,  was  dissatisfied  with  the 
reward  of  his  services  and  with  the  course  of  affairs  at  home. 
Like  Dumouriez  under  similar  circumstances,  he  determined  to 
betray  his  country,  and  opened  negotiations  with  the  prince  of 
Condi.  The  advance  of  Jourdan  compelled  him  to  obey  his 
instructions,  he  took  Mannheim,  and  Mainz  was  closely  blockaded. 
But  under  these  circumstances  the  conduct  of  the  French  was  not 
likely  to  be  very  efficient.  By  a  series  of  masterly  movements,  the 
Austrian  generals,  Glairfait  and  Wiirmser,  broke  up  the  blockade, 
recovered  Mannheim,  and  drove  the  French  in  disorder  across  the 
Rhine.  Hostilities  were  closed  in  December  by  an  armistice,  and 
Pichegru,  whose  treachery  was  suspected  though  not  proved,  was 
recalled  by  the  home  government. 

§  23.  In  1796  Carnot  planned  a  grand  triple  attack  upon  the  power 
of  Austria.  Two  French  armies  were  to  advance  through  Germany, 
while  a  third  was  to  enter  Italy.  It  was  in  the  latter  country  that 
results  of  decisive  importance  were  obtained.  In  1792  the  French  had 
annexed  Savoy  and  Nice,  and  since  then  they  had  been  pressing  h1<  »wly 
but  surely  over  the  Maritime  Alps.  In  IT1.'.")  a  victory  of  General 
Scherer  at  Loano  had  secured  the  entrance  into  Piedmont.  Scherer 
was  superseded  by  Bonaparte,  who  had  recently  married  Josephine 
Beauharnais,  the  mistress  of  Barras,  and  who  was  supported  by 
Barras  and  Carnot  among  the  Directors.  Bonaparte  found  his 
soldiers  in  the  most  lamentable  condition,  starving  for  want  of 
clothes  and  food,  but  he  encouraged  them  with  the  prospect  of  the 
plunder  of  Italy.  He  was  opposed  by  2000  Piedmontese  troops 
under  Colli  and  40,000  Austrians  under  Beaulieu,  and  his  first 
object  was  to  separate  the  two  hostile  armies.  This  he  succeeded 
in  effecting  by  rapid  victories  at  Montenotte  and  Dego  (April, 
1796).  Determined  not  to  leave  a  hostile  province  in  his  rear,  he 
disregarded  the  express  instructions  of  the  Directors  and  pursued 
the  Piedmontese  to  the  gates  of  Turin,  where  he  forced  Victor 
Amadeu*  III.  to  sign  an  armistice.  The  king  withdrew  from  the 
coalition,  disbanded  his  army,  and  surrendered  his  chief  fortresses  as 
hostages  till  the  conclusion  of  peace.  The  Directors  were  compelled 
to  approve  the  disobedience  of  the  general,  and  their  scruples  were 
overpowered  by  the  sums  of  money  which  were  extorted  from  the 
conquered,  and  which  materially  helped  the  government  to  cope 


556  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiii. 

with  financial  difficulties.  Bonaparte  now  turned  to  pursue  the 
Austrians,  and  a  small  engagement  at  Fornbio  enabled  him  to  carry 
the  line  of  the  Ticino  and  to  cross  the  Po.  Beaulieu  now  made  a 
stand  on  the  Adda,  tne  second  of  those  vertical  rivers  which  form 
the  only  lines  of  defence  on  the  Lombard  plain.  Bonaparte 
attacked  him  at  Lodi,  and  by  an  onslaught  carried  the  bridge  and 
gained  a  complete  victory  (9  May).  This  success  gave  the  whole 
of  Lombardy  to  the  French  ;  the  Austrians  retreated  to  the  Mincio, 
to  their  great  fortress  of  Mantua.  Milan  sent  in  its  submission, 
Bonaparte  entered  the  city  in  triumph,  and,  in  accordance  with  his 
usual  custom,  demanded  the  payment  of  twenty  millions  of  francs 
for  the  privilege  of  subjection  to  France.  Still  more  obnoxious  than 
these  pecuniary  exactions  was  the  reckless  robbery  of  works  of  art, 
which  were  sent  off  wholesale  to  Paris.  In  despairing  indignation 
the  citizens  of  Pavia  rose  against  their  conquerors,  but  Bonaparte 
put  down  the  revolt  with  severity,  and  took  advantage  of  it  to 
justify  fresh  extortions.  His  express  instructions  were  to  march 
upon  Leghorn,  Rome,  and  Naples,  but  he  was  determined  to  leave 
southern  Italy  till  he  had  crushed  the  Austrians,  and  the  Directors 
could  not  afford  to  quarrel  with  a  general  who  poured  such  lavish 
supplies  into  the  exhausted  treasury.  The  great  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  a  French  advance  upon  the  Mincio  lay  in  the  fact  that  the 
district  as  far  as  Bergamo  belonged  to  Venice,  and  Venice  was  a 
neutral  power.  Cynically  disregarding  the  neutrality,  Bonaparte 
occupied  Brescia,  and  thus  compelled  the  Austrians  to  encroach 
upon  Venetian  territory  by  entering  Pescbiera.  Beaulieu  was 
again  defeated  at  Borghetto  and  driven  to  retreat  into  Tyrol. 
Bonaparte  now  picked  a  quanel  with  Venice  on  the  ground  that 
they  had  admitted  the  Austrians  to  their  territory,  made  himself 
master  of  the  Adige  by  seizing  Verona  and  Legnago,  and  then  laid 
siege  to  Mantua.  He  was  now  able  to  give  some  attention  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Directors.  Naples  he  had  admitted  to  an  armistice, 
but  he  sent  Augereau  to  occupy  Ferrara  and  Bologna  in  the  papal 
states,  while  another  detachment  under  Murat  treacherously 
seized  and  plundered  Leghorn,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  grand- 
duke  of  Tuscany  had  in  the  previous  year  made  peace  with  France. 
While  enjoying  the  hospitality  of  the  grand-duke  at  Florence, 
Bonaparte  was  treacherous  enough  to  urge  upon  the  Directors  the 
impolicy  of  leaving  a  brother  of  the  emperor  in  possession  of  his 
territories. 

These  easy  and  not  very  creditable  aggressions  were  suddenly 
interrupted  by  a  new  danger  from  the  north.  The  Austrian 
government  determined  on  a  great  effort  to  regain  .  their  hold  upon 
Italy,  and  Wiirmser,  recalled  from  the  Rhine,  was  despatched  with 


a.d.  1796.  BONAPARTE  IN  ITALY.  557 

30,000  men  to  relieve  Mantua.  In  the  Tyrol  he  was  joined  by  the 
scattered  remnants  of  Beaulieu's  army.  Unfortunately,  WUrmser 
was  compelled,  by  his  instructions  from  Vienna,  to  divide  his  forces, 
and  this  enabled  Bonaparte  to  follow  his  favourite  plan  of  attacking 
the  hostile  detachments  in  succession.  Already  several  of  the 
French  positions  had  been  carried,  when  Bonaparte  raised  the  siege 
of  Mantua,  and  Wurmser,  who  hurried  up  to  the  city,  found  that 
his  march  was  useless,  and  that  he  had  left  the  bulk  of  his  troops 
to  be  attacked  in  his  absence.  At  Lonato  (3  August),  Bonaparte 
crushed  one  Austrian  detachment  under  Quasdanowich,  and  then, 
turning  upon  Wurmser,  who  had  returned  from  Mantua,  he 
defeated  him  at  Castiglione  two  days  later,  and  drove  him  back 
to  the  Italian  Tyrol.  Mantua,  which  had  been  re-victualled — the 
only  result  of  these  great  exertions — was  again  besieged,  but  as  the 
French  had  lost  most  of  their  artillery,  they  had  to  be  content  with 
a  blockade.  Wurmser  was  preparing  to  renew  his  advance  when 
Bonaparte  determined  to  forestall  the  attack.  Hurrying  north- 
wards, he  routed  the  Austrians  at  Bassano,  and  as  he  stood  between 
them  and  their  retreat,  they  were  compelled  to  throw  themselves 
into  Mantua,  where  they  were  closely  imprisoned. 

Bonaparte's  intention  had  been,  after  settling  affairs  in  Italy,  to 
march  through  the  Alps  into  Germany  and  to  join  with  the  Other 
French  forces  in  an  attack  upon  Austria.  In  Germany,  unfortu- 
nately, the  French  had  not  the  advantage  of  an  undivided  command. 
Two  armies  were  prepared,  under  Jourdan  and  Moreau,  with 
instructions  to  advance  eastwards  by  the  valleys  of  the  Main  and 
the  Necker  respectively.  The  miserable  condition  of  the  troops 
delayed  the  opening  of  the  campaign,  and  by  that  time  everything 
seemed  favourable.  The  mission  of  Wurmser  into  Italy  left  them 
confronted  by  only  one  Austrian  army,  under  the  archduke  Charles, 
who  in  this  year  won  a  great  reputation  as  a  general.  The  French 
advanced  into  the  heart  of  Germany,  when  the  archduke  took  a 
bold  resolution  worthy  of  Bonaparte  himself.  Leaving  30,000  men 
to  face  Moreau,  he  threw  himself  with  vastly  superior  forces  upon 
Jourdan,  defeated  him  in  a  series  of  engagements,  and  drove  him 
across  the  Rhine.  The  French  campaign  was  ruined,  and  Moreau, 
who  had  advanced  into  Bavaria,  saw  himself  in  danger  of  having 
his  communications  cut  off.  He  conducted  his  retreat  with  con- 
spicuous courage  and  success,  and  succeeded  in  passing  the  Rhine 
without  any  serious  losses  (25  October).  The  Austrians  concluded 
the  campaign  by  taking  the  fortresses  of  Hiiningen  and  Kiel. 

The  failure  of  the  French  invasion  of  Germany  compelled  Bona- 
parte to  remain  in  Italy,  and  at  the  same  time  enabled  the 
Austrians  to  make  a  fresh  effort  for  the  relief  of  Beaulieu  in 


558  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxm. 

Mantua.  40,000  men  under  Alvinzi  and  18,000  under  Davidowich 
entered  Italy  from  the  Tyrol  and  marched  by  different  routes 
towards  Verona.  Bonaparte  had  employed  the  recent  interlude  in 
consolidating  French  influence  in  Italy.  Against  the  wishes  of  the 
Directors  he  dethroned  the  duke  of  Modena,  and  formed  his  terri- 
tories into  the  Cispadane  Republic.  Then  he  tried  to  induce  Pied- 
mont and  Venice  to  join  France,  but  both  states  preferred  to 
retain  their  neutral  position.  This  was  another  of  the  charges 
which  the  general  was  preparing  against  Venice.  On  the  news  of 
the  Austrian  advance,  Bonaparte  marched  against  Alvinzi,  and 
checked  him  at  Carmignano  (6  November).  But  meanwhile 
Davidowich  had  taken  Trent  and  was  approaching  Rivoli.  Bona- 
parte, in  danger  of  being  surrounded,  was  compelled  to  give  way, 
and  retreated  to  Verona,  while  Alvinzi  followed  him.  Never  was 
the  French  position  more  critical,  and  nothing  but  a  very  bold 
move  could  save  them.  With  reckless  courage  Bonaparte  attacked 
Alvinzi  at  Areola,  and  after  three  days'  hard  fighting  won  a  com- 
plete victory.  He  then  forced  Davidowich  to  retreat  to  the  Tyrol. 
The  danger  was  averted,  and  the  blockade  of  Mantua  was  con- 
tinued. But  Austria,  as  if  its  resources  were  inexhaustible,  deter- 
mined on  a  fourth  effort  in  January,  1797.  Alvinzi  was  again 
entrusted  with  the  command,  while  another  detachment  under 
Provera  advanced  from  Friuli.  Bonaparte  collected  all  his  forces, 
marched  against  Alvinzi,  and  crushed  him  at  Rivoli  (15  Jan.). 
But  meanwhile  Provera  had  reached  Mantua,  where  Bonaparte,  by 
a  forced  march,  overtook  him,  and  won  another  complete  victory 
in  the  battle  of  La  Favorita.  The  fate  of  Mantua  was  at  last 
decided,  and  the  city  surrendered  on  the  2nd  of  February.  With 
a  generosity  worthy  of  the  glory  which  he  had  obtained,  Bona- 
parte allowed  Wurmser  and  the  garrison  to  march  out  with  the 
honours  of  war.  He  now  turned  to  Romagna,  occupied  Bologna, 
and  terrified  the  Pope  into  signing  the  treaty  of  Tolentino.  The 
temporal  power  was  allowed  to  exist,  but  within  very  curtailed 
limits.  Not  only  Avignon,  but  the  whole  of  Romagna,  with 
Ancona,  was  surrendered  to  France.  Even  these  terms,  harsh  as 
they  were,  were  not  so  severe  as  the  Directors  had  wished.  But 
Bonaparte  was  beginning  to  play  his  own  game ;  he  saw  that 
Catholicism  was  regaining  ground  in  France,  and  he  wished  to 
make  friends  on  what  might  prove  after  all  the  winning  side. 

§  24.  Affairs  in  Italy  were  now  fairly  settled  :  two  republics, 
the  Cisalpine  in  Lombardy,  and  the  Cispadane,  which  included 
Modena,  Ferrara,  and  Bologna,  had  been  created  to  secure  French 
influence  in  Italy.  The  only  open  question  was  the  relations  with 
Venice.     The  French  had  occupied   the  Venetian  territory  from 


a.d.  1796-1797.  PRELIMINARIES  OF  LEOBEN.  559 

Bergamo  to  Verona,  and  had  established  close  relations  with  those 
classes  who  were  dissatisfied  with  their  exclusion  from  political 
power.  When  the  republic  armed  against  the  danger  of  a  revolt, 
Bonaparte  treated  it  as  another  ground  for  that  quarrel  which  he 
artfully  fomented  for  his  own  purposes.  But  at  present  he  had 
other  objects  more  immediately  pressing  than  the  oppression  of 
Venice.  Jourdan's  army  on  the  Rhine  had  been  entrusted  to 
Hoche,  whose  ambition  had  long  chafed  at  the  want  of  an  oppor- 
tunity, and  who  was  burning  to  acquire  glory  by  retrieving  the 
disasters  of  the  last  campaign.  Bonaparte,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
eager  to  anticipate  a  possible  rival,  and  determined  to  hurry  on  his 
own  invasion  of  Austria,  in  order  to  keep  the  war  and  the  negotia- 
tions in  his  own  hands.  The  task  of  meeting  him  was  entrusted 
to  the  archduke  Charles,  who  had  won  such  a  brilliant  reputation 
in  1796,  but  who  was  placed  at  a  great  disadvantage  to  his  oppo- 
nent by  having  to  obey  instructions  from  Vienna.  The  French 
carried  all  before  them.  Joubert  occupied  Tyrol,  Masse'na  forced 
the  route  to  Carinthia,  and  Bonaparte  himself,  after  defeating  the 
archduke  on  the  Tagliamento,  occupied  Trieste  and  Cannula.  The 
French  now  marched  over  the  Alps,  driving  the  Austrians  before 
them.  At  Leoben,  which  they  reached  on  7th  April,  they  were 
less  than  eighty  miles  from  Vienna.  Here  Austrian  envoys  arrived 
to  open  negotiations.  They  consented  to  surrender  Belgium, 
Lombardy,  and  the  Rhine  frontier,  but  they  demanded  coiu]>en8a- 
tion  in  Bavaria.  This  demand  Bonaparte  refused,  but  offered  to 
compensate  Austria  at  the  expense  of  a  neutral  state,  Venice. 
The  preliminaries  of  Leoben,  signed  on  the  18th  April,  gave  to 
Austria,  I  stria,  Dalmatia,  and  the  Venetian  provinces  between 
the  Oglio,  the  Po,  and  the  Adriatic.  At  this  moment  Hoche  and 
Moreau,  after  overcoming  the  obstacles  interposed  by  a  sluggish 
government,  were  crossing  the  Rhine  to  bring  their  armies  to  bear 
against  Austria.  They  had  already  gained  several  successes  when 
the  unwelcome  news  reached  them  from  Leoben,  and  they  had  to 
retreat.  Bonaparte  may  have  failed  to  extort  the  most  extreme 
terms  from  Austria,  but  he  had  at  any  rate  kept  both  power  and 
fame  to  himself. 

No  sooner  had  the  preliminaries  been  concluded,  than  Bonaparte 
received  intelligence  from  Venice  which  he  afterwards  paraded  as 
a  justification  for  the  treaty.  On  the  17th  of  April  a  rising  took 
place  at  Verona,  known  as  the  pdques  veronaises,  in  which  some 
French  soldiers  were  killed.  Although  it  was  a  mere  popular  out- 
break, which  the  government  could  not  possibly  have  kindled, 
Bonaparte  seized  upon  it  as  a  pretext  for  war,  and  sent  troops  to 
threaten  Venice  with  attack.     In  the  panic  caused  by  this  threat 


560  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiu 

the  Senate  granted  all  that  was  demanded  of  them.  The  old 
oligarchical  constitution,  which  had  existed  for  centuries,  was 
abolished ;  an  offensive  alliance  was  concluded  with  France,  and  a 
French  garrison  was  admitted  into  the  city.  In  secret  articles  the 
ordinary  tribute  of  works  of  art  was  exacted,  and  a  vague  expres- 
sion about  "  exchange  of  territories  "  was  introduced  so  as  to  cover 
the  intended  cessions  to  Austria,  of  which  the  Venetians  had 
absolutely  no  idea.  The  French  at  once  seized  Corfu  and  the 
other  Venetian  possessions  in  the  Levant.  Soon  afterwards  Genoa, 
the  other  surviving  republic  of  Italy,  was  compelled  by  French 
dictation  to  receive  a  democratic  constitution. 

§  25.  Meanwhile,  affairs  in  Paris  were  hurrying  to  a  crisis.  The 
cardinal  defect  of  the  constitution  of  the  year  III.  was,  that  it 
provided  no  means  of  adjusting  any  difference  that  might  arise 
between  the  executive  and  the  legislative  powers.  As  long  as  two- 
thirds  of  the  councils  were  composed  of  former  members  of  the 
Convention,  the  Directors  were  supported  by  the  majority  which 
had  elected  them,  and  this  question  was  avoided.  But  on  the 
1  Prairial  of  the  year  V.  (May,  1797)  half  of  these  members  had 
to  retire  by  lot,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  Directors  was  to 
vacate  his  seat.  For  some  time  parties  had  been  growing  up  in 
the  legislative  body :  the  moderates,  consisting  of  almost  all  the 
newly  elected  deputies,  who  formed  one-third  of  the  councils, 
wished  to  carry  on  the  policy  of  reaction,  and  many  of  them  were 
inclined  to  favour  a  restoration  of  the  monarchy.  This  party  had 
its  headquarters  at  a  house  in  the  Rue  de  Clichy,  and  was  known  in 
consequence  as  the  Club  de  Clichy  or  the  Clichyens.  In  opposition 
to  them,  the  members  of  the  Convention  wished  to  stop  at  the 
point  they  had  reached,  and  to  maintain  the  republic  at  all  hazards. 
A  similar  division  had  arisen  in  the  Directory  itself.  Carnot  and 
Letourneur  belonged  to  the  moderate  party,  while  Rewbell,  Barras, 
and  La  Reveillere  were  thorough-going  opponents  of  any  change 
that  might  affect  their  own  power.  The  elections,  as  was  foreseen, 
gave  a  strong  majority  to  the  moderate  party,  and  among  the  nev 
deputies  was  Pichegru,  whose  treason  had  not  yet  been  divulged, 
and  who  became  a  prominent  leader  of  the  Clichyens.  The  re- 
tiring elector  was  settled  by  lot,  and  this,  as  many  believed  un- 
fairly, fell  upon  Letourneur.  His  place  was  taken  by  Barthelemy, 
the  negotiator  of  the  treaty  of  Basel,  and  universally  respected  for 
courage  and  probity.  He  at  once  joined  himself  to  Carnot,  so  that 
the  balance  of  parties  remained  the  same  in  the  Directory,  and  the 
triumvirs,  as  the  other  three  were  called,  retained  their  numerical 
superiority. 

These  changes  brought  the  Directors  into  frequent  and   op«a 


a.d.  1797.  THE  EIGHTEENTH  FRUCTIDOR.  561 

collision  with  the  legislative  councils.  As  there  were  no  constitu- 
tional means  of  overcoming  the  difficulty,  Rewbell  and  his  associates 
determined  to  employ  force  against  their  opponents,  and  to  make 
themselves  absolute  in  France.  The  moderate  party  played  into 
their  hands  by  attacking  Bonaparte's  treatment  of  Venice  and 
Genoa.  They  thus  excited  the  most  bitter  hostility  of  the  one 
man  without  whose  support  the  Directors  would  hardly  have 
ventured  to  take  active  measures.  Hoche  was  first  chosen  as  the 
agent  of  the  coup  d'etat,  but  he  drew  back  as  he  began  to  under- 
stand the  real  purpose  for  which  he  was  employed.  The  triumvirs 
then  appealed  to  Bonaparte,  who  refused  to  have  any  part  in  the 
business  himself,  but  who  sent  Augereau,  a  military  democrat,  "  to 
kill  the  royalists."  The  intention  of  the  three  Directors  was  to  feign 
the  discovery  of  a  conspiracy  against  the  republic,  and  then  by  active 
measures  to  remove  their  two  colleagues,  and  to  purge  the  councils 
of  their  chief  opponents.  The  councils  were  fully  sensible  of  their 
danger,  and  passed  decree  after  decree  against  the  unauthorised 
assembling  of  troops  and  other  arbitrary  acts.  But  decrees  were  a 
poor  weapon  against  force,  and  Carnot,  in  spite  of  an  open  quarrel 
with  Barras,  seemed  resolutely  blind  to  the  acts  of  his  colleagues. 
On  the  18th  Fructidor  (Sept.  4,  1797)  the  long-prepared  blow  was 
struck.  Barthe'lemy  was  arrested  in  his  chamber,  but  Carnot 
contrived  to  escape  by  a  door  into  the  Luxemburg  gardens.  At 
the  sa:ne  time  Augereau,  with  12,000  men,  surrounded  the  Tuileries, 
and,  as  the  guard  had  already  been  corrupted,  occupied  the  palace 
without  opposition.  Pichegru  and  several  other  deputies  were 
imprisoned.  The  councils  were  now  assembled  to  accept  perforce 
the  dictates  of  the  Directory.  Carnot,  BartheUemy,  and  fifty- 
three  deputies  were  to  be  exiled  to  any  place  which  the  Directors 
might  choose.  In  forty-nine  departments  the  elections  were  annulled, 
and  the  Directors  might  appoint  nominees  of  their  own.  The  laws 
against  priests  and  emigrants,  which  the  moderate  i»rty  had 
recently  repealed,  were  renewed.  The  Directors  were  invested  with 
absolute  powers  ;  they  could  suppress  journals  or  political  clubs  at 
pleasure,  and  the  appointment  of  all  judges  and  magistrates  was 
placed  in  their  hands.  The  prisoners  were  banished  to  the  pesti- 
lential coast  of  Guiana,  where  half  of  them  perished.  Two  new 
Directors,  Merlin  de  Douai  and  Francois  of  Neufchatel,  were 
elected  at  the  dictation  of  the  triumvirs.  The  only  justification 
advanced  for  these  measures  was  the  treachery  of  Pichegru  two 
years  before,  proofs  of  which  Bonaparte  had  discovered  in  the 
papers  of  D'Antraigues,  an  emigrant  who  had  been  arrested  in 
Venice.  There  was  absolutely  no  proof  that  Pichegru  had  renewed 
his  schemes,  for  which  the  opportunity  was  long  past,  or  that  he 


562  MODERN  EUROPE  Chap,  xxhl 

had  communicated  them  to  any  of  his  colleagues  in  the  council. 
On  these  flimsy  grounds  the  Directors  had  overthrown  the  con- 
stitution, and  had  set  a  fatal  example  by  calling  in  the  army  to 
settle  domestic  affairs.  Almost  equally  harmful  was  the  apathy 
with  which  the  citizens  of  Paris  watched  the  overthrow  of  liberty 
by  a  tyrannical  executive. 

§  26.  Moreau,  as  a  friend  of  Pichegru,  was  removed  from  his 
command  on  the  Rhine  and  replaced  by  Hoche,  who  died  shortly 
afterwards  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine.  The  army  was  now  entrusted 
to  Augereau,  whom  the  Directors  were  eager  to  remove  from  Paris. 
Meanwhile,  Bonaparte  was  still  engaged  in  negotiating  with  the 
Austrians,  who  had  delayed  coming  to  terms  as  long  as  there  was 
a  chance  of  a  change  of  government  at  Paris.  It  was  this  that  had 
made  Bonaparte  so  angry  with  the  attacks  upon  his  conduct  in  Italy, 
and  had  led  him  to  support  the  executive.  Now  that  the  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  peace  had  been  withdrawn,  he  was  by  no  means  eager  to 
approve  the  coup  d'etat,  which  had  gone  much  further  than  he  had 
ever  intended.  He  had  no  confidence  in  the  Directors,  whom  he 
knew  to  be  jealous  of  his  ascendancy,  and  he  was  especially  in- 
dignant at  the  appointment  of  Augereau  to  the  command  on  the 
Rhine.  He  showed  his  displeasure  by  the  independent  way  in 
which  he  hurried  on  the  negotiations.  In  addition  to  the  territories 
arranged  in  the  preliminaries  of  Leoben,  Austria  demanded  the 
cession  of  Venice  itself,  and  to  this  the  Directors  were  obstinately 
opposed.  They  wished  to  compel  the  acceptance  of  their  terms 
by  the  advance  of  Augereau  into  Germany.  But  Bonaparte  was 
determined  not  to  admit  a  rival  to  a  share  in  the  work,  and,  in 
open  defiance  of  his  instructions,  concluded  the  treaty  of  Campo 
Formio  on  the  17th  of  October.  France  obtained  Belgium,  Lombardy 
as  far  as  the  Adige,  which  was  made  into  the  Cisalpine  Republic, 
and  the  Ionian  Islands.  Austria  received  Istria,  Dalmatia,  Venice, 
and  the  Venetian  territory  as  far  as  the  Adige.  A  congress  was  to 
meet  at  Rastadt  to  arrange  peace  between  France  and  the  Empire, 
but,  by  a  secret  article,  Austria  undertook  to  employ  all  its  influence 
to  obtain  the  cession  of  the  Rhine  frontier.  All  possibility  of  resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  Venice  was  crushed  by  the  city  being  handed 
over  to  the  Austrians  before  the  French  quitted  it.  The  Directors 
were  bitterly  enraged  at  the  news  of  the  treaty,  and  for  a  moment 
dreamt  of  refusing  its  ratification.  But  the  unanimous  delight  with 
which  the  nation  welcomed  the  peace  compelled  them  to  approve 
the  act  of  the  domineering  general. 

§  27.  Bonaparte  remained  in  Italy,  occupied  with  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  Cisalpine  Republic,  until  the  middle  of  November,  when 
he  travelled  by  way  of  Rastadt  to  Paris.     There  he  was  received 


a.d.  1797-1798.        BONAPARTE   IN  EGYPT.  563 

in  triumph,  and  many  of  his  friends  urged  him  to  seize  upon  the 
supreme  power.  -But  he  was  conscious  that  the  moment  had  not 
yet  come,  and  refused  to  mix  himself  up  with  political  parties. 
England,  now  the  only  remaining  enemy  of  France,  had  conclusively 
maintained  its  maritime  supremacy  in  1797.  Spain  having  formed 
an  alliance  with  France  in  the  previous  year,  the  Spanish  fleet  was 
attacked  and  crippled  by  Jervis  at  the  battle  of  St.  Vincent 
i  1  I  Feb.).  In  spite  of  the  mutinies  at  Spithead  and  the  Nore, 
Admiral  Duncan  was  able  to  blockade  the  Texel,  and  when  the 
Dutch  fleet  at  last  ventured  out  it  was  destroyed  at  Camperdown 
(6  Oct.).  In  December  Bonaparte  was  appointed  to  command  the 
"  army  of  England,"  and  it  was  universally  supposed  that  the  neigh- 
bouring island  was  to  be  invaded.  But  Bonaparte  himself  was 
determined  on  another  enterprise,  the  conquest  of  Egypt  Pot  l 
long  time  the  East,  with  its  traditions  of  great  conquerors,  had 
exercised  an  invincible  fascination  on  his  ambitious  mind.  He 
had  also  personal  motives  for  his  decision.  To  prevent  men  from 
forgetting  him  he  must  win  new  successes,  and  Europe  no  lotlfftt 
offered  a  convenient  opening.  Moreover,  he  wished  the  exist  mil: 
government  to  ruin  itself,  and  he  had  a  lurking  hope  that,  during 
his  absence,  disasters  might  befall  France,  which  would  (<>m]«l,  do! 
only  his  recall,  but  also  his  advance  to  absolute  power.  The  Directors 
on  their  side  were  not  unwilling  to  get  rid  of  a  general  whose  glory 
overshadowed  their  own  power.  In  May  be  set  out  with  a  splendid 
armament  from  Toulon,  captured  Malta  through  the  treachery  of 
some  of  the  knights,  and  on  the  30th  of  June  appeared  MM 
Alexandria.  In  his  manifesto  he  tried  to  conciliate  the  native 
population,  by  professing  that  he  was  the  friend  of  the  Sultan  and 
of  the  Mohammedan  religion,  and  that  his  only  object  was  the 
overthrow  of  the  tyrannical  rule  of  the  Mamelukes.  His  troops, 
the  best  that  France  could  produce,  speedily  overcame  all  resistance, 
and  on  the  25th  of  July  he  entered  Cairo  in  triumph.  A  few  days 
later  Nelson,  who  had  been  vainly  hunting  the  expedition  through 
the  Mediterranean,  found  the  French  fleet  in  Aboukir  Bay  and 
completely  annihilated  it  in  the  great  battle  of  the  Nile  (1  August). 
This  disaster  not  only  deprived  the  French  of  the  power  to  retreat, 
but  cut  off  all  communication  with  Europe. 

§  28.  The  Congress  of  Rastadt,  which  had  met  in  November, 
1797,  was  from  the  beginning  a  hollow  sham.  The  lesser  German 
States  had  sent  envoys  in  the  belief  that  the  integrity  of  the 
Empire  was  to  be  restored.  But  Austria  and  Prussia  were  both 
pledged  to  the  cession  of  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  this  was 
relu.  tantly  confirmed  in  March,  1797.  The  question  now  arose  as 
to  how  the  dispossessed  princes  were  to  be  compensated,  and  it  was 


564  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxm. 

proposed  to  secularise  the  ecclesiastical  states  of  central  Germany. 
This  was  naturally  approved  by  Prussia  as  a  leading  Protestant 
power,  but  Austria  refused  its  consent.  As  it  became  evident  that 
France  was  inclining  more  and  more  to  a  Prussian  alliance,  Thugut, 
in  spite  of  a  strong  opposition  party  in  Vienna,  began  to  meditate  a 
renewal  of  the  war.  In  this  intention  he  was  encouraged  by  new 
acts  of  aggression  on  the  part  of  France.  In  Rome  the  French 
envoy,  Joseph  Bonaparte,  promoted  democratic  intrigues  against 
the  papal  government,  and,  in  the  disorders  which  arose,  General 
Duphot  was  shot.  This  gave  the  desired  pretext  for  war  to  the  French 
government,  and  Berthier,  who  had  been  Bonaparte's  aide-de-camp, 
was  ordered  to  advance  upon  Rome.  The  populace,  already  pre- 
pared for  a  revolution,  welcomed  the  invaders.  The  aged  Pius  VI., 
on  his  refusal  to  abdicate  his  temporal  power,  was  removed  to  Tus- 
cany, and  thence  to  Valence,  where  he  died  in  the  next  year.  Ber- 
thier now  surrendered  the  command  to  Massena,  who  organised  a 
regular  pillage  of  the  city,  and  aroused  such  general  discontent  that 
even  his  own  soldiers  insisted  on  his  resignation.  Rome,  like  the 
other  conquests,  was  organised  as  a  republic  on  the  French  model. 
Only  the  names  were  borrowed  from  classical  times.  Instead  of 
Directors  there  were  Consuls,  and  the  Ancients  and  the  Five 
Hundred  were  represented  by  a  Senate  and  a  Tribunate.  Similar 
measures  were  taken  at  the  same  time  in  Switzerland.  French 
intrigues  provoked  a  revolt  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  and  when  the 
Bernese  government  tried  to  put  down  the  rebels,  France  declared 
war.  One  of  the  objects  of  the  campaign  was  to  obtain  money, 
as  the  Directors  were  reduced  to  great  straits  by  the  failure  of  those 
supplies  from  Italy  which  had  been  so  plentiful  in  the  previous 
year.  Berne  was  taken,  and  the  treasure  found  there  was  con- 
fiscated. The  old  constitution  of  Switzerland  was  abolished,  and  a 
new  Helvetic  Republic,  in  which  every  inhabitant  was  to  have 
equal  political  rights,  was  proclaimed  at  Aarau  in  April.  Geneva 
was  now  united  to  France,  and  the  German  territory  on  the  left  of 
the  Rhine  was  formed  into  four  French  departments. 

These  aggressions  aroused  once  more  the  wrath  of  the  great 
Powers  of  Europe,  and  England  was  able  to  form  a  coalition  still  more 
formidable  than  that  of  1793.  Besides  Austria,  Naples,  and  most 
of  the  German  States,  Russia  and  Turkey  also  took  up  arms  against 
France.  Turkey  had  obvious  grounds  for  hostility  in  the  invasion 
of  Egypt.  In  Russia  a  complete  change  of  policy  had  followed  the 
death  of  Catharine  II.  (Nov.,  1796)  and  the  accession  of  her  son, 
Paul  I.  Paul,  whose  mind  was  hardly  sane,  was  bitterly  opposed 
to  the  reforming  ideas  of  his  mother.  He  restored  all  the  old  forms 
of  despotism  in  Russia,  and  his  fanatical  hatred  of  Jacobinism  led 


a.d.  1798-1799.  FRENCH  DISASTERS.  565 

him  to  form  a  close  alliance  with  Austria,  by  which  he  undertook 
to  send  a  Russian  army  into  Italy.  The  war  was  commenced  by 
Ferdinand  IV.  of  Naples,  who  was  driven  to  imprudent  haste  by  the 
energy  of  his  wife,  Caroline,  a  sister  of  Marie  Antoinette,  and  by 
the  confidence  which  was  inspired  by  the  arrival  of  Nelson's  fleet 
after  the  victory  of  the  Nile.  On  the  22nd  of  November  war  was 
formally  declared  against  France,  and  a  Neapolitan  army,  organised 
and  led  by  the  Austrian  General  Mack,  marched  upon  Koine.  The 
Freuch  garrison  retired,  and  the  authority  of  the  exiled  Pontiff  was 
nominally  restored.  But  the  action  of  the  Neapolitans  proved  as 
fatal  as  it  was  ill-timed.  Championnet,  with  a  French  army,  de- 
feated the  incompetent  Mack  and  advanced  to  Capua.  Naples  was 
panic-stricken,  the  royal  family  fled  to  Nelson's  ships,  ami  by  the 
end  of  January  the  whole  kingdom  was  reduced  and  fanned  into  the 
Parthenopean  Republic.  At  the  same  time  Charles  Emmanuel  IV. 
of  Sardinia  and  the  grand-duke  Ferdinand  III.  of  Tuscany  were 
deposed,  and  their  territories  occupied  by  the  French. 

This  extension  of  territory  at  the  beginning  of  a  great  war  was  a 
serious  error  for  France.  Especially  fatal  was  the  occupation  of 
southern  Italy  at  a  time  when  the  combined  Austrian  and  Russian 
forces  were  to  be  faced  on  the  Adige.  ...  h  liontier  ex- 

tended from  Holland  to  Naples,  and  it  was  exposed  to  attack  on 
almost  every  point  The  centre  of  the  line  was  Switzerland,  which 
had  been  neutral  territory  until  its  seizure  by  the  French.  Massena 
was  in  command  here,  and  his  instructions  were  to  advance  through 
the  mountains  so  as  to  cut  off  connection  between  the  Austrians  in 
Italy  and  in  Germany.  On  his  north  Juurdan  was  to  march  along 
the  line  of  the  Danube  npOQ  Vienna,  while  in  Italy  Scherer  was  to 
hold  the  line  of  the  Adige  until  Massena  could  join  him  from  the 
Tyrol  and  help  him  to  crush  the  enemy.  The  campaign  was 
commenced  by  Massena  (March,  1799),  and  he  succeeded  in  ad- 
vancing as  far  as  the  Inn  valley.  But  meanwhile  the  archduke 
Charles  had  defeated  Jourdan  at  Stockach  (25  March)  and  drove  him 
back  across  the  Rhine.  A  week  later  Scherer  was  routed  at  Mag- 
nano  and  forced  to  retire  to  the  Adda,  where  he  was  promptly  super- 
seded by  Moreau.  Massena,  finding  that  the  two  lateral  camijaigns 
had  failed,  and  that  his  own  flanks  were  now  exposed  to  attack, 
retreated  to  Zurich.  The  Austrians  now  occupied  Hastadt,  where 
the  Congress  was  still  sitting  in  spite  of  the  outbreak  of  hostilities, 
and  the  French  envoys  were  killed  (28  April).  Tradition  ascribed 
this  outrage  to  Thugut,  and  it  is  probable  that  he  authorised,  not 
the  murder,  but  the  seizure  of  the  envoys'  papers.  In  Italy  the 
campaign  of  1799  went  decisively  against  the  French.  They  were 
opposed  by  Suwarow,  the  veteran  Russian  commander,  who  had  a 


566  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxin. 

great  advantage  over  his  Austrian  predecessors  by  refusing  to  take 
instructions  from  the  military  council  at  Vienna.  Suwarow  arrived 
in  Lombardy  in  April,  and  at  once  defeated  the  French  on  the 
Adda.  With  the  fall  of  Milan  the  Cisalpine  Republic  suddenly 
collapsed.  Moreau  retired  to  Alexandria,  but  by  a  rapid  march 
Suwarow  surprised  Turin  in  their  rear.  Cut  off  from  retreat  and 
from  reinforcements,  Moreau's  only  hope  lay  in  the  arrival  of  Cham- 
pionnet's  army,  which  Macdonald  was  bringing  up  from  Naples. 
But  again  Suwarow  was  too  rapid  for  the  French,  and,  out-marching 
Moreau,  he  cut  Macdonald's  troops  to  pieces  on  the  Trebbia,  after 
three  days  of  hard  fighting  (17-19  June).  Moreau  now  collected 
the  remnant  of  the  French  forces  and  conducted  a  masterly  retreat. 
Suwarow  was  eager  to  pursue  him  and  to  invade  France.  But  he 
was  paralysed  by  the  selfishness  of  the  Austrian  government,  which 
wished  to  make  conquests  for  itself  rather  than  to  crush  France  or 
to  terminate  the  war.  Suwarow  was  compelled  to  remain  in  Italy, 
while  all  the  Lombard  fortresses  were  reduced  and  while  Mantua 
was  besieged.  Meanwhile  the  Directors  sent  a  new  army  into  Italy, 
and  this  time  entrusted  the  command  to  Joubert,  whose  reputation 
was  as  yet  unsullied  by  defeat.  At  Novi,  Joubert  met  Suwarow, 
but  found  to  his  surprise  that  Mantua  had  already  fallen,  and  that 
he  had  to  face  two  armies  instead  of  one.  After  an  heroic  struggle 
against  overwhelming  odds,  the  French  were  completely  defeated 
and  their  general  left  dead  upon  the  field.  Italy  was  now  entirely 
lost  to  France.  Cardinal  RulTo  had  already  effected  a  revolution 
in  Naples,  to  which  Ferdinand  IV.  and  his  family  were  restored  by 
the  English  fleet.  Nelson  affixed  an  ineradicable  stain  upon  his 
reputation  by  supporting  the  king  and  queen  in  a  policy  of  reprisal, 
which  was  quite  as  horrible  as  the  reign  of  terror  in  Paris.  In 
spite  of  a  solemn  promise  of  amnesty,  30,000  patriots  were  thrown 
into  prison  and  the  majority  of  them  were  punished  with  death  or 
exile.  It  was  a  proof  that  kings  could  be  at  least  as  treacherous 
and  as  cruel  as  Jacobins.  Just  after  the  French  cause  in  Italy  had 
been  ruined  at  Novi,  an  English  armament,  under  the  duke  of  York, 
landed  in  Holland,  captured  the  Dutch  fleet  in  the  Texel,  and 
threatened  Amsterdam.  It  was  due  rather  to  York's  incapacity 
than  to  any  success  of  the  French,  that  this  was  the  first  and  last 
success  of  the  invaders. 

§  29.  The  disasters  of  1799  naturally  made  a  profound  impression 
upon  public  opinion  in  France,  and  the  new  elections  in  May 
returned  to  the  councils  a  large  majority  hostile  to  the  Directors, 
upon  whose  shoulders  the  blame  of  failure  was  thrown.  Sieyes, 
who  had  emerged  from  the  insignificance  into  which  he  had  fallen 
during  the  Terror,  and  who  was.  now  a  leader  of  the  moderate  party, 


a.d.  1799.  RETURN  OF  BONAPARTE.  567 

was  chosen  Director  in  place  of  Rewbel,  whose  turn  it  was  to  retire. 
The  old  quarrel  between  the  executive  and  the  legislature  broke 
out  again,  the  only  difference  being  that  this  time  it  was  the  latter 
which  took  the  initiative.  La  Reveillere  and  two  of  his  colleagues 
were  compelled  to  retire  and  their  places  were  filled  by  Gohier, 
Moulins,  and  Ducos.  Barras,  who  had  lost  all  reputation  and 
importance,  was  now  the  only  remaining  member  of  the  original 
Directory.  The  general  feeling  of  discontent  encouraged  Sieyds  to 
plan  the  overthrow  of  the  constitution  of  1795,  its  chief  fault  in 
his  eyes  being  that  he  had  had  no  share  in  framing  it.  His 
own  scheme  had  been  long  matured  in  his  mind,  but  he  needed  the 
support  of  a  man  of  action  to  carry  it  through.  After  some  hesi- 
tation he  fixed  upon  Joubert  as  the  instrument  of  his  designs, 
and  sent  him  into  Italy  to  win  a  great  reputation.  But  the  battle 
i  i  frustrated  this  plan,  and,  after  vainly  trying  to  gain  over 
Bernadotte  and  Moreau,  Sieyes  was  obliged  to  postpone  matters. 

For  a  long  time  nothing  had  been  heard  of  Bonaparte,  whose 
reputation  had  grown  in  proportion  to  the  failures  of  his  successors, 
and  who  was  popularly  regarded  as  a  martyr  to  the  enmity  of  the 
Directors.  After  reducing  Egypt,  and  discovering  that  his 
had  forced  the  Porte  into  war  with  France,  Bonaparte  determined 
to  anticipate  attack  by  invading  Syria.  Fur  some  time  he  carried 
all  before  him,  but  was  at  last  repulsed  from  the  walls  of  Acre  by 
the  obstinacy  of  Djezzar  Pacha  and  the  bravery  of  the  English 
sailors  under  Sir  Sydney  Smith  (May,  1799).  This  defeat  marks  a 
turiiin<4-(M>iiit  in  his  career.  His  troops  were  decimated  by  sickness 
when  he  led  them  back  to  Egypt.  There  he  found  that  Murad 
Bey,  the  Mameluke  leader,  had  again  made  head  against  the 
French.  At  the  battle  of  Aboukir  the  rising  was  suppressed,  but 
at  this  moment  Bonaparte  received  intelligence  from  France.  The 
news  of  the  loss  of  Italy  and  the  discredit  of  the  Directors  con- 
vinced him  that  the  long  expected  moment  had  come.  Regardless 
of  the  hardships  in  which  he  had  involved  his  army,  and  of  the 
almost  certain  fate  to  which  he  left  it,  he  decided  to  return  at  once 
to  France.  Carefully  disguising  his  intentions,  he  contrive. i 
sail  in  a  small  frigate  with  Murat,  Marmont,  Lannes,  and  Berthier. 
The  deserted  troops  were  left  under  the  command  of  Kleber,  who 
bitterly  denounced  Bonaparte's  cold-blooded  treachery. 

Before  Bonaparte's  arrival  France  had  been  saved  from  the  most 
pressing  dangers.  General  Brune  had  recovered  Holland  and  forced 
the  duke  of  York  to  capitulate.  But  the  great  crisis  occurred  in 
Switzerland.  Suwarow  had  been  compelled  by  Austrian  jealousy 
to  give  up  his  plan  of  invading  France,  and  had  been  sent  into 
Switzerland    to    co-operate    with    another    Russian    army  under 


568  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiii. 

Korsakow.  But  before  he  could  effect  the  difficult  crossing  of  the 
Alps,  Massena  had  already  fallen  upon  Korsakow  and  had  utterly- 
crushed  him  at  the  battle  of  Zurich  (26  Sept.).  On  arriving  in 
Switzerland  Suwarow  found  that  he  had  come  too  late,  and  that 
advance  or  retreat  were  alike  impossible.  With  desperate  resolution, 
he  attempted  a. new  and  unexplored  passage  through  the  Alps, 
and  after  almost  incredible  difficulties  and  hardships  he  brought  his 
army  into  safety  at  Coire.  Convinced  that  he  had  been  betrayed 
by  Austria,  the  veteran  general  threw  up  his  command  and  returned 
to  Russia. 

Massena's  success  had  hardly  been  gained  when  it  was  forgotten 
in  the   universal   outburst  of  enthusiasm  which  welcomed   Bona- 
parte on  his  landing  at  Frejus  (9  October).     From  this  moment 
the  history  both  of  France  and  of  Europe  is  bound  up  with  his. 
Bonaparte  was  the  very  man  to  carry  out  the  design  of  Sieyes,  but 
a  great  obstacle  existed  in  the  mutual  enmity  of  the  two  men. 
However,  a  short  stay  in  Paris  convinced  the  general  that  he  could 
gain  his  end  with  no  other  ally,  and  he  felt  satisfied  that  he  could 
easily  exclude  the  Abbe  from  any  real  share  in  power.     A  recon- 
ciliation was  easily  effected,  and  Bonaparte  undertook  to  overthrow 
the  existing  government,  the  implied  condition  being  that  Sieyes 
should  then  be  allowed  to  introduce  his  constitution.     The  18th 
Brumaire  (9   Nov.),  was  fixed  for   the  coup  d'etat  which  was  to 
avenge  the  18th  Fructidor.     Sieyes  could  command   a  majority 
among  the  Ancients;  and  in  the  Five  Hundred  the  conspirators 
possessed  a  great  advantage  in  the  fact  that  Bonaparte's  brother, 
Lucien,  had  just  been  elected  president.     To  prepare  the  way  for 
intimidation,  if  it  should  be  needed,  the  Councils  were  induced  to 
transfer  their  sitting  to  St.  Cloud.     Bonaparte,  with  the  assistance 
of  his  four  companions  from  Egypt,  had  no  difficulty  in  gaining 
over   the  chief  officers.     The  only  opponents  in  the  army  were 
Bernadotte,  who  had  ambitions  of    his   own  and  supported  the 
existing  constitution,  and  Jourdan  and  Augereau,  who  were  inclined 
to  Jacobinism.     Fouche,  the  head  of  the  police  department,  was 
always  ready  to  support  the  winning  side.     On  the  appointed  day 
Sieyes  and  Ducos  commenced  operations  by  resigning  their  seats  in 
the  Directory,  and  Barras  was  compelled  to  do  the  same.     Gohier 
and  Moulins,  who  courageously  refused  to  resign,  were  arrested. 
Bonaparte,  accompanied  by  devoted  troops,  went  in  person  to  St. 
Cloud  and  entered  the  Council  of  the  Ancients.      He  was  so  con- 
fused that  in  his  harangue  to  the  deputies  he  made  no  allusion 
to  the  fear  of  a  Jacobin  revolt,  which  was  the  feigned  pretext  of 
the  coup  dietat.     On   arriving  among  the  Five  Hundred,  he  was 
received  with  such  a  chorus  of  execration  that   he  had  to  be  car- 


a.d.  1799.  CONSTITUTION  OF  SIEYES.  569 

ried  fainting  from  the  hall.  The  whole  plot  seemed  on  the  verge 
*f  failure,  when  Lucien  Bonaparte  arrived,  and  encouraged  the 
soldiers  to  clear  the  hall  by  force.  This  completed  the  revolution. 
A  small  body  of  carefully  chosen  deputies  was  assembled  in  the 
evening,  and  they  voted  the  appointment  of  a  commission  to  draw 
up  a  new  constitution,  and  of  a  provisional  consulate  to  carry  on  the 
government  in  the  interval.  The  three  consuls  were  Bonaparte, 
Sieyes  and  Ducos. 

§  30.  Sieyes  now  brought  forward  the  constitution  which  had  so 
long  been  a  secret  in  his  own  breast,  and  of  which  even  Bonaparte 
had  as  yet  no  knowledge.  The  great  object  of  this  marvellous 
conception  was  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  frequent  popular  elections. 
Every  election  since  1795  had  been  more  and  more  reactionary,  and 
there  was  no  doubt  that  before  long  a  royalist  majority  might  be 
returned.  Against  this  danger  every  possible  precaution  was  to  be 
taken,  even  at  the  risk  of  destroying  the  elementary  rights  of  the 
people  which  had  been  established  with  such  pomp  and  circum- 
stance in  1789.  Sieyes  proposed  that  the  adult  male  population 
should  elect  500,000  men  from  whom  all  the  municipal  officers 
were  to  be  chosen.  The  500,000  were  to  choose  50,000  who  were 
to  furnish  all  the  officials  of  departments.  Finally  the  50,000  were 
to  choose  5000,  and  these  alone  could  fill  places  in  the  government 
and  the  legislature.  The  choice  of  all  officials  from  these  lists  was 
vested,  not  in  the  people,  but  in  the  government,  and  the  lists  wn 
to  be  altered  for  ten  years.  As  regards  the  legislature,  Sieyes  pro- 
posed to  create  as  many  bodies  as  there  are  processes  in  any  measure. 
A  Council  of  State  was  to  initiate  all  laws,  they  were  then  to  be 
discussed  in  a  Tribunate,  and  finally  were  to  be  accepted  or  rejected 
without  discussion  in  a  Legislative  Body.  To  give  final  security 
to  his  system  and  his  party,  a  Senate,  whose  members  held  their 
seats  for  life,  was  to  be  created,  with  powers  to  veto  any  laws  which 
should  infringe  upon  the  constitution.  The  Senate  had  the  power 
of  electing  its  own  members  and  also  those  of  the  three  legislative 
bodies.  The  executive  power  was  to  be  entrusted  to  two  Consuls, 
one  for  peace  and  one  for  war.  Above  them  was  to  be  a  Great 
Elector,  a  purely  ornamental  personage,  who  should  represent  the 
nation  in  diplomatic  affairs.  The  Great  Elector  nominated  and 
dismissed  the  Consuls,  and  could  himself  be  deposed  by  the  senate. 

This  elaborate  scheme  seemed  intended  to  avoid  the  possibility 
of  change  by  putting  an  end  to  government.  Every  element  was 
too  weak  to  do  anything.  As  Bonaparte  himself  described  it 
afterwards,  "  Sieyes  put  shadows  everywhere — shadow  of  legislative 
power,  shadow  of  judicial  power,  shadow  of  a  government;  it 
required  a  substance  somewhere."  There  could  be  no  doubt  as  to 
26 


570  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxin. 

where  he  would  place  the  substance.  When  the  scheme  came  up 
for  discussion,  he  accepted  the  greater  part  of  it  with  slight 
alteration,  but  scornfully  swept  away  the  Great  Elector  and  the 
two  Consuls.  "  Do  you  know,"  he  said  to  Sieyes,  "  a  man  of  mean 
enough  character  to  play  such  an  apish  performance  ?  Can  you 
have  imagined  that  a  man  with  any  sense  of  honour  could  resign 
himself  to  the  part  of  a  hog  fattened  on  so  many  millions  ?  "  In 
the  place  of  these  phantom  officials  he  established  a  First  Consul 
with  two  colleagues.  The  First  Consul  was  to  have  the  power  of 
making  peace  and  war,  of  appointing  all  state  officials  and  judges, 
and  even  of  initiating  laws,  which  were  only  to  be  drafted  by  the 
Council  of  State.  The  other  two  consuls,  who  were  only  put  in 
to  gratify  republican  prejudices,  had  no  other  function  than  that 
of  advising  their  chief. 

Thus  mutilated,  the  Constitution  of  the  year  VIII.  was  accepted 
with  hardly  a  murmur.  Bonaparte,  of  course,  became  First  Consul. 
As  Sieyes  refused  a  place  of  official  impotence,  the  post  of  Second 
Consul  was  given  to  Cambaceres,  an  eminent  lawyer,  who  was  always 
willing  to  serve  the  established  government.  The  Third  Consul 
was  Lebrun,  who  had  been  secretary  to  Maupeou  under  Louis  XV. 
Everything  seemed  to  prosper  well  for  the  new  organisation.  The 
people  wished  for  peace  and  order,  and  cared  little  for  power. 
Bonaparte's  absence  had  given  him  a  great  advantage  in  that  he 
was  attached  to  no  particular  party,  and  therefore  had  no  profes- 
sional opponents.  He  was  wise  enough  to  adhere  to  his  profession 
that  the  new  constitution  was  to  end  all  civil  conflict.  Nevertheless 
the  new  government  was  degrading  to  France,  And  involved  the 
destruction  of  all  that  was  most  healthy  in  the  work  of  the 
Revolution.  The  Republic  was  at  an  end,  and  the  era  of  despotism 
had  begun. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

EUROPE  DURING  THE  AGE  OF  NAPOLEON. 

The  Consulate. — §  1.  Internal  government  of  France  under  the  Con- 
sulate §  2.  Foreign  politics ;  Campaign  of  1800 ;  battle  of  Marengo. 
§  3.  Negotiations ;  battle  of  Hohenlindcn ;  treaty  of  Luneville.  §  4. 
Armed  Neutrality  of  the  Northern  Powers;  bombardment  of  Copen- 
hagen ;  assassination  of  Paul  I.  §  5.  Affairs  in  Egypt ;  capitulation 
of  the  French  army.  §  6.  Peace  of  Amiens.  §  7.  Bonaparte's  despotic 
government ;  Consulate  for  life ;  Concordat  and  Civil  Code.  §  8. 
French  aggressions  in  Italy,  Holland,  and  Switzerland.  §  9.  Settle- 
ment of  German  affairs  after  the  treaty  of  Luneville.  §  10.  Renewal 
of  war  between  England  and  France ;  occupation  of  Hanover  by  the 
French.  §11.  Royalist  conspiracy  of  Pichegru  and  Cadoudal; 
attempted  implication  of  Moreau  ;  murder  of  the  duke  of  Enghien. 
§  12.  Establishment  of  the  Empire.  II.  Thk  Third  Coalition. — 
§  13.  European  relations  in  1804.  §  14.  French  aggressions ;  Napoleon 
becomes  King  of  Italy.  §  15.  Formation  of  the  third  coalition.  §  16. 
Projected  invasion  of  England.  §  17.  Campaign  of  1805;  Ulm, 
Trafalgar,  Austerlitz.  §  18.  Treaties  of  Schonbrunn  and  Pressburg. 
§  19.  Aggrandisement  of  the  Bonaparte  family.  §  20.  The  Confede- 
ration of  the  Rhine.  §  21.  Prussia  quarrels  with  France.  §  22. 
Collapse  of  Prussia  after  Jena.  §  M,  The  Berlin  Decree  and  the  Con- 
tinental System.  §  Mi  Campaign  in  East  Prussia ;  revival  of  the  coali- 
tion. §  25.  Battle  of  Friedland  ;  peace  of  Tilsit.  §  26.  Affairs  of  Scan- 
dinavia ;  English  fleet  bombards  Copenhagen ;  extinction  of  house  of 
Vasa  in  Sweden.  III.  The  Peninsular  War  and  the  Campaign  of 
1809  against  Austria. — §  27.  French  occupation  of  Portugal.  §  28. 
Intervention  in  Spain;  deposition  of  the  Bourbons.  §£9.  Popular 
risings  in  Spain  ;  capitulation  of  Baylen.  §  30.  English  in  Portugal ; 
battle  of  Vimiera;  Convention  of  (.'intra.  §31.  Prussia  and  the 
administration  of  Stein;  revival  of  national  spirit  in  Germany;  Stein 
retires.  §  32.  Interview  of  Napoleon  and  Alexander  I.  at  Erfurt. 
§  33.  Napoleon  in  Spain ;  Sir  John  Moore's  retreat  to  Corunna. 
§  34.  Austrian  war  in  1809;  occupation  of  Vienna;  battles  of  Aspern 
and  Wagram.  §  35.  Wellesley  in  Portugal  and  Spain ;  battle  of 
Talavera ;  the  English  evacuate  Spain.  §  36.  The  Walcheren  Expe- 
dition. §  37.  Treaty  of  Vienna;  annexation  of  the  Papal  States;  of 
Holland ;  of  Northern  Germany.  §  38.  Napoleon  divorces  Josephine 
and  marries  the  Arch-duchess  Maria  Louisa;  breach  with  Russia. 
§  39.  The  Spanish  Cortes  and  the  new  Constitution.  §  40.  The  Penin- 
sular War  from  1810  to  1812.  IV.  The  War  ok  Libkration.— 
§  41.  European  relations  in  1811.  §  42.  Expedition  to  Moscow  and 
disastrous  retreat.     §  43.  Prussia  breaks  with  France ;  alliance  with 


572  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

Russia  and  military  preparations.  §  44.  Napoleon's  preparations. 
§  45.  The  War  of  Liberation  to  the  armistice  of  Poischwitz. 
§  46.  Austria  joins  the  coalition.  §  47.  Second  period  of  the  war ; 
battle  of  Leipzig ;  Germany  freed  from  the  French.  §  48.  Welling- 
ton's campaign  of  1813.  §  49.  The  Allies  advance  to  Paris  ;  Napo- 
leon's abdication.  §  50.  Restoration  of  the  Bourbons  ;  peace  of  Paris  ; 
Louis  XVIII.'s  Charter.  V.  The  Congress  of  Vienna  and  the 
Hundred  Days. — §  51.  Congress  of  Vienna ;  settlement  of  Europe. 
§  52.  Napoleon  leaves  Elba  and  recovers  his  power  in  France. 
§  53.  Murat's*  rising  in  Italy  ;  its  failure.  §  54.  Campaign  in  Bel- 
gium; Waterloo;  Napoleon  sent  to  St.  Helena.  §  55.  Fate  of  Murat. 
§  56.  The  Allies  again  occupy  Paris ;  Louis  XVIII.  restored ;  second 
peace  of  Paris. 

I.    The  Consulate. 

§  1.  Bonaparte  lost  no  time  in  setting  to  work  to  re-organise  the 
institutions  of  France.  The  principles  which  he  followed  were 
those  of  the  old  regime  rather  than  of  the  constituent  assembly. 
The  excessive  emphasis  which  had  been  laid  upon  the  rights  of  man 
and  the  final  authority  of  the  popular  will,  was  replaced  by  an 
absolute  centralisation  which  Richelieu  would  have  been  proud  to 
imitate.  Every  official  in  the  commune  or  the  department  was 
appointed  by  the  First  Consul,  and  absolutely  dependent  upon  his 
will.  Prefects  took  the  place  of  the  old  Intendants,  and  governed  as 
despotically  and  effectively  as  their  predecessors.  The  government 
of  France  became  a  vast  machine,  in  the  working  of  which  the 
people  had  no  control  and  desired  none.  It  was  to  Bonaparte's 
interest  to  make  the  administration  good,  and  he  was  careful  in  the 
choice  of  his  agents.  Talleyrand  was  minister  of  foreign  affairs. 
Fouche  kept  the  management  of  police,  the  finances  were  entrusted 
to  Gaudin,  military  affairs  to  Berthier,  and  the  home  department 
to  Lucien  Bonaparte.  There  was  great  competition  for  places  in  the 
new  legislative  councils.  The  Senate  was  filled  with  tried  adherents 
of  Bonaparte,  whose  fidelity  could  be  trusted.  The  Legislative 
Body,  the  dumb  assembly,  consisted  of  nobodies.  The  Tribunate, 
whose  function  was  to  discuss  without  being  able  to  alter  or  reject, 
contained  some  brilliant  names,  Benjamin  Constant,  Chenier, 
Ganilh,  and  J.  B.  Say.  This  body,  in  which  the  voice  of  freedom 
was  occasionally  heard,  was  regarded  with  great  jealousy  by  the 
First  Consul.  He  did  all  in  his  power  to  discredit  it ;  he  made  it 
sit  in  the  Palais  Royal,  and  he  transferred  as  many  of  its  functions 
as  he  could  to  the  Council  of  State,  which  he  intended  to  use  as  the 
chief  instrument  of  his  will.  No  one  could  be  more  keenly  sensitive 
to  hostile  criticism.  Not  content  with  suppressing  all  the  indepen- 
dent journals,  he  banished  Madame  de  Stael,  Necker's  daughter, 
from  Paris,  because  her  friend  Constant  had  displeased  him  by  a 


A.D.  1799.  THE  CONSULATE.  573 

speech  in  the  Tribunate.  The  abolition  of  the  old  parties,  of  which 
he  made  such  parade,  was  only  intended  to  lead  to  the  creation  of  a 
single  party,  his  own  followers.  He  had  not  the  slightest  conception 
of  justice  and  mercy :  his  one  motive  was  calculating  ambition. 
He  offered  terms  to  the  rebels  in  Brittany,  because  he  thought  that 
their  devoted  courage  would  be  useful  to  him.  When  they  refused 
his  terms,  he  had  them  hunted  down  like  wild  beasts.  That  he 
had  no  religious  scruples  had  been  proved  by  his  attitude  to 
Mohammedanism  in  the  East,  but  no  sooner  had  he  risen  to  power 
than  he  set  himself  to  gain  over  the  Roman  Catholic  priests, 
because  he  saw  that  they  might  become  the  firmest  bulwark  of  his 
authority. 

§  2.  In  foreign  politics,  as  might  be  expected,  Bonaparte  was  no 
less  autocratic  than  at  home.  While  the  nation  desired  peace,  he 
wished  the  war  to  continue,  partly  because  he  hoped  for  some  great 
success  to  consolidate  his  power,  and  partly  because  he  intended  to 
satisfy  the  most  pressing  financial  needs  by  the  spoils  of  conquered 
nations.  This  organised  pillage,  of  which  he  had  set  the  first 
example  in  his  Italian  campaign  of  1796,  now  becomes  a  definite 
object  of  the  French  government.  In  spite  of  these  motives  he 
could  not  afford  to  run  directly  counter  to  the  popular  wish,  and 
his  first  act  was  to  express  a  desire  for  peace  in  two  letters  which 
he  sent  directly  to  George  III.  and  Francis  II.  This  theatrical 
contempt  for  diplomatic  forms  was  designed  to  impress  the  French, 
and  was  thoroughly  characteristic  of  Bonaparte.  In  England,  Pitt, 
who  believed  France  to  be  exhausted,  and  that  so  changeable  a 
people  would  not  long  tolerate  a  military  dictatorship,  was 
determined  to  continue  a  war  which  seemed  to  him  on  the  eve  of 
success.  In  his  reply  he  hinted  at  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons 
as  the  real  object  of  England,  and  this  enabled  Bonaparte  to  rouse 
the  national  wrath  against  foreign  dictation.  Austria,  which  was 
now  in  possession,  not  only  of  its  old  territories  but  of  the  Papal 
States  and  of  Piedmont,  was  naturally  unwilling  to  treat  on  the 
basis  of  Campo  Formio,  and  replied  that  it  could  only  negotiate  in 
conjunction  with  its  allies.  Bonaparte  published  his  own  letters 
and  the  answers,  and  thus  proved  his  desire  for  peace,  while  he 
secured  the  continuance  of  the  war.  Great  preparations  were  made 
in  France  for  the  new  campaign,  which  opened  with  more  favourable 
prospects  because  Paul  I.,  disgusted  with  the  conduct  of  Austria, 
had  practically  withdrawn  from  the  war.  The  command  in  Italy 
was  entrusted  to  Masse'na,  who  was  opposed  by  vastly  superior 
forces  under  ifelas,  the  colleague  of  Suwarow  at  Novi.  The  army 
of  the  Rhine  was  led  by  Moreau.  The  archduke  Charles,  dis- 
gusted with  the  policy  of  Thugut,  had  retired  from  the  Austrian 


574  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

command,  which  was  entrusted  to  Kray,  the  victor  of  Magnano.  A 
third  French  army  was  secretly  collected  in  France  around  Dijon, 
but  its  destination  was  uncertain,  and  for  a  long  time  its  very 
existence  was  doubted  by  the  allied  powers.  The  plan  of  the 
campaign  was  elaborated  by  Bonaparte,  and  with  one  great  object, 
that  a  great  blow  might  be  struck  by  himself.  Moreau  was  to  cross 
the  Rhine  and  drive  the  Austrians  into  the  Rhine  valley.  But  he 
was  not  to  advance  beyond  Ulm,  although  a  great  success  in 
Germany  was  almost  certain  to  drive  Austria  to  submission,  and 
this  could  not  be  done  by  any  success,  however  brilliant,  in  Italy. 
Massena,  for  his  part,  was  simply  to  make  as  good  a  stand  against 
Melas  as  he  could  with  his  vastly  inferior  forces.  Meanwhile, 
Bonaparte  with  the  army  of  reserve,  for  which  all  supplies  were  care- 
fully reserved,  was  to  cross  the  Alps  into  Lombardy  and  take  Melas 
in  the  rear.  Surrounded  and  cut  off  from  retreat,  the  Austrians 
could  not  possibly  escape  a  great  disaster.  The  plan  does  as  much 
credit  to  Bonaparte  as  a  strategist  as  it  proves  him  to  be  wanting 
in  all  the  qualities  of  a  statesman  or  a  patriot. 

The  first  to  move  was  Melas,  who  attacked  the  French  in  the 
Apennines,  separated  them  by  moving  on  the  centre  of  their  line, 
and  drove  Massena  with  one  division  into  Genoa,  while  the  other, 
under  Suchet,  held  the  line  of  the  Var.  In  Germany  Moreau 
commenced  to  cross  the  Hhine  on  the  25th  of  April.  By  admirably 
calculated  movements,  he  not  only  effected  the  crossing  without 
loss,  but  within  a  fortnight  he  won  five  victories  over  Kray,  who 
was  forced  to  retire  to  Ulm  (10th  May).  Here  he  was  compelled, 
by  Bonaparte's  orders,  to  stop  and  remain  inactive,  although  one 
energetic  movement  would  have  opened  the  way  to  Vienna.  It  is 
perfectly  certain  that  if  the  Directory  had  given  such  orders  to 
Bonaparte,  he  would  have  disobeyed  them.  By  this  time  every- 
thing was  ready  for  the  First  Consul,  who  assumed  the  command 
of  the  reserve  army  on  the  8th  of  May.  He  crossed  the  Alps  by 
the  St.  Gothardt,  an  exploit  which,  according  to  his  flatterers, 
rivalled  the  deeds  of  Hannibal,  but  was  really  far  less  difficult  and 
dangerous  than  Suwarow's  march  in  the  previous  year.  By  the 
end  of  May  all  his  troops  were  in  Lombardy,  and  Melas,  who  had 
disbelieved  all  the  reports  about  the  army  of  reserve,  found  himself 
caught  in  a  trap.  Everybody  expected  that  Bonaparte  would  at 
once  march  to  the  relief  of  Masse'na,  who  had  obeyed  his  orders 
with  the  greatest  loyalty,  and  had  held  out  with  such  stoicism  that 
both  garrison  and  citizens  were  reduced  to  the  last  extremities. 
But  ambition  won  the  day  against  gratitude  and  simple  duty. 
Bonaparte  thought  only  of  inflicting  a  crushing  blow  upon  Melas, 
and  left  Massena  to  his  fate.    On  the  4th  of  June  Genoa  was  surren- 


a.d.  1800.  MARENGO.  575 

dered,  but  the  besieged  obtained  honourable  terms.  Meanwhile 
Bonaparte  had  taken  such  elaborate  precautions  to  prevent  the 
escape  of  Melas,  that  he  very  nearly  incurred  a  defeat.  In  utter 
ignorance  of  the  enemy's  position  he  arrived  at  Marengo  near 
Alessandria,  and  sent  off  a  large  detachment  under  Desaix  to  Novi, 
just  as  Melas  had  made  up  his  mind  to  attack  the  French,  and  to 
cut  a  retreat  through  them.  On  the  14th  of  June  the  Austrians 
advanced,  and  their  superior  numbers  carried  all  before  them. 
Melas  had  already  retired  to  his  tent  to  write  the  bulletin  of  his 
victory,  when  the  return  of  Desaix,  who  had  heard  the  sound  of 
cannon,  completely  changed  the  fortunes  of  the  day.  A  flank 
charge  of  cavalry  broke  the  Austrian  column,  which  fell  into  a 
sudden  panic  and  was  utterly  routed.  No  victory  was  ever  won 
more  completely  by  chance,  but  Bonaparte  suppressed  all  the 
true  accounts  of  the  battle,  and  the  official  bulletins  attributed 
every  success  to  the  general's  strategy.  The  battle  of  Marengo, 
however  won,  was  for  the  moment  decisive.  Melas  was  so  utterly 
crushed  that  he  could  not  renew  hostilities,  and  an  armistice  was 
concluded  at  Alessandria  by  which  the  Austrians  surrendered  the 
whole  of  northern  Italy  as  far  as  the  Mincio.  Bonaparte's  safe 
passage  of  the  Alps  removed  the  obstacle  in  the  way  of  Moreau's 
advance,  and  the  latter  at  once  gave  up  an  inactivity  which  he 
detested  himself,  and  which  had  excited  loud  murmurs  from  his 
officers.  Instead  of  directly  attacking  Ulm  he  marched  beyond  it, 
and  compelled  the  Austrians  to  fight  by  threatening  their  stores  at 
Donauworth.  A  victory  at  Hochstett  (PJth  June)  breed  Kray  to 
evacuate  Ulm  and  to  retreat  towards  Bohemia.  Moreau  took  Munich 
a  week  later,  and  then  concluded  a  suspension  of  hostilities. 

§  3.  After  concluding  the  convention  of  Alessandria,  Bonaparte 
handed  over  the  Italian  army  to  Masse'na  and  returned  to  Paris. 
The  temporary  cessation  of  the  war  was  occupied  in  negotiations. 
France  had  contrived  to  gain  over  two  valuable  allies.  Paul  I.  of 
Russia,  whose  foreign  policy  was  as  insane  as  his  domestic  govern- 
ment, was  now  wholly  estranged  from  Austria,  and  had  conceived 
an  enthusiastic  admiration  for  the  First  Consul,  in  whom  he  saw 
the  real  destroyer  of  the  revolution  and  the  champion  of  absolutism 
in  Western  Europe.  Bonaparte  took  care  to  encourage  this  feeling 
by  sending  back  without  ransom  6000  Russian  prisoners.  No  defi- 
nite treaty  was  concluded,  but  an  understanding  was  arrived  at 
that  peace  should  be  made  between  Russia  and  France  on  condition 
that  Malta  and  Piedmont  should  be  restored  to  the  Knights  of  St. 
John  and  to  the  King  of  Sardinia  respectively.  Bonaparte  had  no 
intention  of  fulfilling  these  conditions,  but  he  had  no  scruples  about 
making  promises  which  would  gain  so  valuable  an  ally.     More 


576  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

distinct  was  the  agreement  with  Spain,  where  Bonaparte  had 
obtained  a  complete  ascendancy  over  Godoy,  "  the  Prince  of  Peace  " 
and  the  all-powerful  minister  of  Charles  IV.  Spain  restored 
Louisiana,  which  had  once  been  a  French  colony,  and  France  secretly 
undertook  to  give  Tuscany,  with  the  title  of  king,  to  the  duke  of 
Parma,  who  had  married  Charles  IV.'s  daughter.  It  was  not  felt 
as  an  objection  to  this  treacherous  bargain  that  France  had  no 
right  over  Tuscany,  not  even  that  of  conquest.  In  spite  of  these 
successes,  no  progress  was  made  in  the  negotiations  with  England 
and  Austria.  England  could  not  make  peace  until  affairs  were 
settled  in  Egypt.  Austria  had  not  been  seriously  weakened  by  the 
defeat  at  Marengo,  and  was  inclined  to  resent  the  terms  that  had 
been  extorted  from  Melas.  Only  a  few  days  after  the  battle 
Thugut  was  able  to  effect  the  last  triumph  of  his  policy,  and 
concluded  a  new  subsidy  treaty  with  England  (20  June),  by 
which  Austria  was  pledged  not  to  make  a  separate  peace  before 
February,  1801.  In  spite  of  this  the  negotiations  went  on,  and  a 
prolongation  of  the  armistice  was  purchased  by  the  cession  of  Ulm, 
Philipsburg,  and  In^olstadt.  A  diplomatic  conference  was  opened 
at  Luneville,  at  which  Cobenzl  represented  Austria,  and  Joseph 
Bonaparte  France.  But  the  only  object  of  the  Viennese  govern- 
ment was  to  gain  time,  and  a  definite  refusal  to  treat  apart  from 
England  compelled  a  resumption  of  hostilities.  Moreau,  who  had 
received  reinforcements,,  was  opposed  by  the  archduke  Joseph,  over 
whom  he  won  a  crushing  victory  at  Hohenlinden  (3  December). 
The  French  were  advancing  towards  Vienna,  when  the  archduke 
Charles,  who  had  superseded  his  brother,  solicited  and  obtained  an 
armistice  at  Steyer  (25  December).  Meanwhile  Macdonald,  at  the 
head  of  a  detachment  of  the  army  of  Italy,  had  accomplished  the 
marvellous  feat  of  crossing  the  Spliigen  in  the  middle  of  winter. 
He  had  already  driven  the  Austrians  back  to  Botzen  when  he  was 
stopped  by  the  conclusion  of  the  armistice. 

The  battle  of  Hohenlinden  hurried  on  the  work  of  the  diploma- 
tists at  Luneville,  which  was  also  facilitated  by  the  downfall  of 
Thugut  and  the  appointment  to  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs  of 
Cobenzl,  the  negotiator  of  Campio  Formio.  That  treaty  was  taken 
as  the  basis  of  the  new  peace,  which  was  signed  on  the  9th  of 
February,  1801.  France  recovered  its  old  possessions  in  Italy  with 
the  Adige  as  their  eastern  boundary,  and  its  hold  upon  Holland, 
Belgium,  and  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  was  once  more  confirmed. 
The  only  difference  was  that,  in  accordance  with  the  agreement 
with  Spain,  Tuscany  was  transferred  to  the  duke  of  Parma.  The 
dispossessed  princes  of  Germany  and  the  grand-duke  of  Tuscany  were 
to  receive  such  compensation  for  their  losses  as  should  be  approved 


a.d.  1800-1801.     THE  ARMED  NEUTRALITY.  577 

by  France.  The  restoration  of  French  power  in  Italy  implied  the 
submission  of  Naples.  But  the  intervention  of  Paul  I.  preserved 
that  throne  to  the  Bourbons,  and  Ferdinand  IV.  obtained  peace  on 
easy  terms  by  engaging  to  close  his  ports  against  English  vessels. 

§  4.  England  was  now  isolated  in  Europe,  and  had  to  face  other 
enemies  besides  France.  Great  discontent  was  aroused  by  the 
right  of  search,  and  by  the  high-handed  way  in  which  England 
seized  upon  the  commodities  which  neutral  powers  were  carrying 
to  France.  Paul  I.  was  bitterly  exasperated  by  the  refusal  of 
England  to  surrender  Malta  to  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  of  which 
order  he  had  been  elected  grand  master.  To  show  his  anger,  he 
revived  the  Armed  Neutrality  of  the  northern  powers,  which 
Catharine  II.  had  formed  in  1780.  A  treaty  was  signed  between 
Russia,  Sweden  and  Denmark  on  the  16th  of  December,  1800,  and 
was  soon  afterwards  joined  by  Prussia,  which  had  remained  neutral 
since  the  treaty  of  Basel.  The  contracting  powers  announced  their 
intention  to  resist  by  force  English  interference  with  their  com- 
merce. England  was  at  this  time  occupied  with  a  ministerial 
crisis.  Pitt  had  in  1800  carried  his  great  measure,  the  Union 
between  England  and  Ireland,  and  had  purchased  the  consent  of 
the  Irish  by  a  promise  to  repeal  the  oppressive  penal  laws  against 
the  Roman  Catholics.  The  king's  obstinate  orthodoxy  made 
him  unable  to  fulfil  this  promise,  and  at  the  beginning  of  1801  be 
resigned  his  office  to  the  feeble  hands  of  Addington.  But  the 
retirement  of  the  great  minister  made  no  difference  to  the  spirit 
with  which  the  war  was  carried  on.  Determined  not  to  sacrifice 
the  advantages  of  maritime  ascendancy,  the  government  treated 
the  Armed  Neutrality  as  a  declaration  of  war,  and  sent  a  fleet  under 
Parker  and  Nelson  into  the  Baltic.  On  the  2nd  of  April,  Nelson 
bombarded  Copenhagen  and  compelled  the  Danes  to  retire  from  the 
league.  He  was  on  his  way  to  attack  Russia  when  he  received 
news  which  altered  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs.  Paul  l.'s  insane 
government  had  excited  universal  discontent  in  Russia,  and  a  con- 
spiracy was  formed  among  the  courtiers,  to  which  his  son  Alexan- 
der was  privy,  for  the  Czar's  deposition.  But  deposition  in  Russia 
involves  assassination,  and  Alexander  I.  found  himself  raised  to 
a  throne  the  way  to  which  was  prepared  by  parricide  (23  March). 
This  event  broke  up  the  Armed  Neutrality.  Peace  was  made 
between  England  and  Russia,  in  which  the  points  at  dispute  were 
compromised.  England  retained  the  right  of  confiscating  merchan- 
dise intended  for  France,  but  agreed  that  the  presence  of  a  man-of- 
war  should  protect  neutral  vessels  from  privateers,  and  that  a 
blockade  should  not  be  recognised  unless  it  were  effective. 

§  5.  England  and  France  were  both  desirous  of  peace,  to  which 
26* 


578  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

only  one  serious  obstacle  now  remained,  the  war  in  Egypt.  By  a 
sort  of  tacit  agreement,  negotiations  were  suspended  until  that 
quarrel  should  be  settled  by  arms.  After  Bonaparte's  desertion, 
Kleber  saw  clearly  that  all  chance  of  a  permanent  occupation  was 
at  an  end,  and  offered  to  arrange  an  evacuation  with  Sir  Sidney 
Smith.  On  the  24th  of  February  a  convention  was  signed  at  El 
Arish  by  which  the  French  army  was  to  be  allowed  a  free  return. 
At  this  moment  instructions  arrived  from  England  that  no  treaty 
should  be  made  unless  the  French  laid  down  their  arms.  Sir 
Sydney  Smith  was  compelled  to  recall  the  convention,  and  Kleber 
at  once  gave  battle  to  the  Turks  at  Heliopolis,  where  10,000  men 
utterly  routed  80,000.  The  French  had  recovered  Cairo,  and 
.seemed  more  secure  in  Egypt  than  ever,  when  Kleber  was  assas- 
sinated by  an  obscure  fanatic.  The  command  was  transferred 
to  Menou,  the  most  incompetent  general  that  France  produced 
during  the  revolutionary  epoch,  who  had  shown  such  enthusiasm 
for  the  Egyptian  expedition  that  he  had  become  a  convert  to 
Islam.  An  English  army  now  landed  in  Egypt  under  Sir  Ralph 
Abercromby,  and  speedily  decided  the  campaign.  Before  Alex- 
andria (21  March)  the  English  won  a  complete  victory,  in  which 
Abercromby  was  killed,  and  forced  Menou  and  his  army  to  seek 
refuge  in  the  city.  In  June  the  French  garrison  surrendered  Cairo, 
and  in  August  the  arrival  of  troops  from  India  compelled  Menou  to 
capitulate  at  Alexandria. 

§  6.  The  last  obstacle  to  peace  was  now  removed,  and  on  the  1st 
of  October  preliminaries  were  signed  in  London.  England  restored 
all  its  conquests  with  the  exception  of  Trinidad  and  Ceylon.  Egypt 
was  to  return  to  the  Porte,  and  Malta  to  the  Order  of  St.  John. 
On  the  other  hand,  France  was  to  evacuate  Naples  and  the  Papal 
States,  and  the  Ionian  Islands  were  to  be  formed  into  a  republic. 
The  agreement  was  welcomed  with  enthusiasm  by  the  English 
people,  but  there  were  many  clear-headed  men  who  had  watched 
the  career  of  Bonaparte,  and  foresaw  that  his  ambition  would  not  be 
content  with  what  he  had  already  gained.  Their  misgivings  were 
justified  by  the  high-handed  way  in  which  a  constitution,  designed 
in  French  interests,  was  forced  upon  the  unwilling  peoples  of 
Holland  and  the  Cisalpine  Republic.  The  government,  however, 
was  anxious  to  conciliate  public  opinion,  and  disguised  the  resent- 
ment which  was  felt  at  these  acts  of  aggression.  The  final  treaty 
was  signed  at  Amiens  on  the  27th  of  March,  1802.  Europe  was  to 
enjoy  a  short  period  of  peace.  But  it  was  soon  evident  that  the 
peace  was  a  hollow  one,  that  most  of  the  real  grounds  of  quarrel 
had  been  omitted,  rather  than  settled,  and  that  nothing  but  new 
exertions  could  check  the  aggressions  of  France. 


A.D.  1801-1802.     DOMESTIC  GOVERNMENT.  579 

§    7.    Meanwhile    the    internal    government    of    France,    still 
nominally  republican,  was  becoming  more  and  more  centralised  to 
suit  the  will  of  the  First  Consul,  who  steadily  aimed    at  the 
establishment  of  despotism.     He  took  up  his   residence    in  the 
Tuilerie8,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  revive  the  forms  of  the  old 
court.     In  this  way  many  of  the  emigrants  were  attracted  back  to 
France,  where  they  were  received  with  great  favour.     No  pains 
were  spared  to  gain  over  the  royalists,  and  to  destroy  the  repub- 
licans, and   the  hypocritical   pretext  was  always  advanced,  that 
arbitrary  measures  were  needed  to  protect  "  liberty  and  equality," 
and  to  uphold  the  principles  of  the  revolution.     In  December,  1800, 
as  Bonaparte  was  on  the  way  to  the  opera,  he  narrowly  escaped 
from  the  explosion  of  an  infernal  machine.     This  incident  was  at 
once  employed  to  carry  out  his  purposes.     To  avoid  judicial  forms 
the  Senate  was  induced  to  issue  a  decree — which  was  not  one  of 
ts  functions — by  which  130  Jacobins  were  condemned  to  exile. 
It  was  afterwards  proved  that  the  attempted  assassination  was  the 
work  of  a  few  Chouans,  and  that  the  Jacobins  were  perfectly 
innocent ;  but  the  difficulty  was  got  rid  of  by  altering  the  terms  of 
the  decree  so  as  to  show  that  the  sentence  was  for  their  previous 
conduct    The  slightest  breath  of  opposition  threw  the  First  Consul 
into  a  fury,  and  to  remove  the  insignificant  checks  that  were 
imposed  upon  his  power  he  did  not  scruple  to  infringe  the  constitu- 
tion.    The  justices  of  the  peace,  the  most  healthy  and  independent 
class  of  officials,  were  deprived  of  their  most  important  functions  and 
diminished  in  number.     Perhaps  no  law  is  more  characteristic  of 
Bonaparte's  system  than  that  which  established  special  tribunals. 
By  this  the  government  could,  in  political  and  other  cases,  dispense 
with  the  course  of  ordinary  justice,  and  conduct  the  trial  by  a 
tribunal  consisting  of  three  judges,  members  of  the  criminal  court, 
three  officers,  and  two  assessors.    As  the  last  five  were  nominated 
by  the  First  Consul,  it  is  obvious  that  he  could  ensure  the  decision 
that  he  wished.     The  law  was  strenuously  opposed  in  the  Tribunate, 
there  was  not  a  single  valid  argument  in  its  favour,  but  so  strong 
was  the  government  influence  that  it  was  carried  by  forty-nine 
votes  to  forty-one.    This  futile  resistance  was  enough  to  exasperate 
Bonaparte,  and  the  criticism  of  some  details  in  his  new  code  induced 
him  to  take  active  measures  against  a  holy  which  dared  to  express 
an  opinion  of  its  own.     By  the  constitution  a  ninth  of  the  members 
of  the  Tribunate  had  to  retire  every  year,  and  the  individuals  were 
usually  chosen  by  lot.     On  the  suggestion  of  Cambaceres,  Bonaparte 
decided  that  the  retiring  members  should  be  nominated  by  the 
Senate,  and  thus  got  rid  of  all  those  who  had  shown  the  slightest 
independence.     The  Legislative  Body  was  "  purged  "  in  the  same 


580  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

way,  and  henceforth  the  two  assemblies  were  submissive  instru- 
ments. 

These  open  advances  of  despotism  were  simply  disregarded  by 
the  great  mass  of  Frenchmen,  who  had  ceased  to  take  any  interest 
in  politics.  The  few  sincere  republicans,  such  as  Lafayette,  who 
had  recovered  freedom  by  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio,  and  Moreau, 
the  victor  of  Hohenlinden,  felt  resistance  to  be  vain,  and  retired 
into  private  life.  A  vigilant  police,  organised  by  Fouche,  carried 
espionage  to  lengths  which  had  been  unknown  under  the  old  regime. 
At  the  back  of  the  government  was  the  irresistible  force  of  the 
army,  which  was  increased  by  a  system  of  constant  recruiting. 
And  the  First  Consul  found  new  and  very  powerful  allies  in  the 
clergy.  Himself  a  sceptic,  he  fully  appreciated  the  importance  of 
religion  as  a  political  lever,  and  determined  to  use  it  for  his  own 
ends.  In  spite  of  the  traditions  of  the  revolution  and  the  repug- 
nance of  many  of  his  supporters,  he  opened  negotiations  with  the 
Pope,  which  ended  in  the  conclusion  of  the  Concordat  (April,  1802). 
By  this,  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  which  was  already  freed, 
became  once  more  the  state  religion.  Archbishops  and  bishops 
were  nominated  by  the  First  Consul  and  confirmed  by  the  Pope ; 
appointments  to  benefices  were  made  by  the  bishops  and  approved 
by  the  First  Consul.  To  clear  away  disputes  between  non-jurors 
and  clergy  who  had  accepted  the  civil  constitution,  all  existing 
bishops  were  removed,  but  most  of  them  were  re-appointed.  The 
Concordat  gave  considerable  immediate  advantages  to  Bonaparte,  as 
the  clergy  were  strictly  subordinated  to  the  state  and  became  its 
willing  vassals.  But  in  the  end  it  was  the  church  which  reaped 
the  greatest  advantage,  and  from  this  time  we  may  trace  the  rise  of 
modern  ultramontanism  in  France.  Next  to  the  Concordat,  the 
most  important  of  Bonaparte's  permanent  measures  was  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  famous  Code  Napoleon.  Though  it  has  been 
called  after  him,  he  was  not  the  real  originator  of  this  reform.  The 
Constituent  Assembly  had  commenced  the  work,  and  the  Conven- 
tion made  great  strides  towards  its  completion,  but,  after  being 
interrupted  by  the  Directory,  it  was  resumed  and  finished  in  the 
time  of  the  Consulate.  Bonaparte's  personal  share  in  it  was  limited 
to  the  alteration  of  several  articles,  such  as  those  about  divorce, 
to  suit  his  own  special  needs.  The  Code  was  finally  issued  in 
March,  1804. 

The  conclusion  of  the  peace  of  Amiens,  and  the  general  joy  with 
which  it  was  welcomed,  seemed  to  offer  a  convenient  opportunity 
for  obtaining  a  more  definite  sanction  for  a  power  which  was  already 
great  enough  for  all  practical  purposes.  The  Senate,  as  usual,  took 
the  lead  in  servility,  but  Bonaparte's  real  aims  were  so  little  under- 


a.d.  1802-1804.      DOMESTIC  GOVERNMENT.  581 

stood,  that  they  only  offered  him  a  renewal  of  the  Consulate  for 
ten  years.  Enraged  at  this  paltry  gift,  yet  afraid  of  compromising 
himself  by  seeming  to  demand  what  was  not  offered,  Bonaparte 
adroitly  contrived  to  suggest  an  appeal  to  the  people,  and  the 
question  put  to  the  vote  was  not  the  Consulate  for  ten  years  but 
for  life.  To  make  the  matter  simpler  all  votes  not  given  were 
reckoned  as  being  in  the  affirmative.  The  result  of  the  scrutiny 
(August,  1802)  was  that  out  of  3,577,885  voters  only  9,626  were 
against  the  proposal.  Among  the  minority  was  Carnot,  who  had 
compromised  himself  by  accepting  one  of  the  places  in  the  Tribu- 
nate vacated  by  the  "  purging,''  but  who  began  to  return  to  tho 
republican  cause  as  its  prospects  appeared  hopeless.  After  the 
plebiscite  a  number  of  changes  were  made  in  the  constitution.  The 
First  Consul  was  authorised  to  nominate  his  successor,  and  his  two 
colleagues  were  also  to  hold  office  for  life.  The  powers  of  the  Senate 
were  increased,  but  it  was  not  allowed  to  meet  without  a  summons 
from  the  First  Consul.  The  Tribunate  was  reduced  to  fifty  members, 
and  from  this  time  lost  all  independence  and  importance.  Bona- 
parte was  never  tired  of  repeating  that  the  French  must  be  ruled 
through  their  vanity,  and  to  conciliate  this  he  caused  the  formation 
of  the  famous  Legion  of  Honour,  which  was  to  contain  6000 
members,  civilians  as  well  as  soldiers,  with  the  First  Consul  as 
their  Chief.  By  the  end  of  1802  the  government  of  France  had 
become  practically  monarchical,  a  change  of  title  was  alone  needed 
to  put  an  end  to  the  Republic. 

§  8.  During  the  interval  of  peace  that  followed  the  treaty  of 
Amiens,  Bonaparte  continued  to  excite  the  misgivings  of  Europe 
by  his  high-handed  treatment  of  the  lesser  states  whom  misfortune 
had  brought  into  dependence  on  France.  The  Batavian  Republic 
had  been  organised  in  October,  1801,  and  the  Dutch  were  too  lethargic 
to  make  any  opposition.  In  January,  1802,  the  Cisalpine  became 
the  Italian  Republic,  and  the  deputies,  assembled  at  Lyons,  were 
forced  to  offer  the  Presidency  to  Bonaparte.  Switzerland  could 
not  be  treated  quite  so  despotically,  so  the  First  Consul  encouraged 
tho  <iispute8  of  rival  factions,  then  interfered  as  "mediator,"  and 
in  that  capacity  established  the  Helvetic  Republic.  To  secure 
dependence  upon  France  the  federal  government  was  rendered 
powerless,  and  extreme  independence  was  granted  to  the  separate 
cantons,  whose  number  was  increased  to  nineteen.  Piedmont,  in 
spite  of  the  representations  of  England  and  Holland,  was  defi- 
nitely annexed  to  France  (Sept.  1802),  and  the  island  of  Elba 
shared  the  same  fate.  To  get  rid  of  Moreau's  army,  which  shared 
the  independent  spirit  of  its  general,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  revive  the  colonial  power  of  France,  Bonaparte  dispatched  an 


582  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

expedition  to  St.  Domingo,  where  the  negroes,  enfranchised  by 
the  Revolution,  had  been  organised  under  a  regular  government 
by  one  of  themselves,  Toussaint  l'Ouverture.  Toussaint  was  sent 
a  prisoner  to  France,  but  most  of  the  troops  perished  from  the 
unhealthiness  of  the  climate. 

§  9.  At  the  same  time  the  power  of  France  was  immensely 
increased  by  the  settlement  of  imperial  affairs  in  Germany.  The 
treaty  of  Luneville  had  arranged  that  the  dispossessed  princes  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  should  receive  compensation  for  their 
losses  elsewhere.  In  1801  the  diet  met  at  Ratisbon  to  carry  out 
this  article,  but  the  real  settlement  was  effected  by  private  agree- 
ment of  the  various  German  states  with  France.  To  strengthen 
himself,  and  to  conciliate  a  possible  enemy,  Bonaparte  called  in 
Alexander  I.  of  Russia  to  assist  in  the  mediation.  It  was  not  till 
March,  1803,  that  all  these  various  arrangements  were  collected 
and  promulgated  by  the  diet.  Thanks  to  the  grasping  ambition  of 
Austria  and  Prussia,  and  the  unpatriotic  greed  of  the  lesser  states, 
France  was  able  to  effect  a  settlement  which  destroyed  all  prospect 
of  a  national  union  of  Germany,  and  ensured  the  permanence  of 
French  influence  in  the  country.  The  material  for  compensation 
was  found  in  the  territories  of  the  ecclesiastical  princes  and  of  the 
free  cities.  All  the  clerical  states  were  secularised,  and  forty-four 
out  of  the  fifty  cities  of  the  empire  were  suppressed.  Austria,  as 
the  most  powerful  rival  of  France,  was  excluded  from  all  share  of 
the  spoil,  and  Prussia  was  only  allowed  to  increase  its  territory  in 
the  north.  Bonaparte's  policy  was  to  lean  upon  the  lesser  states, 
Baden,  Bavaria,  Wurtemberg,  and  Saxony.  As  these  princes  were 
related  by  marriage  to  the  Czar,  their  advancement  was  not  only 
a  real  gain  for  France,  but  a  graceful  compliment  to  Alexander. 

These  changes  were  not  only  important  to  the  policy  of  Bona- 
parte, they  also  exercised  a  permanent  effect  upon  the  future  of 
Germany.  The  balance  of  power  in  the  Empire  was  completely 
changed,  the  Roman  Catholics  lost  their  predominance,  and  the 
imperial  sovereignty  of  the  Hapsburgs  became  more  nominal  than 
ever.  The  number  of  Electors  had  been  eight  since  the  union  of 
Bavaria  with  the  Palatinate  in  1777.  By  the  change  of  1803  the 
archbishops  of  Trier  and  Cologne  disappeared,  and  their  places  were 
taken  by  Baden,  Wurtemberg,  Hesse-Cassel,  and  Salzburg,  so  that 
the  number  was  now  ten.  It  was  in  the  Chamber  of  Princes  that 
Austria  had  so  long  held  the  upper  hand,  and  it  was  through  this 
body  that  the  emperors  had  been  able  to  control  the  diet.  All 
this  was  altered  in  1803,  the  number  of  votes  was  diminished 
from  100  to  82,  and  though  26  of  these  belonged  nominally  to 
spiritual  princes,  they  were  really  held  by  the  possessors  of  secu- 


a.d.  1802-1803.      RENEWAL  OF  HOSTILITIES.  583 

lamed  territory.  The  Chamber  of  Imperial  Cities  disappeared 
altogether.  Whereas  in  the  old  diet  the  Roman  Catholics  had  had 
a  secure  majority,  this  was  now  reversed,  and  the  Protestants  could 
command  fifty  votes  as  against  thirty.  This  was  another  blow  to 
Austrian  influence.  The  foundations  of  the  old  Empire,  long 
undermined,  were  now  overthrown,  and  Bonaparte  was  already 
meditating  the  construction  of  a  new  edifice. 

§  10.  The  annexation  of  Piedmont  and  the  intervention  in  Switz- 
erland were  breaches  of  the  treaty  of  Amiens,  and  called  forth 
indignant  remonstrances  from  the  English  government.  But  Bona- 
parte was  determined  to  exclude  England  from  Continental  affairs, 
and  he  replied  by  incessant  complaints  of  the  freedom  of  the 
press  in  this  country,  and  the  way  in  which  the  French  government 
was  attacked  in  the  newspapers.  A  stronger  ministry  would  have 
resorted  to  hostilities  at  once,  but  Addington  was  so  anxious  to 
maintain  peace  that  he  tried  to  satisfy  the  Consul  by  prosecuting 
for  libel  the  editor  of  a  French  paper  in  London.  Malta  had  not 
yet  been  given  up  on  account  of  difficulties  which  had  arisen 
about  the  proposed  Russian  guarantee,  and  England  threatened  its 
retention  unless  France  surrendered  some  of  its  recent  acquisitions. 
The  appearance  in  the  Maniteur,  the  French  official  paper,  of  a 
report  upon  the  resources  of  Egypt  brought  matters  to  a  crisis 
(January,  1803),  and  Bonaparte  publicly  insulted  the  English 
envoy,  Lord  Whitworth.  At  last  the  English  government  pre- 
sented an  ultimatum,  in  which  was  demanded  the  evacuation  of 
Holland  and  Switzerland,  an  indemnity  for  the  king  of  Sardinia, 
and  that  England  should  occupy  Malta  for  ten  years.  Bonaparte 
refused  these  terms,  and  when  war  was  declared  on  the  18th  of 
May,  he  promptly  imprisoned  all  the  Englishmen  that  were  found 
in  France. 

This  war,  which  continued  without  intermission  till  1814,  was 
at  first  purely  naval,  as  England  had  no  allies  on  the  Continent. 
English  vessels  seized  the  French  colonies,  of  which  Louisiana  had 
just  been  sold  to  the  United  States.  Bonaparte  replied  by  closing 
all  the  ports  of  France  and  the  subject  states  against  English  goods, 
and  by  making  vast  preparations  on  the  northern  coast  which  were 
supposed  to  be  destined  for  an  invasion  of  England.  But  as  such 
an  enterprise  required  time  and  its  success  was  doubtful,  Bona- 
parte decided  to  attack  George  III.  through  his  German  electorate. 
A  French  army  under  Mortier  entered  Hanover  (May,  1803)  and 
occupied  the  province  without  difficulty.  This  act  was  in  direct 
defiance  of  the  treaty  of  Basel,  which  had  guaranteed  the  neutrality 
of  the  northern  states  of  Germany.  If  Frederick  William  II.  had 
been  alive  it  is  probable  that  Prussia  would  have  taken  up  arms 


584  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxm. 

to  avenge  this  insult.  But  he  had  died  in  1797  and  his  son  and 
successor,  Frederick  William  III.,  under  the  influence  of  Haugwitz, 
had  adopted  as  a  permanent  policy  the  neutrality  which  exhaustion 
had  forced  upon  his  father.  After  some  futile  negotiations,  Prussia 
adhered  to  that  inactivity  which  was  destined  before  long  to  receive 
a  terrible  punishment. 

§  11.  The  renewal  of  the  English  war  encouraged  the  royalists 
to  resume  their  schemes  for  a  Bourbon  restoration.  A  plot  was 
concerted  in  which  the  chief  movers  were  Georges  Cadoudal,  the 
Chouan  leader,  and  Pichegru,  the  renegade  general  of  the  Republic. 
Cadoudal  was  to  organise  active  measures  for  seizing  the  First 
Consul,  while  Pichegru  was  to  gain  over  all  who  were  discontented 
with  the  existing  system.  Great  hopes  were  felt  of  obtaining  the 
assistance  of  Moreau,  who  had  been  an  intimate  friend  of  Pichegru 
and  was  known  to  have  quarrelled  with  Bonaparte.  When  every- 
thing was  prepared,  the  Count  of  Artois  was  to  appear  in  France  and 
to  take  the  lead  of  the  movement.  From  a  very  early  period  every 
detail  of  the  plot  was  known  to  the  police,  but  they  were  instructed 
to  allow  matters  to  go  on  until  all  Bonaparte's  enemies  were 
compromised  and  a  decisive  blow  could  be  struck.  Cadoudal  and 
Pichegru  both  arrived  in  Paris,  and  the  latter  had  an  interview  with 
Moreau,  who  refused  to  be  made  a  tool  of  the  Bourbons,  but  promised 
not  to  betray  his  old  colleague.  At  last,  in  February,  1804,  the 
government  determined  on  action.  Moreau  was  arrested,  and  at  short 
intervals  Pichegru  and  Cadoudal  with  a  number  of  their  accomplices. 
But  Bonaparte  was  not  satisfied  until  he  had  obtained  possession  of 
a  Bourbon  prince.  He  wished  to  give  a  signal  example  of  the  ven- 
geance he  would  take  upon  his  enemies.  Vain  efforts  were  made 
to  allure  the  Count  of  Artois  to  follow  his  fellow  conspirators,  and 
a  new  victim  had  to  be  found.  On  the  15th  of  March  a  detach- 
ment of  French  troops  made  a  raid  into  Germany  and  captured 
the  duke  of  Enghien,  son  of  the  prince  of  Conde,  who  was  living 
at  Ettenheim,  near  Strasburg.  There  was  not  a  tittle  of  evi- 
dence to  connect  him  with  the  royalist  plot,  but  he  was  brought  to 
Vincennes,  where  his  grave  had  been  already  dug,  and  after  a  hasty 
trial  before  a  military  commission  was  shot.  All  Europe  stood 
aghast  at  this  atrocious  deed,  and  the  fate  of  the  other  prisoners 
was  watched  with  eager  solicitude.  Pichegru  was  found  strangled 
in  prison,  Cadoudal,  with  several  others,  was  executed,  but  Mo- 
reau, to  Bonaparte's  intense  indignation,  was  only  sentenced  to 
two  years'  imprisonment.  The  charges  against  him  had  in  fact 
broken  down,  and  his  only  real  crime  was  that  he  refused  absolute 
submission  to  the  Consul,  and  that  he  was  the  only  man  whose 
reputation  and  ability  made  him  a  possible  rival.     His  sentence 


A.D.  1804.  THE  EMPIRE.  585 

was  altered  by  Bonaparte  to  perpetual  exile,  and  he  sailed  to 
America. 

§  12.  In  France  terror  stifled  the  feelings  of  horror  and  sympathy 
which  Enghien's  murder  would  naturally  have  aroused,  and  Bona- 
parte was  able  to  utilise  this  carefully  managed  plot  to  attain  the 
great  object  of  his  ambition.  Together  with  the  congratulations 
that  were  showered  upon  him  for  his  escape  came  suggestions  that 
France  should  be  saved  from  similar  attempts  in  the  future  by  the 
establishment  of  a  permanent  form  of  government.  The  Tribunate 
took  the  lead  in  proposing  that  hereditary  rule  should  be  conferred 
upon  Bonaparte  with  the  title  of  emperor.  Only  one  voice,  that  of 
Carnot,  was  raised  against  the  insidious  proposal.  In  the  Senate 
there  were  four  malcontents,  who  included  Sieyes  and  Lanjuinais. 
The  proffered  title  was  at  once  accepted  by  Napoleon,  as  he  lu  n< c- 
fnrth  styles  himself.  The  form  of  taking  a  popular  vote  was 
adhered  to,  but  so  little  attention  was  paid  to  it  that  the  formal  pro- 
clamation was  issued  before  the  voting  had  commenced  (20  May). 
Napoleon's  family  now  obtained  formal  recognition.  In  default  of 
male  heirs  to  himself  the  empire  was  to  pass  to  his  brothers  Joseph 
and  Louis,  who  obtained  the  title  of  Imperial  Highnesses.  The 
other  two  brothers,  Lucien  and  Jerome,  were  passed  over  because 
they  had  incurred  Napoleon's  displeasure.  Sixteen  marshals 
were  created,  and  included  the  chief  followers  of  Bonaparte, 
Murat,  Berthier,  etc.  Cambaceres  and  Le  Brun,  hitherto  colleagues 
in  the  Consulate,  received  the  titles  of  arch-chancellor  and  arch- 
treasurer.  These  and  others  forms  were  borrowed  from  Germany, 
and  Napoleon  loved  to  pose  as  a  new  Charlemagne,  who  had  once 
more  brought  the  imperial  dignity  from  the  east  to  the  west.  The 
coronation  did  not  take  place  till  the  2nd  of  December,  when  the 
Pope,  l'ius  VII.,  was  induced  to  be  present  in  person.  But  his  share 
in  the  ceremony  was  but  small,  as  at  the  last  moment  Napoleon 
seized  the  crown  and  placed  it  upon  his  own  beaa\  The  chief  result 
of  the  pope's  visit  was  that  he  compelled  Napoleon  to  go  through 
the  forms  of  a  religious  marriage  with  his  wife  Josephine,  whom 
he  was  aLeady  thinking  of  repudiating.  The  Bonaparte  family, 
especially  the  emperor's  three  sisters,  were  bitterly  hostile  to  the 
empress  and  to  her  two  children  by  her  first  husband,  Eugene 
and  Hortense  Beauharnais.  The  latter  was  married  to  Louis  Bona- 
parte and  was  treated  by  her  husband  with  jealous  cruelty.  The 
court  history  of  the  Empire  is  full  of  the  ignoble  squabbles 
between  the  two  parvenu  families  of  Bonaparte  and  Beauharnais. 


586  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

II.  The  Third  Coalition. 

•-.  §  13.  In  France  the  establishment  of  the  Empire  was  regarded 
with  complacency.  The  government  was  already  as  despotic  as  it 
could  be,  and  the  introduction  of  a  new  name  and  of  the  forms  of 
court  life  was  looked  upon  as  a  security  for  the  continuance  of 
that  material  welfare  which  personal  rule  had  undoubtedly  given  to 
the  country.  But  in  Europe  the  change  was  rightly  regarded  as 
marking  the  complete  destruction  of  the  old  system,  and  it  strength- 
ened the  antipathy  that  had  been  roused  by  previous  aggressions. 
Externally  the  state  of  affairs  seemed  favourable  to  the  new  dynasty, 
but  there  were  not  wanting  signs  of  approaching  disturbance.  In 
England  Pitt  returned  to  office  in  May,  1804,  and  this  in  itself  was 
an  evil  omen  for  France.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence,  not  only  of 
his  own  nation  but  of  Europe,  and  he  at  once  set  to  work  to  resume 
the  threads  of  that  coalition  of  which  England  had  formerly  directed 
the  resources.  Alexander  I.  of  Russia  had  begun  to  see  through  the 
designs  of  Napoleon  ;  he  found  that  he  had  been  duped  in  the  joint 
mediation  in  Germany,  he  resented  the  occupation  of  Hanover,  and 
he  ordered  his  court  to  put  on  mourning  for  the  duke  of  Knghien. 
Before  long  he  broke  off  diplomatic  relations  v\ith  France  (Sept. 
1804),  and  a  Russian  war  was  now  only  a  question  of  time. 
Austria  was  the  power  most  closely  affected  by  Napoleon's  assump- 
tion of  the  imperial  title.  The  old  Holy  Roman  Empire  could 
hardly  continue  to  exist  by  the  side  of  a  younger  and  hardier  rival. 
But  Austria  was  not  yet  prepared  for  hostilities,  and  Francis  II. 
contented  himself  with  securing  his  own  dignity  against  probable 
contingencies.  On  the  10th  of  September  he  assumed  the  title  of 
*'  Hereditary  Emperor  of  Austria,"  so  that  if  his  old  rank  had  to  be 
abandoned  he  would  still  be  on  an  equality  with  the  rulers  of 
France  and  Russia.  But  this  was  not  intended  as  the  basis  of  a 
permanent  reconciliation.  While  hastening  to  acknowledge  Napo- 
leon, Austria  was  busied  in  military  preparations  and  began  to 
resume  its  old  connection  with  England.  Prussia  was  the  power  on 
which  France  was  accustomed  to  rely  with  implicit  confidence. 
But  the  occupation  of  Hanover  and  the  interference  with  the  com- 
merce of  the  Elbe  had  weakened  Frederick  William  III.'s  belief 
in  the  advantages  of  a  neutral  policy,  and,  though  he  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  to  definite  action,  he  began  to  open  negotiations 
with  Russia  in  view  of  a  rupture  with  France.  The  fluctuations  of 
Prussian  policy  may  be  followed  in  the  alternating  influence  of  the 
two  ministers  of  foreign  affairs,  Haugwitz  and  Hardenberg. 

§  14.  Meanwhile  Napoleon,  ignorant  or  reckless  of  the  growing 
hostility  of  the  great  powers,  continued  his  aggressions  at  the 


a.d.  1804-1805.       THE  THIRD  COALITION.  587 

expense  of  the  lesser  states.  After  visiting  the  enormous  army 
which  had  been  collected  at  Boulogne,  he  made  a  triumphal  pro- 
gress through  Belgium  to  the  Rhenish  provinces,  where  he  laid  the 
foundations  of  that  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  which  was  to  be 
called  into  existence  two  years  later.  The  vassal  states  found 
that  they  must  once  more  model  their  institutions  upon  those  of 
France.  The  Batavian  Republic  was  reorganised  and  placed  under 
the  rule  of  a  Grand  Pensionary,  Schimmelpenninck,  whose  authority 
was  to  pave  the  way  for  a  monarchy  (March,  1805).  Italy,  being 
more  servile,  was  treated  with  less  caution.  The  heads  of  the 
Italian  Republic  found  it  advisable  to  petition  for  the  formation  of 
the  state  into  a  kingdom,  and  offered  the  crown  to  Napoleon  him- 
self. The  offer  was  accepted,  and  on  the  26th  of  May  Napoleon 
placed  the  iron  crown  of  Lombardy  upon  his  own  head.  Genoa 
was  annexed  to  France  and  its  territory  divided  into  three  depart- 
ments. Parma  and  Piacenza  were  incorporated  with  the  Italian 
kingdom.  Piombino  and  Lucca  were  combined  to  form  a  princi- 
pality for  Napoleon's  sister  Eliza  and  ber  husband,  the  Corsican 
Bacciochi.  Naples  was  treated  with  a  harshness  that  portended  the 
speedy  overthrow  of  the  Bourbon  dynasty.  After  settling  affairs  in 
his  new  kingdom  and  introducing  the  new  code  and  other  French 
institutions,  Napoleon  appointed  his  step-son,  Eugene  Beauharaais, 
to  act  as  viceroy,  and  returned  to  France. 

§  15.  These  acts  gave  the  final  impulse  to  the  hostile  powers,  and 
before  Napoleon  quitted  Italy  the  coalition  had  been  formed.  On 
the  11th  of  April,  1805,  a  final  treaty  was  signed  between  Russia 
and  England.  The  two  powers  pledged  themselves  to  form  an 
European  league  against  France,  to  conclude  no  peace  without 
mutual  consent,  to  settle  disputed  points  in  a  congress  at  the  end  of 
the  war,  and  to  form  a  federal  tiibunal  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
system  which  should  then  be  established.  The  immediate  objects 
of  the  allies  were  the  abolition  of  French  rule  in  Italy,  Holland, 
Switzerland,  and  Hanover;  the  restoration  of  Piedmont  to  the 
king  of  Sardinia;  the  protection  of  Naples;  and  the  erection  of 
a  permanent  barrier  against  France  by  the  union  of  Holland  and 
Belgium  under  the  House  of  Orange.  The  coalition  was  at  once 
joined  by  Gustavus  IV.  of  Sweden,  who  inherited  his  father's 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  legitimate  monarchy,  and  who  hoped 
to  recover  power  in  Poraerania.  Austria,  terrified  for  its  Italian 
possessions  by  Bonaparte's  evident  intention  to  subdue  the  whole 
peninsula,  was  driven  into  the  league.  Prussia,  in  spite  of  the 
attraction  of  recovering  honour  and  independence,  refused  to 
listen  to  the  solicitations  of  England  and  Russia,  and  adhered  to  its 
feeble  neutrality.     Of  the  other  German  states  Bavaria,   Baden, 


588  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

and  Wurtemberg  were  allies  of  France.  As  far  as  effective  opera- 
tions were  concerned,  the  coalition  consisted  only  of  Austria  and 
Russia.  Sweden  and  Naples,  which  had  joined  secretly,  could  not 
make  efforts  on  a  great  scale,  and  England  was  as  yet  content 
with  providing  subsidies  and  the  invaluable  services  of  its  fleet. 
It  was  arranged  that  one  Austrian  army  under  the  archduke 
Charles  should  invade  Lombardy,  while  Mack,  with  a  second 
army  and  the  aid  of  Russia,  should  occupy  Bavaria  and  advance 
upon  the  Rhine. 

§  16.  Without  paying  any  apparent  attention  to  the  storm  that 
was  gathering  in  the  east,  Napoleon  seemed  to  have  at  last  deter- 
mined on  carrying  out  the  projected  invasion  of  England.  To 
eusurc  a  successful  passage  it  was  necessary  to  have  the  whole 
naval  force  of  France  at  hand,  and,  if  possible,  to  secure  the  absence 
of  the  English  fleet.  Napoleon,  in  spite  of  his  ignorance  of  mari- 
time war,  mapped  out  a  regular  campaign,  and  might  have  been 
successful  but  that  no  allowance  was  made  for  accident.  Admiral 
Villeneuve  was  ordered  to  sail  with  the  Toulon  squadron  to  the 
West  Indies  so  as  to  entice  Nelson  in  pursuit.  As  soon  as  the 
English  fleet  was  well  out  of  the  way,  he  was  to  sail  back  with  all 
possible  speed  and  raise  the  blockade  of  Brest.  That  done,  the 
French  would  be  masters  of  the  Channel,  and  a  calm  for  twelve 
hours  would  bring  them  to  the  English  coast.  Napoleon  had  forced 
Spain  into  a  new  treaty  (Dec.  1804:)  by  which  he  could  command 
the  services  of  thirty  Spanish  vessels.  The  first  part  of  the 
programme  was  successfully  accomplished.  Nelson  was  drawn  to 
the  West  Indies,  and  while  he  was  pursuing  the  French  there,  they 
were  in  full  sail  for  Europe.  But  though  Nelson  discovered  his 
error  too  late  to  arrive  in  time,  a  swift  brig  brought  the  news  to 
the  English  government,  and  when  Villeneuve  arrived  off  Cape 
Fiuisterre  he  found  Calder  waiting  for  him  with  fifteen  ships. 
The  battle  was  not  in  itself  very  decisive,  but  it  was  enough  to 
ruin  Napoleon's  grand  scheme.  Villeneuve  was  shut  out  from 
the  Channel  and  retired  to  Cadiz,  the  blockade  of  Brest  was 
continued,  and  all  possibility  of  a  French  invasion  of  England  was 
at  an  end. 

§  17.  It  was  probably  fortunate  for  Napoleon  that  the  enter- 
prise was  thus  foiled  at  the  start.  He  must  have  found  more 
difficulty  in  conquering  England  than  he  had  anticipated,  and 
during  his  absence  France  would  have  been  left  to  the  mercy  of 
Austria  and  Russia.  So  obvious  are  these  considerations  that  his 
admirers  have  maintained  that  the  project  of  invasion  was  a  mere 
feint,  and  that  the  troops  collected  at  Boulogne  were  never  to  act 
except  against  Austria.     Documentary  evidence  makes  this  in- 


a.d.  1805.  CAPITULATION  OF  ULM.  589 

credible,  but  it  is  certain  that  Napoleon  was  fully  prepared  for 
failure,  and  that  he  changed  the  destination  of  his  army  with  a 
promptness  that  would  have  been  impossible  if  the  necessity  had 
not  been  foreseen.  He  determined  to  crush  the  coalition  before  it 
had  time  to  form  itself.  On  the  1st  of  September  the  camp  at 
Boulogne  was  broken  up,  and  by  the  end  of  the  month  the  "  grand 
army  "  was  in  the  Danube  valley.  The  Austrians  had  begun  the 
campaign  by  a  leisurely  occupation  of  Bavaria,  so  as  to  give  the 
Russians  time  to  join  them.  Mack  had  reached  Ulm  before  he 
<d  any  news  of  Napoleon's  movements,  or  even  knew  that  he 
had  left  the  coast.  The  French  had  met  with  no  opposition  in  the 
territories  of  Baden  and  Wurtemberg,  and  had  marched  to  the  north 
of  Ulm  so  as  to  cut  off  the  Austrian  retreat.  At  the  same  time  the 
troops  which  had  occupied  Hanover  marched  in  a  parallel  line 
under  Bernadotte  and  joined  the  main  army.  Mack  found  himself 
hopelessly  shut  in,  and  on  the  20th  of  October  he  was  compelled 
to  capitulate  with  all  bis  troops.  No  such  rapid  and  unexpected 
blow  had  ever  been  struck  before,  and  it  proved  the  utter  folly  of 
opposing  to  the  genius  of  Bonaparte  a  respectable  and  learned 
strategist  like  Mack.  But  on  the  very  next  day  France  suffered  a 
blow  no  less  severe.  Villeneuve  had  at  last  ventured  out  of  Cadiz, 
and  Nelson  destroyed  the  combined  French  and  S|<nnish  fleets  at 
Trafalgar  (21  October).  The  English  admiral  fell  in  the  battle 
that  set  the  seal  upon  his  glory  and  really  completed  the  work  for 
which  he  had  lived.  The  maritime  power  of  France  was  utterly 
crushed,  and  England  was  secure  from  any  possibility  of  invasion. 
Napoleon  had  no  means  left  of  attacking  the  power  which  was  the 
real  leader  of  the  opposition  to  his  ambition,  except  by  excluding 
English  commerce  from  every  country  that  he  could  influence. 
And  this  policy  ultimately  defeated  its  own  ends,  because  it 
increased  the  sufferings  of  the  subject  peoples,  and  led  them  to 
welcome  any  deliverance  from  so  oppressive  a  yoke. 

The  capitulation  of  Ulm  altered  the  whole  character  of  the  war. 
The  advanced  guard  of  the  Russians,  which  Kutusow  had  already 
hrought  as  far  as  the  Inn,  was  compelled  to  retreat  to  join 
Alexander  I.  and  the  main  army.  The  archduke  John  evacuated 
the  Tyrol,  and  the  archduke  Charles,  who  had  already  commenced 
a  campaign  in  Italy  against  Massena,  had  to  return  to  Hungary. 
Meanwhile  the  road  to  Vienna  was  left  open  to  the  French. 
Francis  II.  went  to  join  the  Czar,  and  Murat  with  his  cavalry, 
after  taking  the  bridge  over  the  Danube  by  a  dishonourable 
stratagem,  occupied  the  Austrian  capital  on  the  13th  of  November. 
Napoleon  stayed  for  a  short  time  at  Schonbrunn  and  then  marched 
to  meet  the  enemy  in  Bohemia,  where  he  took  up  his  quarters  at 


590  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

Briinn.  The  coalition  had  recently  been  encouraged  by  the 
adhesion  of  a  new  member.  Bernadotte's  division,  on  its  march, 
from  Hanover,  had  coolly  violated  the  neutrality  of  Prussia  by 
passing  through  the  territory  of  Anspach.  This  insult  was  too 
much  even  for  Frederick  William  III.,  and  he  at  last  yielded  U  the 
entreaties  of  the  war  party  at  Berlin.  The  catastrophe  at  Ulm 
rather  cooled  the  ardour  of  the  Prussian  government,  but  a  personal 
visit  of  Alexander  effected  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  Potsdam 
(3  November).  Prussia  undertook  to  demand  from  Napoleon  the 
evacuation  of  Piedmont,  Switzerland,  and  Holland.  But  a  month 
was  to  be  allowed  for  negotiations ;  if  at  the  end  of  that  time  the 
demands  were  refused,  Prussia  was  to  occupy  Hanover  and  to  send 
an  army  to  aid  the  coalition.  Haugwitz  was  entrusted  with  the 
negotiation,  which  he  conducted  with  a  half-hearted  tardiness  which 
testified  to  his  disapproval  of  the  abandonment  of  neutrality.  The 
treaty  with  Prussia  was  a  strong  argument  for  the  allies  to  delay 
their  attack,  aud  if  they  had  done  so,  it  is  probable  that  Napoleon 
would  have  been  unable  to  maintain  a  position  so  far  from  his  own 
country.  The  eager  courage  of  the  Czar  and  his  officers  refused  to 
listen  to  the  dictates  of  policy,  and  they  determined  to  give  battle 
on  the  ground  which  Napoleon  had  himself  chosen  before  Briinn. 
At  Austerlitz  the  "battle  of  the  three  emperors"  took  place  on 
the  2nd  of  December.  In  spite  of  the  superior  numbers  of  the 
assailants,  the  admirable  tactics  of  the  French  gave  them  the 
most  complete  victory  that  had  been  won  in  the  whole  course  of 
European  wars.  The  Russians,  who  had  suffered  enormous  losses, 
promptly  retreated  homewards,  and  Francis  II.  was  compelled,  two 
days  after  the  battle,  to  accept  an  armistice  which  was  a  virtual 
surrender.  The  army  of  the  archduke  Charles  was  still  intact  in 
Hungary,  but  Austria  had  suffered  two  such  crushing  blows  that 
resistance  was  no  longer  thought  of.  The  coalition  was  prostrate 
at  the  feet  of  France,  and  its  author,  Pitt,  already  stricken  by 
disease,  could  not  survive  the  news  of  Austerlitz.  He  died  on  the 
23rd  of  January,  1806,  and  the  government  fell  into  the  hands  of 
his  old  rival,  Fox,  who  strove  to  obliterate  party  differences  by 
forming  the  "  ministry  of  all  the  talents." 

§  18.  The  presentation  of  the  Prussian  demands  to  Napoleon,  and 
the  union  of  Prussia  with  the  coalition  were  now  equally  out  of  the 
question.  But  no  one  was  prepared  for  the  humiliating  treaty 
which  Haugwitz  was  bullied  into  signing  at  Schonbrunn  (15  Dec.) 
without  being  allowed  time  to  consult  the  home  government.  By 
this  the  principality  of  Neufchatel  and  the  remainiDg  portion  of 
the  duchy  of  Cleve  were  ceded  to  France,  Anspach  was  given  up  to 
Bavaria,  and  Prussia  was  formally  allied  with  France.     In  return 


a.d.  1805.  TREATY  OF  PRESSBURG.  591 

Prussia  was  to  receive  Hanover  with  the  obligation  to  exclude 
English  vessels  from  the  harbours  of  the  North  Sea.  The  news  of 
these  shameful  conditions  arrived  like  a  thunderbolt  in  Berlin, 
where  negotiations  were  being  carried  on  for  the  receipt  of  an 
English  subsidy.  But  it  was  too  late  to  make  an  efFective  protest, 
and  Frederick  William  III.  was  compelled  to  ratify  the  act  of  his 
envoy,  though  he  tried  to  persuade  England  that  the  occupation  of 
Hanover  was  only  a  temporary  measure  until  a  final  peace  could  be 
arranged. 

Still  more  shameful  were  the  terms  which  Napoleon  dictated 
through  Talleyrand  to  the  Austrian  plenipotentiaries  at  Pressburg, 
and  which  were  hurriedly  accepted  in  the  feverish  desire  to  rid  the 
country  of  its  hated  conquerors.  By  this  treaty,  which  was  signed 
on  the  26th  of  December,  Francis  II.  recognised  Napoleon's  king- 
dom of  Italy,  and  increased  it  by  the  surrender  of  Venice  and  the 
district  which  had  been  given  to  Austria  at  Campo  Formio  and 
Luneville.  In  Germany  even  greater  sacrifices  had  to  be  made  to 
the  French  allies.  Bavaria  received  the  Tyrol  with  a  considerable 
part  of  the  border  territories  of  Austria.  The  outlying  provinces 
of  the  Hapsburgs  in  western  Germany,  from  which  the  family  had 
originally  sprung,  were  divided  between  Baden  and  Wurtemberg. 
All  imperial  authority  over  these  throe  states  was  abandoned ;  the 
electors  of  Bavaria  and  Wurtemberg  were  raised  to  the  rank  of 
kings;  the  elector  of  Baden  assumed  the  title  of  grand-duke. 
Never  had  '*  fortunate n  Austria  been  called  upon  to  make  such 
enormous  sacrifices.  In  Italy,  where  the  Hapsburgs  had  long  been 
the  dominant  power,  they  had  not  a  single  fief  left.  The  treaty 
deprived  them  of  nearly  three  million  subjects  and  a  revenue  of 
thirteen  million  gulden.  The  headship  of  the  Empire,  which  the 
Hapsburgs  had  held  since  1438,  with  the  one  interval  of  Charles 
VIL's  reign,  was  no  longer  of  any  value  even  as  a  title,  and  before 
long  was  formally  resigned. 

§  19.  The  brilliance  and  completeness  of  his  success  seem  to 
have  turned  Napoleon's  head.  From  this  time  he  is  possessed  with 
the  chimerical  idea  of  forming  an  empire  which  should  dominate 
the  whole  of  Europe  through  a  long  chain  of  dependent  kingdoms 
and  principalities.  The  model  which  be  followed  was  his  own  con- 
ception of  the  feudal  system,  and  the  first  step  towards  the  reali- 
sation of  his  scheme  was  to  find  thrones  for  the  members  of  his 
family,  as  the  Hapsburgs  and  Bourbons  had  done  in  the  past.  He 
first  turned  his  attention  to  Naples,  which  had  incurred  his  enmity 
by  joining  the  coalition.  On  the  day  after  the  treaty  of  Pressburg 
a  proclamation  was  drawn  up  at  Vienna  which  declared  that  the 
Neapolitan  dynasty  had  ceased   to  reign.     A  French  army  was 


592  MODERN  EUEOPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

despatched  to  carry  out  this  imperious  decree,  and  for  the  second 
time  Ferdinand  IV.  and  his  wife  were  compelled  to  fly  from  then- 
kingdom.  Joseph  Bonaparte  was  proclaimed  king  of  the  two 
Sicilies  on  the  1st  of  April.  But  his  power  was  limited  to  Naples, 
as  the  presence  of  an  English  fleet  made  it  impossible  for  the 
French  to  cross  the  straits  of  Messina  into  Sicily.  Soon  after- 
wards Holland  received  a  monarchial  constitution,  with  Louis  Bona- 
parte and  Hortense  Beauharnais  as  king  and  queen  (June,  1806). 
Joachim  Murat,  the  dashing  cavalry  officer  who  had  married  Caro- 
line Bonaparte,  received  the  duchy  of  Berg,  and  Neufchatel  was 
given  to  Berthier  as  the  husband  of  a  sister-in-law  of  Joseph  Bona- 
parte. While  he  thus  distributed  states  at  his  will,  Napoleon 
suppressed  one  of  the  last  relics  of  the  revolution  in  France  by 
abolishing  the  repub]i:an  calendar  on  the  1st  of  January,  1806. 
Jerome  Bonaparte,  who  had  incurred  his  brother's  displeasure  by 
marrying  an  American  lady,  was  restored  to  favour  on  separating 
from  his  wife,  raised  to  the  princely  rank,  and  re-married  to  a 
daughter  of  the  elector  of  Wurtcmberg.  Eugene  Beauharnais, 
the  viceroy  of  Italy,  was  betrothed  to  a  daughter  of  the  king  of 
Bavaria.  Out  of  the  Venetian  states  twelve  ducal  fiefs  were  carved 
for  Napoleon's  marshals. 

§  20.  Of  more  permanent  importance  was  Napoleon's  settle- 
ment of  Germany,  which  was  arranged  by  Talleyrand  in  private 
negotiation  with  the  German  princes.  The  Confederation  of  the 
Rhine  was  formally  proclaimed  on  the  12th  of  July,  1806.  By 
this  act  the  kings  of  Bavaria  and  Wurtemberg,  the  archbishop  of 
Mainz,  the  grand-duke  of  Baden,  and  eight  lesser  princes  were 
declared  to  be  separated  from  the  empire  and  formed  into  a  federa- 
tion under  the  protection  of  France.  Dalberg,  the  archbishop  of 
Mainz,  and  hitherto  the  arch-chancellor  of  Germany,  who  had 
taken  the  lead  in  the  negotiations  with  Talleyrand,  was  appointed 
prince-primate  of  the  Confederation.  Frankfort  was  made  the 
capital  of  the  league,'  and  there  the  diet  was  to  meet  and  all 
federal  business  was  to  be  transacted.  The  German  knights  or 
ritterschaft,  the  lesser  tenants-in-chief  of  the  empire,  were  now 
abolished.  Their  territories  were  declared  to  be  mediatised,  i.e. 
annexed  to  the  larger  provinces  in  which  they  were  situated.  The 
members  of  the  Confederation  were  pledged  to  support  the  French 
emperor  in  all  his  wars  with  70,000  troops.  Austria,  the  titular 
leader  of  Germany,  was  powerless  to  resist  the  thinly-veiled  domi- 
nation of  France,  and  on  the  6th  of  August  the  Roman  Emperor, 
Francis  II.,  became  Francis  I.,  Emperor  of  Austria.  An  institu- 
tion which  could  trace  its  history  back  to  Julius  Caesar  was  over- 
thrown by  the  will  of  a  Corsican  usurper. 


a.d.  1806.  ATTITUDE  OF  PRUSSIA.  593 

§  21.  But  there  was  one  state  which  even  more  than  Austria 
might  be  regarded  as  the  champion  of  German  independence. 
In  spite  of  the  miserable  part  which  Prussia  had  played  for  the 
last  ten  years,  the  traditions  of  the  great  Frederick  had  not  been 
wholly  forgotten.  An  enthusiastic  war-party  at  Berlin  was  headed 
by  the  popular  queen,  Louisa  of  Mecklenburg-Strelitz,  and  by 
Prince  Lewis  Ferdinand,  a  nephew  of  Frederick  II.  This  party 
had  succeeded  in  bringing  about  the  treaty  of  Potsdam,  but  the 
hopes  then  excited  had  been  dashed  to  the  ground  by  the  battle  of 
Austerlitz  and  the  miserable  treaty  which  Haugwitz  had  accepted 
at  Schonbrunn.  Since  then  Napoleon  had  treated  Prussia  almost 
as  a  vassal  state.  He  adroitly  involved  her  in  a  quarrel  with 
England  by  the  cession  of  Hanover.  To  lull  suspicion  he  suggested 
the  formation  of  a  North-German  Confederation  under  Prussian 
headship,  and  then  interposed  obstacles  which  made  it  impossible. 
The  Rhenish  Confederation  was  organised  without  the  slightest 
pretence  of  consulting  Prussia.  These  and  other  insults  were 
bitterly  resented  at  Berlin,  but  the  final  impulse  to  the  vacillating 
government  was  given  by  the  news  of  secret  negotiations  between 
England  and  France.  The  accession  to  the  ministry  of  Fox,  long 
the  opponent  of  the  French  war,  suggested  to  Napoleon  the  idea  of 
coming  to  terms  with  England.  It  is  doubtful  whether  this  could 
have  been  effected,  as  Napoleon's  aggressions  had  become  intoler- 
able, and  Fox's  sympathies  were  with  republican  and  not  with 
ial  France.  At  all  events  the  negotiations  were  broken  off  by 
the  minister's  death  (13  Sept.);  but  meanwhile  the  Prussian  envoy 
at  Paris  discovered  that  the  bribe  which  had  been  offered  to  Eng- 
land was  the  restoration  of  Hanover.  This  intelligence  that  Prussia 
was  to  be  quietly  dopriYed  of  the  one  reward  for  its  dishonour  was 
too  much  for  the  pacific  king  and  ministry.  From  this  moment 
war  with  France  was  decided  upon,  and  was  formally  declared  on 
the  9th  of  October.  But  Prussia  was  now  to  pay  the  penalty  of  its 
previous  selfishness.  England  and  Russia  were  willing  to  forget 
their  grievances  against  a  country  which  would  really  fight  against 
France,  but  neither  could  furnish  immediate  assistance.  The 
differences  with  Sweden  were  speedily  settled,  but  Sweden  nam 
counted  for  little  in  Europe.  Austria  was  too  busy  with  repairing 
its  recent  losses  to  venture  on  another  war,  and  remained  neutral. 
Prussia  was  left  without  an  ally  to  face  a  power  that  had  crushed 
a  formidable  coalition.  Under  Frederick  the  Great  such  a  task 
might  not  have  been  hopeless,  but  since  his  death  Prussia  had 
degenerated  as  rapidly  as  it  had  risen.  Its  greatness  had  been 
created  by  the  genius  of  its  rulers,  and  had  perished  with  them. 
The  whole  edifice  of  the  state  was  rotteu  at  the  foundation.  The 
27 


594  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

ministers  were  mere  heads  of  departments  ;  the  king  was  surrounded 
hy  a  cabinet  of  irresponsible  courtiers.  The  army  was  formid- 
able in  numbers,  but  in  nothing  else.  The  officers  were  almost  all 
aged  men,  trained  in  a  school  of  tactics  which  was  already  obsolete. 
Many  of  the  common  soldiers  had  been  recruited  abroad  and  were 
inspired  with  no  patriotic  devotion  to  the  country  which  they 
served.  Even  the  native  troops  consisted  mainly  of  oppressed 
and  down-trodden  serfs  who  were  really  little  better  than  merce- 
naries. Nevertheless,  the  old  confidence  which  Frederick  II.  had 
inspired  had  not  yet  been  overthrown,  and  victory  was  regarded 
as  inevitable.  The  supreme  command  was  entrusted  to  Bruns- 
wick, the  author  of  the  famous  manifesto  of  1792,  and  it  was 
determined  to  advance  against  the  French,  instead  of  waiting  to 
defend  the  line  of  the  Elbe. 

§  22.  The  armies  with  which  Napoleon  had  overthrown  the 
Austrians  and  Russians  had  not  yet  been  recalled  from  Germany, 
so  that  it  was  easy  to  give  a  prompt  and  decisive  answer  to  the 
Prussian  manifesto.  The  Prussian  forces  were  collected  near  the 
Thuringian  forest  when  the  French  advanced  against  them  with 
superior  numbers.  At  Saalfeld  the  latter  showed  their  superiority 
in  a  small  skirmish  which  was  fatal  to  Prince  Lewis  Ferdinand, 
"  the  Prussian  Alcibiades."  Brunswick,  alarmed  by  the  presence 
of  the  French  emperor  in  person,  changed  his  plans  at  the  last 
moment,  and  retreated  towards  Magdeburg,  leaving  the  left  wing 
under  Hohenlohe  to  hold  Jena  as  long  as  he  could.  The  result 
was  that  when  Napoleon  arrived  at  Jena  with  his  splendid  army 
he  found  himself  confronted  by  a  small  division,  instead  of,  as  he 
expected,  by  the  united  forces  of  Prussia.  Hohenlohe  was,  of 
course,  utterly  crushed  by  the  enormously  superior  numbers  of  the 
enemy  (14  Oct.).  On  the  same  day  a  French  detachment  under 
Davoust  fell  in  with  Brunswick's  army  and  defeated  it  at  Auer- 
stadt.  As  the  Prussians  were  retreating  in  good  order  they  fell 
in  with  the  fugitives  from  Jena,  a  sudden  panic  seized  the  whole 
army,  and  the  retreat  became  a  hopeless  rout.  This  double  battle 
was  even  more  decisive  than  Austerlitz.  The  Prussian  monarchy 
seemed  for  the  moment  to  be  annihilated.  And  the  spirit  which 
was  shown  after  the  defeat  was  still  more  lamentable  and 
disgraceful  than  the  defeat  itself.  The  commanders  of  the  chief 
fortresses  seemed  to  compete  with  each  other  in  their  haste  to 
surrender  their  charges.  Erfurt,  Halle,  Ciistrin,  Spandau,  Berlin, 
etc.,  opened  their  gates  in  rapid  succession.  On  October  28 
Hohenlohe  capitulated  with  the  remnant  of  the  army  of  Jena. 
The  only  courageous  stand  was  made  by  Blucher,  who  fought  every 
point  as  he  retreated,  held  out  in  Ltibeck  till  the  town  was  taken 


a.d.  1806.  THE  BERLIN  DECREE.  595 

by  storm,  and  refused  to  surrender  until  the  superior  numbers  of 
his  pursuers  threatened  to  drive  him  into  the  Baltic.  The  whole  of 
Brandenburg  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French.  Frederick  William  III. 
tried  to  arrange  a  peace,  or  at  least  an  armistice.  But  Napoleon's 
terms,  which  were  moderate  after  Jena,  rose  to  extremes  as  the 
weakness  of  Prussia  became  more  and  more  manifest.  Lucclu-sini, 
the  Prussian  envoy,  went  so  far  as  to  sign  a  convention  by  which 
all  the  fortresses  still  uncaptured  were  to  be  surrendered.  But  the 
king,  whose  character  improved  with  adversity,  refused  to  ratify  an 
act  which  amounted  to  an  abdication  of  Lis  OOW1I,  ;uid  retreated 
into  East  Prussia  so  as  to  carry  on  the  war  with  the  help  of  1; 
This  worthy  decision  involved  the  resignation  of  Haugwitz,  whose 
feeble  truckling  to  France  was  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  evils 
that  had  befallen  Prussia.  But  even  yet  Frederick  William  could 
not  be  induced  to  entrust  the  power  to  Stein,  the  one  minister  who 
commanded  the  confidence  of  the  nation.  Stein  irritated  the  king 
by  protesting  against  the  existence  of  a  cabinet  from  which  the 
ministers  were  excluded,  and  was  dismissed  from  the  department 
of  finances.  Foreign  affairs  were  entrusted  to  Zastrow,  another 
incompetent  politician  of  the  same  school  as  Haugwit/.. 

§  23.  Napoleon's  success  must  have  been  marvellous  even  to 
himself,  and  was  ill-calculated  to  diminish  the  haughtiness  with 
which  he  dictated  his  will  to  Europe.  Northern  Germany  was 
now  at  his  feet,  and  was  treated  with  the  same  disregard  of  all  hut 
personal  interests  as  the  Southern  States  had  been.  The  rulers  of 
Hesse-Cassel  and  Brunswick  were  deposed,  and  their  territories 
formed  into  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia.  The  elector  of  Saxony, 
Frederick  Augustus,  purchased  pardon  for  his  very  half-hearted 
hostility  by  joiniug  the  Confederation  of  the  lihine,  for  which  he 
was  rewarded  with  the  title  of  king.  The  small  states  of  Thuringia, 
Weimar,  Gotha,  Meiningen,  and  Coburg  followed  the  example  of 
their  more  powerful  neighbour,  and  thus  escaped  the  vengeance  of 
the  conqueror.  On  the  21st  of  November  Napoleon  issued  a  decree 
from  Berlin  which  announced  to  the  astonished  world  the  ultimate 
object  of  that  conquest  of  Europe  on  which  he  had  now  set  his 
heart.  He  could  not  rest  till  he  had  humiliated  England,  the 
one  country  which  was  safe  from  his  invincible  armies,  and 
he  determined  to  accomplish  his  aim  by  the  destruction  of  its 
commerce.  The  Berlin  decree  declared  the  British  Isles  in  a  state 
of  blockade,  ordered  the  confiscation  of  all  British  merchandise, 
and  forbade  all  the  countries  that  were  dependent  upon  France 
to  carry  on  any  trade  whatever  with  Great  Britain.  Thus  was 
founded  what  was  known  as  the  "continental  system,"  the  most 
stupendous  proof  of  Napoleon's  incapacity  as  a  statesman,  and 


596  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

destined  to  bring  about  the  collapse  of  his  empire.  The  policy  was 
based  upon  the  idea  that  every  subject  and  every  ally  of  the  French 
Emperor  was  willing  to  sacrifice  the  most  pressing  material  interests 
to  enable  him  to  wreak  his  personal  vengeance  upon  a  nation  that 
had  dared  to  thwart  his  will.  It  was  quite  true  that  England  had 
exercised  her  maritime  supremacy  with  scanty  regard  to  the  inte- 
rests or  the  rights  of  other  countries,  that  the  rights  of  search  and 
of  blockade  were  employed  with  irritating  severity  ;  but  these 
evils  were  trifling  compared  to  the  deprivation  of  necessaries  which 
was  brought  about  by  Napoleon's  measures.  The  results  of  the 
decree  were  not  fully  appreciated  until  England  began  to  retali- 
ate. By  four  successive  Orders  in  Council  (Jan.  to  Nov.  1807)  the 
English  government  forbade  vessels  to  trade  with  ports  belonging 
to  France  or  her  dependent  allies,  authorised  reprisals  against  those 
countries  which  had  seized  English  property,  declared  the  blockade 
of  all  ports  from  which  the  English  flag  was  excluded,  and  made  it 
illegal  for  a  neutral  to  sell  ships  to  a  belligerent  power.  The  policy 
of  these  orders  has  been  severely  criticised,  and  it  is  certain  that 
they  did  a  great  deal  to  irritate  the  United  States  against  England. 
But  they  were  certainly  justified  by  the  measures  of  Napoleon,  and 
they  were  politic  in  so  far  as  they  increased  the  hostility  of  the 
subject  populations  to  the  rule  of  France. 

§  24.  The  elder  Pitt  announced  in  the  Seven  Years'  War  that  he 
would  conquer  France  in  America :  Napoleon  now  ventured  on  the 
counter-declaration  that  he  would  conquer  England  on  the  continent. 
But  to  do  this  he  must  complete  the  reduction  of  Europe,  and  as 
yet  his  power  in  Northern  Germany  was  bounded  by  the  Vistula. 
To  this  river  Napoleon  advanced  directly  after  the  Berlin  decree, 
and  prepared  for.  a  campaign  in  East  Prussia,  where  Frederick 
William  was  determined  to  make  a  last  struggle  with  the  help  of 
Russia.  By  artfully  worded  bulletins  and  proclamations,  Napoleon 
inspired  the  Poles  with  the  belief  that  he  intended  to  restore  their 
independence.  Thousands  of  the  oppressed  nation  rallied  to  his 
standard,  and  the  name  of  the  great  patriot  Kosciusko  was  employed 
to  fan  hopes  which  were  destined  to  speedy  disappointment.  For  some 
time  the  war  was  confined  to  isolated  skirmishes  about  the  Vistula, 
in  which  the  French  on  the  whole  maintained  their  superiority.  The 
first  pitched  battle  was  fought  at  Eylau  (8  February,  1807),  where 
Napoleon  met  the  main  Russian  army  under  Bennigsen,  and  found 
that  he  had  to  deal  with  a  very  different  enemy  from  any  that  he 
had  yet  encountered.  After  an  obstinate  engagement,  in  which 
the  Russians  met  the  French  attack  with  unflinching  stubbornness, 
both  armies  remained  in  their  positions.  On  the  third  day  Ben- 
nigsen determined  to  retreat,  but  Napoleon  also  thought  it  prudent 


a.d.  1807.  INTERVIEW  AT  TILSIT.  597 

to  retire  until  he  could  obtain  reinforcements.  The  French  now 
contented  themselves  with  reducing  the  Prussian  fortresses  that 
still  held  out.  Danzig  and  Kolberg  surrendered  after  a  vigorous 
resistance  on  the  part  of  the  garrisons.  If  England  had  taken 
energetic  measures  at  this  juncture,  and  had  sent  a  fleet  into  the 
Baltic  to  relieve  these  fortresses,  the  result  of  the  war  might  have 
been  altered.  But  the  Grenville  ministry,  which  was  now  in 
power,  was  incapable  of  apprehending  the  situation,  and  preferred 
to  fritter  away  the  resources  of  the  country  in  futile  expeditions  to 
Buenos  Ayres,  the  Dardanelles,  Egypt  and  Sicily.  In  March 
Grenville  was  dismissed  by  the  king  fcc  sui>jN>rting  the  demand  far 
Catholic  emancipation,  and  Portland  formed  a  ministry,  composed 
for  the  most  part  of  the  followers  of  Pitt.  Foreign  affairs  unr 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  youthful  Canning,  who  was  eager  to 
repair  the  errors  of  his  predecessors.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to 
accept  the  treaty  of  Bartenstein  (April,  1807)  by  which  the  rulers 
of  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Sweden  pledged  themselves  to  carry  on  the 
war  until  a  satisfactory  arrangement  of  European  affairs  could  be 
concluded.  England  now  set  to  work  to  prepare  for  the  Bal til- 
expedition,  but  before  the  fleet  was  ready  to  start  the  revived 
co  i lit  ion  had  unexpectedly  collapsed. 

§  25.  Before  resuming  his  advance  against  an  enemy  whom  he 
had  learnt  to  respect  at  Eylau,  Napoleon  was  careful  to  collect 
reinforcements  from  every  quarter,  until  he  had  at  last  140,000 
men  at  his  disposal.  A  march  upon  Konigsberg,  the  capital  of 
East  Prussia,  compelled  Bennigsen  to  fight  a  battle  at  Friedland 
(14  June).  The  encounter  was  as  desperate  and  costly  as  at  Eylau. 
The  Russians  were  almost  decimated,  and  the  French  suffered 
enormous  losses,  but  the  superior  numbers  of  the  latter  gave  them 
the  victory,  and  Konigsberg  was  taken.  The  Russians  retired 
behind  the  Niemen,  and  a  few  days  later  an  armistice  put  an  t-n<l 
to  active  hostilities.  Alexander  I.  now  determined  to  negotiate 
in  person  with  the  rival  emperor,  and  on  the  25th  of  June  the 
two  sovereigns  met  at  Tilsit,  on  a  raft  which  was  moored  in  the 
middle  of  the  Niemen.  The  details  of  the  conference  are  a  secret, 
as  Napoleon's  subsequent  account  of  it  is  untrustworthy,  and  no 
witnesses  were  present.  All  that  is  certain  is  that  Alexander  I., 
whose  character  was  a  curious  mixture  of  nobility  and  weak- 
ness, was  completely  won  over  by  his  conqueror.  Napoleon  seized 
the  opportunity  of  realising  the  hopes  that  had  been  destroyed  by 
Paul  I.'s  assassination.  Instead  of  attempting  to  impose  extreme 
terms  upon  a  country  which  it  was  impossible  to  conquer,  he 
offered  to  share  with  Russia  the  supremacy  in  Europe  which  had 
been  won  by  French  arms.    The  only  conditions  were  the  aban- 


598  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

donment  of  the  cause  of  the  old  monarchies,  which  seemed  hope- 
less, and  an  alliance  with  France  against  England.  Alexander  had 
several  grievances  against  the  English  government,  especially  the 
lukewarm  support  that  had  been  given  in  recent  operations,  and 
made  no  objection  to  resume  the  policy  of  his  predecessors  in  this 
respect.  Two  interviews  sufficed  to  arrange  the  basis  of  an  agree- 
ment. Both  sovereigns  abandoned  their  allies  without  scruple. 
Alexander  gave  up  Prussia  and  Sweden,  while  Napoleon  deserted 
the  cause  of  the  Poles,  who  had  trusted  to  his  zeal  for  their  inde- 
pendence, and  of  the  Turks,  whom  his  envoy  had  recently  induced 
to  make  war  upon  Russia.  The  treaty  of  Tilsit  was  speedily  drawn 
up;  on  the  7th  of  July  peace  was  signed  between  France  and 
Russia,  on  the  9th  between  France  and  Prussia.  Frederick  William 
III.  had  to  resign  the  whole  of  his  kingdom  west  of  the  Elbe, 
together  with  all  the  acquisitions  which  Prussia  had  made  in  the 
second  and  third  partitions  of  Poland.  The  provinces  that  were 
left,  ax.3unting  to  barely  half  of  what  he  had  inherited,  weic 
burthened  with  the  payment  of  an  enormous  sum  as  compensation 
to  France.  The  district  west  of  the  Elbe  was  united  with  Hesse- 
Cassel,  Brunswick,  and  ultimately  with  Hanover,  to  form  the  king- 
dom of  Westphalia,  which  was  given  to  Napoleon's  youngest 
brother,  Jerome.  Of  Polish  Prussia  one  province,  Bialy stock,  was 
added  to  Russia,  and  the  rest  was  made  into  the  grand  duchy  of 
Warsaw  and  transferred  to  Saxony.  Danzig,  with  the  surrounding 
territory,  was  declared  a  free  state  under  Prussian  and  Saxon 
protection,  but  it  was  really  subject  to  France,  and  remained  a 
centre  of  French  power  on  the  Baltic.  All  trade  between  Prussia 
and  England  was  cut  off.  Alexander  I.,  on  his  side,  recognised  all 
Napoleon's  new  creations  in  Europe — the  Confederation  of  the 
Rhine,  the  kingdoms  of  Italy,  Naples,  Holland,  and  Westphalia, 
and  undertook  to  mediate  between  France  and  England.  But  the 
really  important  agreement  between  France  and  Russia  was  to  be 
found,  not  in  the  formal  treaties,  but  in  the  secret  conventions 
which  were  arranged  by  the  two  emperors.  The  exact  text  of 
these  has  never  been  made  public,  and  it  is  probable  that  some  of 
the  terms  rested  upon  verbal  rather  than  on  written  understandings, 
but  the  general  drift  of  them  is  unquestionable.  The  bribe  offered 
to  Alexander  was  the  aggrandisement  of  Russia  in  the  East.  To 
make  him  an  accomplice  in  the  acts  of  Napoleon,  he  was  to  be 
allowed  to  annex  Finland  from  Sweden,  and  Moldavia  and  Wallachia 
from  Turkey.  With  regard  to  England,  Russia  undertook  to  adopt 
Napoleon's  blockade-system,  and  to  obtain  the  adhesion  of  those 
states  which  still  remained  open  to  English  trade — Sweden,  Den- 
mark, and  Portugal. 


a.d.  1807.  TREATY  OF  TILSIT.  599 

§  26.  Never  were  the  liberties  of  Europe  more  directly  threat- 
ened than  by  this  union  of  the  two  representatives  of  despotic  rule. 
But  fortunately  light  appeared  in  the  moment  of  the  most  extreme 
darkness.  The  task,  which  kings  and  princes  had  found  too 
difficult,  was  undertaken  by  the  peoples,  and  popular  resistance 
proved  a  force  which  even  Napoleon*s  genius  could  not  quell. 
Prussia,  under  the  ministry  of  Stein,  set  the  example  of  a  regenera- 
tion which  was  destined  to  have  the  most  important  results,  and 
for  which  the  previous  humiliations  provided  the  necessary  impulse. 
And  there  was  one  state,  England,  which  was  enabled  by  its  insular 
position  to  maintain  the  cause  of  Europe  when  the  continental 
thrones  were  failing  in  ruins.  The  English  minister  had  obtained 
information  of  the  secret  agreement  at  Tilsit,  and  used  it  to  strike 
an  unexpected  blow.  France  and  Russia  had  determined  to  seize 
upon  the  Danish  navy,  and  to  employ  it  for  their  own  purposes. 
But  an  English  fleet  appeared  before  Copenhagen,  and  demanded 
that  all  vessels  should  be  handed  over  until  the  conclusion  of  the 
war.  A  three  days'  bombardment  compelled  the  Danish  Govern- 
ment to  accede  to  the  demand.  It  was  a  high-handed  act,  which 
could  only  be  justified  by  the  greatness  of  the  danger,  and  by  the 
necessity  of  fighting  Napoleon  with  his  own  weapons.  Denmark 
was  naturally  driven  into  a  close  alliance  with  France,  but  the  two 
emperors  were  disagreeably  reminded  of  the  existence  of  a  power 
which  they  could  not  even  attack.  Meanwhile  the  other  Scandin- 
avian power,  Sweden,  was  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  robbers  of  Tilsit. 
Russian  troops  overran  Finland,  but  Gustavus  IV.  refused  to  nego- 
tiate even  when  the  enemy  was  at  the  gate  of  his  capital.  At 
last  the  Swedes,  disgusted  with  an  obstinacy  that  was  akin  to 
madness,  and  which  did  nothing  to  defend  them,  determined  to 
depose  Gustavus  (1809),  and  gave  the  crown  to  his  uncle,  Charles 
XI 11.  A  treaty  was  now  concluded  by  which  Finland  was  sur- 
rendered to  Russia,  but  Sweden  recovered  its  possessions  in 
Pomerania  on  condition  of  closing  its  ports  to  English  vessels. 
With  Charles  XIII.  the  great  house  of  Yasa  came  to  an  end, 
and  bis  successor  was  found  in  the  French  Marshal,  Bernadotte. 
Napoleon  gave  an  unwilling  consent  to  the  elevation  of  a  roan 
whose  ability  and  independence  he  had  always  distrusted;  and 
thus  was  founded  the  only  one  of  the  Napoleonic  dynasties  which 
was  destined  to  have  any  permanence. 

III.  The  Peninsular  War.  Campaign  of  1809  against  Austria. 

§  27.  Napoleon  was  at  the  very  zenith  of  his  power  when  he 
returned  from  Tilsit  to  France,  nnd  he  was  received  with  an  adula- 
tion proportioned  to  the  greatness  of  his  achievements.    His  first 


600  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxiv 

act  was  to  create  an  imperial  nobility  which  should  revive  the  forms 
of  the  old  monarchy,  and  to  abolish  the  Tribunate,  the  last  body 
that  had  the  power,  though  not  the  will,  to  criticise  his  actions. 
But  his  chief  object  was  to  complete  the  humiliation  of  England  by 
excluding  her  vessels  from  every  port  of  Europe.  The  only  country 
which  had  not  adopted  the  continental  system  was  Portugal, 
which  was  now  governed  by  a  Prince  Regent,  John,  on  behalf  of 
his  mother  Maria,  who  bore  the  title  of  queen.  As  early  as  1801, 
during  the  Consulate,  he  had  compelled  Spain  to  attack  Portugal, 
and  had  thus  extorted  the  closing  of  the  ports  of  that  country.  But 
in  1804,  on  the  renewal  of  the  English  war,  he  had  allowed  the 
Portuguese  to  purchase  a  formal  recognition  of  their  neutrality  by 
the  payment  of  sixteen  million  francs.  Since  then  the  trade  with 
England,  which  was  necessary  for  the  very  existence  of  the  king- 
dom, had  continued  without  interruption.  This  treaty  Napoleon 
was  determined  to  revoke,  and  at  the  same  time  to  conquer  Portugal. 
His  motive  was  a  desire  to  annex  Tuscany  to  his  kingdom  of  Italy, 
and  to  find  some  compensation  elsewhere  for  the  titular  king  of 
Etruria.  Accordingly,  he  demanded  not  only  the  closing  of  the 
ports,  but  also  that  the  Portuguese  government  should  declare  war 
upon  England  and  seize  all  English  subjects  and  property  in  the 
kingdom.  On  the  first  symptoms  of  hesitation  to  accept  such 
ruinous  terms,  he  ordered  Junot  to  advance  with  an  army  which 
had  already  been  collected  on  the  Spanish  frontier.  At  the  same 
time  he  compelled  Godoy,  the  Spanish  minister,  to  sign  the  treaty 
of  Fontainebleau  (27  Oct.,  1807),  which  arranged  for  a  partition 
of  Portugal.  The  northern  districts,  with  the  title  of  Northern 
Lusitania,  were  to  be  given  to  the  young  king  of  Etruria,  wlo 
was  to  surrender  Tuscany  to  the  Italian  kingdom.  In  the  south  a 
principality  was  to  be  carved  out  for  Godoy  himself.  The  central 
provinces  were  to  be  kept  by  France  in  pledge  until  the  conclusion 
of  a  general  peace.  Half  of  the  Portuguese  colonies  were  to  go  to 
the  king  of  Spain,  who  was  to  adopt  the  title  of"  Emperor  of  the 
two  Indies."  Meanwhile  Junot  was  marching  eastwards  with  a 
rapidity  that  reduced  his  troops  to  the  greatest  straits,  and  at  the 
end  of  their  journey  they  were  barely  able  to  carry  their  arms. 
Luckily  for  them  they  had  no  enemy  to  encounter.  The  Prince 
Regent  never  dreamed  of  opposing  the  French,  and  as  soon  as  they 
approached  the  capital  he  set  sail  for  Brazil  with  the  court  and 
some  15,000  loyal  followers  (29  Nov.).  Half  of  the  English  fleet 
escorted  them,  while  the  other  half  remained  to  blockade  the  mouth 
of  the  Tagus.  On  the  following  day  Junot  entered  Lisbon,  and 
proceeded  to  take  possession  of  the  kingdom  Napoleon  announced 
in  a  formal  decree  that  "  the  house  of  Braganza  has  ceased  to  reign." 


a.d.  1807.  SPAIN.  601 

§  28.  This  rapid  success  in  Portugal  was  not  enough  for  the 
French  Emperor,  who  had  also  designs  upon  Spain.  Ever  since 
1796  Charles  IV.,  under  the  influence  of  Godoy,  had  been  the  obe- 
dient vassal  of  France.  And  this  vassalage  had  brought  nothing  but 
disaster  to  Spain.  In  tho  battles  of  Cape  r'inisterre  and  Trafalgar 
the  Spanish  navy  had  been  annihilated.  At  Amiens  Napoleon  had 
allowed  England  to  take  Trinidad,  and  since  then  that  country 
had  seized  Buenos  Ayres.  For  a  long  time  Spain  had  depended 
upon  the  precious  metals  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  and  now  these 
resources  seemed  likely  to  be  cut  off.  Only  once  had  Napoleon 
the  slightest  complaint  to  make.  At  a  time  when  English  hos- 
tility was  more  than  usually  ruinous,  and  when  the  coalition  was 
strengthened  by  the  adhesion  of  Prussia,  Godoy  had  dreamed  for  a 
moment  of  throwing  off  the  yoke,  and  had  gone  so  far  as  to  issue  a 
belligerent  proclamation.  But  the  dream  was  rudely  shattered  at 
Jena,  and  Napoleon  had  condoned  the  offence  in  the  treaty  of  Fon- 
tainebleau.  In  spite  of  all  this  Napoleon  was  determined  to  attack 
Spain,  and  he  only  waited  to  find  a  pretext  for  hostilities  in  internal 
quarrels.  Godoy,  who  was  known  to  be  the  paramour  of  the  queen, 
was  bitterly  hated  by  the  people  for  the  disasters  which  his  policy  had 
brought  upon  Spain.  At  the  head  of  the  opposition  to  the  favourite 
stood  the  crown  prince  Ferdinand,  as  insignificant  a  creature  as  his 
rival,  but  endowed  with  all  good  qualities  by  the  popular  favour. 
Godoy,  conscious  of  the  insecurity  of  his  position,  did  all  he  could 
to  secure  the  support  of  Napoleon,  and  this  explains  the  abject  servi- 
tude of  the  government  to  Franco.  At  last  Ferdinand,  who  was 
regarded  as  the  opponent  of  the  French  policy,  determined  to  imi- 
tate his  enemy,  and  also  became  a  suitor  for  the  emperor's  favour. 
He  entered  into  secret  relations  with  the  French  ambassador, 
Beauharnais,  and  went  so  far  as  to  demand  the  hand  of  a  Bonaparte 
princess.  Napoleon  readily  encouraged  a  proposal  that  offered  to 
make  him  arbiter  of  the  court  quarrels  of  Madrid.  The  dec  ism- 
moment  seemed  to  have  come,  when  Godoy,  who  had  discovered 
some  of  the  intrigue  against  himself,  obtained  from  tho  feeble 
Charles  IV.  an  order  for  his  son's  arrest.  French  troops  under 
Dupont  were  ordered  to  enter  Spain  under  pretence  of  supporting 
Junot,  and  great  efforts  were  made  to  mass  reinforcements  on  the 
frontier.  But  the  moment  that  Ferdinand's  relations  with  Napoleon 
were  discovered,  Godoy  hastened  to  patch  up  a  reconciliation.  The 
pretext  for  an  invasion  was  thus  removed,  but  Napoleon  determined 
to  proceed  with  his  enterprise.  The  French  soldiers  were  eagerly 
welcomed  by  the  natives,  who  fondly  imagined  that  they  had  come 
to  espouse  the  prince's  cause  against  Godoy.  Charles  IV.  wrote  to 
demand  an  explanation  of  this  hostile  demonstration,  but  received 
27* 


602  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

a  threatening  answer,  and  Napoleon  adroitly  removed  to  Italy 
to  escape  further  remonstrance.  Thence  he  despatched  Murat  in 
February,  1808,  to  take  command  of  the  army,  which  had  already 
occupied  the  northern  provinces  of  Spain.  He  gave  no  hint  of  his 
real  designs,  and  Murat  felt  convinced  that  the  crown  of  the 
Bourbons  was  destined  for  himself.  As  the  French  continued  to 
advance  upon  Madrid,  and  resistance  was  out  of  the  question, 
Charles  IV.  and  Godoy  determined  upon  flight.  The  news  of  this 
intention  roused  the  smouldering  passions  of  the  people.  Risings 
took  place  at  Aranjuez  and  Madrid,  Godoy  was  maltreated, 
and  Charles  IV.  was  compelled  to  abdicate  in  favour  of  the 
unworthy  idol  of  the  populace,  Ferdinand.  For  the  second  time 
the  position  of  the  French  underwent  a  sudden  and  unexpected 
alteration,  but  Murat  proceeded  with  a  caution  worthy  of  the 
great  personal  interests  which  he  believed  to  be  involved.  He 
obtained  from  Charles  IV.  a  secret  declaration  that  his  abdica- 
tion had  been  compulsory  and  invalid,  and  he  occupied  Madrid 
(23  March)  without  in  any  way  acknowledging  the  title  of  Ferdi- 
nand. Meanwhile  Napoleon  had  matured  his  own  plans.  Advanc- 
ing in  person  to  the  frontier,  he  sent  Savary,  the  principal  agent 
in  the  murder  of  Enghien,  to  act  as  his  agent  at  Madrid.  Savary 
persuaded  Ferdinand  that  Napoleon  was  entering  Spain,  and  that 
the  best  chance  of  securing  his  crown  was  to  meet  the  emperor  at 
Burgos.  At  Burgos  the  ill-fated  victim  was  lured  on  to  Bayonne, 
where  he  found  himself  a  French  prisoner  and  was  suddenly  con- 
fronted with  his  parents  and  Godoy.  After  a  dogged  resistance, 
he  was  intimidated  into  restoring  his  crown  to  his  father  (5  June), 
who  at  once  made  a  second  abdication.  To  the  intense  chagrin 
of  Murat,  Napoleon  at  last  announced  his  real  intentions.  A 
meagre  assembly  of  notables  was  convened  at  Bayonne,  and  was 
compelled  to  offer  the  vacant  crown  to  Joseph  Bonaparte,  who  had 
been  summoned  for  the  purpose  from  Naples,  and  who  was  speedily 
installed  at  Madrid. 

§  29.  But  before  this  the  Spaniards  had  discovered  that  they 
had  been  duped,  and  had  risen  with  the  courage  of  despair  against 
their  treacherous  invaders.  Loyalty  in  Spain  was  a  superstition 
rather  than  a  sentiment,  and  in  spite  of  the  unworthy  character  of 
Ferdinand  the  popular  devotion  to  him  knew  no  bounds.  In  every 
province  juntas  were  formed  to  direct  the  military  movements,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  insurrection  had  spread  to  every  quarter  of  the 
kingdom.  It  was  the  first  time  that  Napoleon  had  had  to  face  an 
infuriated  people,  and  he  regarded  the  novel  phenomenon  with  the 
contempt  of  ignorance.  He  determined  to  make  Madrid  the  centre 
of  operations,   and  to  send  a  series  of  simultaneous  expeditions 


a.d.  1808.  THE  PENINSULAR  WAR.  603 

against  each  of  the  revolted  provinces.  The  task  of  subduing  a 
disorderly  and  inexperienced  mob  might  safely  be  entrusted  to  the 
less  prominent  of  his  generals.  At  first  events  seemed  to  justify 
his  calculations.  Bessieres  defeated  the  insurgents  at  Rio  Leco, 
near  Valladolid,  and  thus  secured  the  roads  from  the  Pyrenees  to 
Madrid  (13  July).  This  success  seemed  to  Napoleon  decisive,  but 
he  overestimated  the  importance  of  the  capital.  Madrid  had  never 
been  a  capital  in  the  same  sense  as  Paris,  and  its  military  importance 
was  of  the  slightest.  The  provincial  revolts  went  on  unchecked, 
the  French  were  repulsed  in  Valencia,  and  Dupont,  who  had 
advanced  into  the  heart  of  Andalusia,  was  compelled  to  retreat  and 
ultimately  to  capitulate  with  all  his  forces  at  Daylen  (19  July). 
The  Spaniards  now  advanced  upon  Madrid,  an  1  Joseph  had  to  fly 
from  the  capital  which  he  had  only  just  entered. 

§  30.  At  the  same  time  disasters  befel  the  French  in  Portugal. 
On  the  1st  of  August  an  English  force  landed  at  Figueras  under 
Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  and  at  once  marched  to  attack  Junot  at 
Lisbon.  At  Yimeira  the  first  battle  of  the  Peninsular  war  was 
fought,  aud  the  English  won  their  first  victory  upon  the  mainland 
(21  August).  The  French  army  was  now  surrounded  and  might 
easily  have  been  annihilated,  but  at  this  juncture  Wellesley  was 
superseded  by  his  superior  officer,  Sir  Harry  Burrard,  who  opened 
negotiations  with  Junot  By  the  Convention  of  ('intra (30  August) 
the  French  agreed  to  evacuate  Portugal,  but  stipulated  that  they 
should  be  conveyed  to  France  in  English  ships.  The  conven- 
tion was  bitterly  censured  by  the  English  government,  which  was 
already  preparing  to  send  help  to  the  insurgents  in  Spain.  At  last 
Napoleon  was  convinced  of  the  serious  nature  of  affairs  in  the  penin- 
sula, and  determined  to  remedy  matters  by  his  personal  presence. 
But  before  he  could  undertake  the  journey  in  safety,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  settle  matters  in  central  Europe,  which  were  beginning  to 
assume  a  threatening  aspect. 

§  31.  The  year  which  followed  the  treaty  of  Tilsit  was  a  i>eriod 
of  supreme  importance  in  the  history  of  Prussia.  Napoleon  bad 
insisted  on  the  dismissal  of  Hardenberg  from  the  ministry,  aud  his 
place  was  taken  by  Stein,  who  received  the  fullest  powers  to  efteet 
the  reorganisation  of  the  administrative  system.  Never  was  a 
country  in  a  more  abject  state :  reduced  to  half  its  extent,  and 
deprived  of  alnu  st  all  resources  to  pay  the  indemnity,  Prussia  had 
still  to  support  an  enormous  number  of  French  troops,  who  found 
one  pretext  after  another  to  postpone  their  promised  evacuation. 
In  all  probaVility  it  was  only  a  regard  for  the  susceptibilities  of 
Russia  that  prevented  Napoleon  from  utterly  destroying  the  con- 
quered kingdom.     In  these  terrible  circumstances  Stein  undertook 


604  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

the  task  of  government  with  a  resolute  confidence  that  extorted  tho 
wonder  and  admiration  of  his  contemporaries.  He  saw  clearly  that 
the  root  of  the  evil  lay  not  so  much  in  the  maladministration,  bad 
as  that  had  been,  as  in  the  whole  social  structure  of  the  system. 
The  Prussian  government  had  been  carefully  organised  so  as  to  sup- 
press all  freedom  among  the  subjects,  and  to  make  them  passive 
agents  of  a  despotic  will.  Not  only  were  there  three  classes — nobles, 
citizens  and  peasants — which  were  absolutely  cut  off  from  each 
other  from  birth  to  death ;  the  land  was  divided  in  the  same  way 
and  was  equally  immutable.  The  citizens  were  comparatively  free 
from  military  service,  and  were  supposed  to  devote  their  energies 
to  enriching  the  country.  The  nobles  supplied  the  officers  in  the 
army  and  the  peasants  the  common  soldiers.  The  pensants  were  in 
a  condition  of  serfdom  which  had  passed  away  from  almost  every 
civilised  country  in  Europe.  Neither  citizens  nor  peasants  had  any 
self-government,  or,  it  is  needless  to  say,  a  voice  in  the  direction 
of  the  state.  The  absolute  want  of  any  knowledge  of,  or  interest 
in,  public  affairs  was  to  Stein  one  of  the  most  grievous  defects  of 
Prussia,  and  was  in  itself  sufficient  to  explain  the  abject  inertness 
with  which  the  invaders  had  been  received. 

Stein  took  office  on  the  4th  of  October,  1807,  and  on  the  9th  was 
issued  the  famous  Emancipating  Edict,  the  greatest  legislative  work 
of  the  period.  Perfect  freedom  of  trade  in  land  was  established,  and 
the  old  distinction  between  noble-land,  burgher-land,  and  peasant- 
land  was  abolished.  The  system  of  caste  was  done  away  with,  hence- 
forth noble,  citizen  and  peasant  might  follow  any  occupation  they 
chose,  and  a  man  might  pass  freely  from  one  class  to  another.  No 
new  relation  of  serfdom  could  be  created  after  the  date  of  the  edict, 
and  at  Martinmas,  1810,  all  existing  serfs  were  to  become  free. 
The  edict  did  not,  as  has  been  so  often  represented,  convert  the 
villein  into  a  peasant-proprietor,  but  left  him  a  free  tenant  of  his 
lord.  The  further  change  was  the  work  of  Hardenberg,  who  in 
1811  gave  the  peasants  absolute  possession  of  two-thirds  of  their 
holdings,  and  allowed  the  lord  to  take  the  other  third  as  compen- 
sation. .  Neither  Stein  nor  Hardenberg  ventured  to  interfere  with 
the  judicial  functions  of  the  noble  class,  and  these  survived  until 
1848. 

This  great  edict,  though  it  is  identified  with  Stein's  name,  was 
not  really  his  work,  as  the  main  outlines  of  the  reform  had  been 
already  drawn  up  by  a  commission  appointed  under  Hardenberg. 
Still  less  direct  share  was  taken  by  the  minister  in  the  military 
reforms  which  were  carried  through  by  his  colleague,  Scharnhorst. 
These  reforms  were  really  only  sketches  of  what  was  to  be  effected 
in  the  future,  as  at  the  time  want  of  supplies  and  the  presence  of 


ad.  1808.  REFORMS  IN  PRUSSIA.  605 

the  French  army  prevented  the  adoption  of  military  reform  on  a 
large  scale.  Scharahorst  proposed  to  form  an  active  army  of  40,000 
men,  the  number  fixed  at  Tilsit,  but  to  adopt  a  short  term  of  ser- 
vice, and  to  draft  the  soldiers  as  soon  as  they  were  trained  into 
the  reserve.  At  the  same  time  a  Landwehry  or  militia,  was  to  be 
formed  for  defensive  purposes  only.  These  reforms,  accompanied  by 
an  abandonment  of  the  obsolete  tactics  of  Frederick  the  Great,  and 
the  abolition  of  the  degrading  punishments  hitherto  employed,  did 
much  to  revive  the  military  glory  of  Prussia.  Scharnhoret  himself 
did  not  live  to  see  the  result,  as  he  was  killed  in  one  of  the  first 
battles  of  the  War  of  Liberation,  but  the  fruit  of  his  labours  was 
reaped  by  Bliicher  and  Gneisenau. 

Meanwhile,  Stein  was  pursuing  what  was  more  especially  his  own 
scheme — the  admission  of  the  people  to  a  voice  in  their  own  govern- 
ment. He  reorganised  the  municipalities,  and  gave  the  citizens  the 
right  to  choose  their  own  magistrates  and  to  regulate  local  affairs. 
He  hoped  to  establish  similar  representative  institutions  in  the 
country  districts,  and  also  for  the  whole  kingdom ;  but  neither  time 
nor  opportunity  was  allowed  him.  There  was  a  strong  fwttng  in 
Prussia  that  the  erection  of  a  parliament  would  lead  to  a  Jacobin  revo- 
lution, and  the  reforms  already  accomplished  had  provoked  sufficient 
opposition.  Moreover,  foreign  politics  came  to  interrupt  the  course 
of  domestic  legislation.  The  revived  national  spirit  which  Stein  had 
called  into  existence  was  violently  hostile  to  France.  The  Tugend- 
bund  and  other  secret  societies  spread  themselves  in  a  network  over 
the  country,  and  only  waited  for  the  opportunity  for  a  rising.  \Y  hile 
opinion  was  in  this  excited  state,  the  news  of  the  Spanish  successes 
made  a  profound  impression.  And  Napoleon  had  now  decided  to 
recall  his  army  of  occupation  from  Germany  in  order  to  throw  over- 
whelming forces  into  Spain.  But  at  the  same  time  he  determined 
to  impose  fresh  terms  upon  Prussia  that  should  remove  all  danger 
of  a  rising  behind  his  back.  The  indemnity  still  due  was  to  be 
fixed  at  140  million  francs;  until  it  was  paid  off  10,000  French 
troops  were  to  occupy  Glogau,  Stettin,  and  Custrin  at  the  expense 
of  Prussia;  for  the  next  ten  years  the  Prussian  army  was  to  be 
reduced  to  42,000  men,  and  all  idea  of  forming  a  militia  was  to  be 
given  up ;  and  last,  in  case  of  a  war  with  Austria,  Prussia  was  to 
assist  France  with  16,000  men.  Stein  urged  that  a  desperate  war 
should  be  attempted  before  the  acceptance  of  such  humiliating 
terms.  But  Frederick  William  III.  had  not  the  courage  to  follow 
his  minister's  advice,  and  the  proposed  convention  was  signed  on 
the  10th  of  September,  1808.  Napoleon  had  intercepted  a  letter 
of  Stein's  in  which  the  possibility  of  an  alliance  with  Austria 
was  discussed.    He  peremptorily  demanded  the  dismissal  of  a 


606  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

minister  whom  he  now  recognised  to  be  still  more  dangerous 
than  Hardenberg.  Again  the  humbled  king  gave  way,  and  Stein 
went  into  exile.  His  place  was  taken  for  the  next  two  years  by 
Altenstein,  who  shared  his  views  but  was  not  strong  enough  to 
carry  them  out. 

§  32.  Prussia  was  not  the  only  state  in  Germany  which  Napoleon 
had  reason  to  fear.  The  treaty  of  Pressburg  had  been  far  too  hard 
a  blow  for  Austria  to  be  accepted  as  permanent.  Under  the  able 
ministry  of  Count  Stadion  a  number  of  reforms  had  been  initiated, 
which,  less  sweeping  than  those  of  Stein,  had  yet  given  some 
semblance  of  national  unity  to  the  various  races  that  owned  the 
Hapsburg  rule.  At  the  same  time  the  army  was  carefully  reformed 
by  the  archduke  Charles,  and  its  numbers  were  vastly  increased  so 
as  to  be  ready  for  the  first  opportunity.  Napoleon  complained 
bitterly  of  this  hostile  attitude,  but  he  could  do  nothing  until  Spain 
had  been  recovered.  Meanwhile,  he  determined  to  overawe  Austria 
by  a  new  demonstration  of  his  good  understanding  with  Russia,  and 
he  proposed  a  second  meeting  with  Alexander  I.  at  Erfurt.  Of  the 
bribes  promised  at  Tilsit  the  Czar  had  only  obtained  Finland,  and 
he  could  not  afford  to  separate  from  France  until  he  had  secured 
the  Danubian  principalities.  The  proposed  interview  took  place  in 
October  with  the  greatest  pomp.  All  the  vassal  kings  and  princes 
of  Germany  came  to  pay  court  to  their  suzerain,  and  Goethe  and 
Wieland  were  induced  to  visit  Erfurt  to  give  additional  proofs  of 
the  slavery  of  their  country.  The  promise  of  Wallachia  and 
Moldavia  was  confirmed  to  Alexander,  who  undertook  to  continue 
his  hostility  against  England,  and  to  support  France  against 
Austria  in  case  of  war. 

§  33.  Convinced  that  the  Erfurt  Conference  would  preserve  him 
from  all  danger  in  Central  Europe,  Napoleon  hurried  off  to  Spain. 
In  spite  of  their  great  success  at  Baylen,  the  insurgents  were  not  in 
an  encouraging  position.  The  local  juntas  had  abdicated  their 
authority  in  favour  of  a  central  junta  which  was  to  exercise 
supreme  power.  But  the  latter  body  contained  thirty-four  mem- 
bers, far  too  large  a  number  for  executive  business,  and  displayed 
nothing  but  hesitation  and  incapacity.  The  trfcops,  about  130,000 
men,  were  extended  over  a  long  line  from  Bilbao  to  Saragossa, 
and  it  was  easy  for  Napoleon  to  break  through  the  centre  and 
then  crush  the  two  wings.  Blake,  with  the  main  body  of  the 
Spaniards,  was  defeated  at  Espinosa  (10th  Nov.),  and  only  escaped 
annihilation  by  a  fortunate  accident.  The  centre  of  the  line  was 
forced  by  Soult's  capture  of  Burgos,  and  the  left  wing  under 
Palafox,  defeated  at  Tudela  by  Lannes,  threw  itself  into  Saragossa. 
In  a  week  the  Spanish  army  had  disapp°ared  from  the  field,  and 


a.d.  1808-1809.       THE  PENINSULAR  WAR.  607 

Napoleon  marched  upon  Madrid  and  restored  Joseph  to  his  capital. 
All  this  lime  an  English  force  of  20,000  men,  under  Sir  John 
Moore,  had  been  marching,  in  spite  of  great  obstacles,  to  the 
assistance  of  the  Spaniards.  On  receiving  the  news  of  their  utter 
defeat,  he  still  hoped  to  strike  a  blow  for  the  safety  of  Madrid. 
When  he  heard  that  the  capital  had  fallen,  he  felt  that  nothing 
remained  but  retreat,  but  he  determined  to  do  something  for  his 
unfortunate  allies  by  diverting  French  attention  from  southern 
Spain.  He  continued  to  advance  against  Soult's  division,  and  the 
news  of  this  movement  brought  Napoleon  from  Madrid  to  crush 
the  English.  Sir  John  Moore  retreated  before  superior  numbers, 
and  only  the  most  speedy  and  exhausting  marches  saved  him 
from  destruction.  At  last  Napoleon  saw  that  the  enemy  must 
escape  him,  and,  on  the  pretext  of  alarming  news  from  Austria, 
left  the  army  and  the  fruitless  pursuit  of  the  English  to  Soult. 
On  the  11th  of  January  Moore  reached  Corunna,  but  found  to  his 
horror  that  his  transports  had  not  arrived.  The  French  at  last 
overtook  him  and  it  was  necessary  to  fight  a  desperate  battle 
for  safety.  Soult's  attack  was  repulsed,  the  English  forces  were 
embarked,  but  Moore  was  left  dead  upon  the  field  which  he  had  so 
heroically  held.  Spain  was  now  at  the  mercy  of  the  French,  as 
there  were  no  forces  that  could  meet  them  in  the  open  field,  and 
only  small  local  risings  remained  to  be  put  down.  Saragossa  made 
a  desperate  resistance,  and  was  treated  with  proportionate  barba- 
rity when  it  was  finally  taken  (20  Feb.).  The  southern  provinces 
were  reduced  by  Victor,  while  Soult  invaded  Portugal  and  occupied 
Oporto  (27  March,  1809). 

§  34.  Napoleon  had  quitted  Spain  partly  because  there  was  no 
more  glory  to  be  won  there,  and  partly  because  his  absence  encou- 
raged the  hostile  schemes  of  Austria.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  government  of  Vienna  had  determined  to  make  war  at  the  first 
favourable  opportunity,  and  it  was  doubtful  whether  any  better 
chance  would  be  offered  than  a  moment  when  300,000  French  troops 
were  engaged  in  Spain  and  when  Germany  seemed  on  the  verge  of 
revolt.  It  was  on  German  discontent  that  Count  Stadion  placed  his 
chief  reliance :  he  knew  that  th-  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  chafed 
against  the  foreign  yoke,  and  that  a  single  success  would  over- 
come the  vacillation  of  Frederick  William  III.  On  the  9th  of  May 
Francis  I.  declared  war  against  Bavaria.  Three  separate  exjKHlitions 
were  set  on  foot  under  three  archdukes.  Charles  commanded  the 
main  army  in  Germany,  Join  led  an  expedition  into  Italy,  and 
Ferdinand  advanced  into  Foland  to  attack  Warsaw.  Welcome  allies 
were  found  in  the  Tyrolese  peasants,  who  had  been  subjected  to  Bava- 
ria by  the  peace  of  Pressburg,  and  who  now  rose  as  one  man  under 


608  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

Andrew  Hofer,  an  inn-keeper  of  the  Passeyr  valley.  Everywhere 
.the  Austrians  had  the  advantage  of  taking  the  aggressive.  The 
archduke  Charles  crossed  the  Inn  and  was  enabled  by  an  error  on 
the  part  of  Berthier  to  concentrate  his  forces  at  Ratisbon.  John 
defeated  the  French  under  Eugene  Beauharnais,  who  had  none  of  his 
step-father's  generalship,  at  Sacile  near  Venice,  and  Ferdinand  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  Warsaw.  But  the  favourable  moment  was  lost 
through  the  invincible  sluggishness  of  Charles,  who  might  have 
crushed  the  French  under  Berthier  and  Davoust  before  Napoleon 
had  time  to  reach  the  scene  of  operations.  The  emperor  on  his 
arrival  speedily  rectified  the  errors  of  his  lieutenants.  By  a  seiies 
of  masterly  manoeuvres,  unsurpassed  in  the  history  of  war,  he  col- 
lected his  scattered  forces,  and  in  a  campaign  of  five  days  (18-22 
April),  each  of  which  was  signalised  by  a  French  victory,  he  broke 
through  the  enemy's  line  and  drove  the  Austrians  to  make  a  hasty 
retreat  in  two  divisions.  Following  up  his  success  with  character- 
istic decision  he  occupied  Vienna  on  the  13  th  of  May.  These  events 
decided  the  campaigns  in  Poland  and  Italy.  Warsaw  was  evacu- 
ated, and  the  archduke  John  had  to  hurry  back  through  the 
mountains  to  the  defence  of  his  country,  closely  pursued  by  Eugene. 
An  attempted  revolt  in  Prussia  under  Colonel  Schill  had  degenerated 
into  petty  partisan  warfare,  which  was  ended  by  Schill's  defeat  and 
death  at  Stralsund  (25  May). 

The  capture  of  Vienna  by  no  means  involved  the  submission  of 
Austria.  All  the  biidges  over  the  Danube  were  broken  down,  the 
northern  bank  was  occupied  by  the  archduke  Charles  with  a  large 
army,  and  in  its  presence  the  passage  of  the  river  was  a  task  of  great 
difficulty  and  danger.  Napoleon  determined  to  make  the  attempt  a 
little  below  Vienna,  where  the  Danube  is  divided  into  two  streams 
by  the  long  island  of  Lobau.  The  southern  and  wider  stream  was 
crossed  by  a  bridge  of  boats,  and  a  flying  bridge  was  thrown  across 
from  the  island  to  the  northern  bank.  There  the  French  were 
attacked  by  the  Austrians  at  the  villages  of  Aspern  and  Essling 
(22  May).  Without  being  exactly  defeated,  Napoleon  found  it  im- 
possible to  maintain  his  position  on  the  northern  bank,  and  had  to 
withdraw  his  forces  into  the  island  of  Lobau,  which  his  artillery  made 
impregnable.  This  reverse  was  hailed  throughout  Europe  as  a  defeat, 
and  the  emperor  was  regarded  as  a  close  prisoner  in  his  Danube  for- 
tress. It  was  a  critical  moment  in  European  history.  Prussia  only 
waited  for  a  decisive  Austrian  success  to  declare  against  France. 
Westphalia  was  on  the  verge  of  revolt  against  the  feebly  oppressive 
rule  of  Jerome  Bonaparte.  The  duke  of  Brunswick  claimed  the 
hereditary  territories  that  the  treaty  of  Tilsit  had  taken  from  him, 
and  attacked  the  king  of  Saxony,  who  was  the  most  submissive 


a.d.  1809.  BATTLE  OF  WAGRAM.  609 

vassal  of  France.  The  heroism  of  Schill,  futile  as  it  had  proved, 
had  made  a  deep  impression  in  Germany.  All  attempts  on  the  part 
of  Bavarians  and  French  to  reduce  Tyrol  had  been  foiled  by  the 
obstinate  courage  of  the  peasants,  aided  by  the  mountainous  country. 
Everything  depended  upon  the  success  or  failure  of  the  French  to 
effect  the  crossing  of  the  Danube,  and  Napoleon  fully  comprehended 
the  importance  of  the  crisis.  He  collected  reinforcements  from  the 
Italian  army,  strengthened  the  bridges  over  the  southern  channel 
which  had  broken  down  during  the  battle  of  Aspern,  and  finally  he 
determined  to  bridge  over  the  whole  of  the  northern  channel  with 
rafts  so  that  his  army  could  manoeuvre  as  well  as  on  dry  land. 
When  all  preparations  had  been  made  the  great  enterprise  was 
carried  out,  and  the  Austrians  were  astounded  to  find  that  the 
enormous  French  army  had  crossed  to  the  left  bank  in  a  single 
night  (4  July).  For  the  next  two  days  an  obstinate  battle  was 
fought  on  the  field  of  Wagram,  and  it  was  not  till  the  evening 
of  the  6th  of  July  that  the  superior  numbers  of  the  French  gave 
them  the  victory.  But  the  victory  was  dearly  bought,  and 
had  nothing  in  common  with  such  decisive  successes  as  those  of 
Austerlitz  and  Jena.  The  archduke  Charles  retreated  in  good 
order  to  Znaira  in  Moravia,  where  an  armistice  was  concluded  on 
the  12th. 

The  battle  of  Wagram  was  followed  by  a  complete  change  of 
A  list*  i  in  policy.  The  championship  of  German  national  unity,  so 
contrary  to  the  Hapsburg  traditions,  was  jiiven  up,  and  a  return  was 
made  to  the  old  devotion  to  selfish  interests.  Before  long  Stadion 
retired  from  office,  and  his  place  was  taken  by  Metternich,  a 
skilful  diplomatist,  but  utterly  devoid  of  enthusiasm,  and  inspired 
only  with  hatred  of  revolutionary  doctrines.  The  archduke  Charles 
retired  into  private  life,  and  the  command  of  the  army  was  under- 
taken by  a  commission  presided  over  by  Francis  I.  in  person. 
There  was  now  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  peace  with  France,  and  the 
only  question  was  what  terms  to  arrange.  By  a  sort  of  tacit  under- 
standing this  question  was  allowed  to  depend  upon  the  success  or 
failure  of  the  efforts  which  England  was  making  in  the  Spanish 
peninsula  and  in  central  Europe. 

§  35.  In  1809  Wellesley  was  entrusted  with  the  supreme  com- 
mand of  the  English  forces,  and  was  also  appointed  generalissimo  by 
the  Portuguese  government.  His  first  task  was  to  free  Portugal 
from  the  French,  and  this  was  accomplished  without  difficulty. 
Soult,  who  had  been  instructed  by  Napoleon  to  plant  the  French 
banner  on  the  walls  of  Lisbon,  was  forced  to  evacuate  Oporto  and 
to  make  a  disastrous  retreat  into  Spain.  Wellesley  now  advanced 
by  the  valley  of  the  Tngus  upon  Madrid,  and  the  Spanish  army 


610  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiy. 

under  Cuesta  was  ordered  to  co-operate  with  him.  But  the  English 
general  found  his  allies  very  untrustworthy ;  he  was  kept  without 
information  of  the  French  movements,  and  Cuesta  refused  to  act 
except  independently.  Soult  was  able  to  throw  his  army  between 
Wellesley  and  the  Portuguese  frontier  and  thus  to  cut  off  his  retreat. 
If  the  other  French  commanders  had  been  prudent  enough  to  avoid  an 
engagement,  the  English  would  have  been  caught  in  a  trap  and  must 
have  been  overwhelmed.  Luckily  for  the  invaders,  Joseph,  acting 
on  the  advice  of  Victor,  decided  to  risk  a  battle  at  Talavera.  The 
Spaniards  fled  in  panic,  but  the  obstinacy  of  the  English  soldiers 
gave  them  a  victory  (28  July),  for  which  Wellesley  was  rewarded 
with  the  title  of  Viscount  Wellington.  But  the  victory  was 
practically  useless  except  as  securing  the  army  from  destruction. 
Wellington  could  do  nothing  more  for  the  Spaniards,  whose  conduct 
he  bitterly  complained  of,  and  as  the  line  of  the  Tagus  was  occupied 
by  Soult,  he  had  to  retreat  through  the  mountains  into  Portugal. 
This  great  expedition,  on  which  the  eyes  of  Europe  had  been  fixed, 
ended  in  complete  failure. 

§  36.  Still  more  conspicuous  was  the  collapse  of  another  expe- 
dition which  had  been  prepared  with  great  parade  by  the  English 
government.  On  the  27th  of  July,  1809,  245  men  of  war  convoyed 
40,000  soldiers  to  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt  to  attack  Antwerp. 
The  command  was  given  to  Lord  Chatham,  the  elder  brother  of 
William  Pitt,  who  proved  lamentably  incompetent.  Valuable  time 
was  wasted  in  the  capture  of  Flushing,  while  the  French  made 
Antwerp  impregnable.  The  army  was  decimated  by  fever  in 
the  swamps  of  Walcheren,  and  at  last  all  but  15,000  men  were 
recalled.  More  than  2000  of  this  luckless  body  had  perished 
before  the  survivors  were  allowed  to  return.  It  was  the  most 
glaring  proof  that  had  yet  been  given  of  the  incompetence  of  the 
English  government  to  direct  military  operations.  An  army  that 
might  have  interfered  with  decisive  effect  in  Spain  was  thrown 
away  in  an  ill-judged  enterprise  which  was  hopeless  from  the 
outset. 

§  37.  This  double  failure  on  the  part  of  England  settled  the  nego- 
tiations between  France  and  Austria,  and  the  treaty  of  Vienna  was 
signed  on  the  14th  of  October.  Salzburg,  Berchtesgaden,  and  the 
district  of  the  Inn  were  ceded  to  Bavaria.  Western  Gralicia,  which 
Austria  had  acquired  in  the  third  partition  of  Poland,  with  the  city 
of  Krakau,  was  added  to  the  grand  duchy  of  Warsaw.  The  provinces 
of  Trieste,  Friuli,  Croatia,  and  other  districts  between  the  Adriatic 
and  the  Save  were  formed  into  the  "  Illyrian  Provinces  "  under  the 
direct  rule  of  Napoleon  himself.  Not  only  did  Austria  lose  50,000 
square  miles  of  territory  and  a  population  of  four  millions,  she  wa# 


a.d.  1809-1810.     FRENCH  ANNEXATIONS.  611 

also  cut  off  both  from  Germany  and  the  Mediterranean.  Her 
political  importance  and  her  commerce  seemed  to  be  utterly  de- 
stroyed. The  Tyrolese  were  rewarded  for  their  devotion  to  the 
Hapsburgs  by  being  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  conquerors.  The 
peasants  were  compelled  by  overwhelming  forces  to  submit,  and  the 
heroic  Hofer  was  carried  to  Mantua  and  shot  as  a  rebel. 

So  far  Napoleon's  power  was  apparently  unshaken  by  the  popular 
risings  against  him.  But  he  had  advanced  no  nearer  to  his  dearest 
object,  the  destruction  of  England.  To  effect  this  purpose  he  had  no 
other  means  than  the  inclusion  of  every  European  country  in  the 
systematic  blockade.  It  was  for  this  he  had  attacked  Portugal  and 
deprived  Austria  of  her  ports,  and  he  was  now  determined  to  remove 
every  obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  designs.  In  spite  of  the  concordat, 
Pope  Pius  VII.  had  never  accepted  the  position  of  a  submissive 
vassal  of  France.  He  had  refused  to  acknowledge  the  kings  whom 
Napoleon  had  placed  in  Naples,  to  confirm  the  French  bishops  whom 
Napoleon  had  nominated,  or  to  close  his  ports  against  English 
vessels.  In  1808  Napoleon  had  ordered  his  troops  under  Miollis  to 
occupy  Home,  and  OB  the  17th  of  May,  1809,  lie  issued  a  decree 
from  his  camp  at  Vienna,  by  which  he  confiscated  the  Papal  States 
and  reduced  the  Pope  to  the  position  of  a  simple  bishop  of  l: 
As  Pius  VII.  refused  to  submit  to  this  arbitrary  act,  he  was 
imprisoned,  first  in  Grenoble  and  then  in  Savona,  where  he  re- 
mained for  the  next  three  years.  The  courageous  pope  declined 
all  offers  of  a  revenue  and  a  resi.l. m ft  in  Paris,  and  Napoleon  was 
compelled  to  organise  the  Gallican  church  iu  practical  inchjxii- 
of  the  papal  authority.  The  Roman  states  were  divided 
into  three  departments,  and  received  institutions  on  the  French 
model. 

This  annexation  was  followed  by  others  in  1810.  Louis  Boat* 
parte,  king  of  Holland,  had  committed  the  unpardonable  crime  of 
preferring  his  subjects'  interests  to  those  of  his  brother,  and  had 
tried  to  mitigate  the  rigour  of  the  ruinous  blockade.  In  January 
he  had  to  sign  a  treaty  by  which  he  surrendered  Zealand  and 
admitted  French  officials  to  the  Dutch  custom-houses.  Finally, 
unable  to  endure  the  humiliations  to  which  he  was  exposed,  he 
resigned  his  crown  altogether  (1  July),  and  Holland  was  incorpo- 
rated with  France.  Soon  afterwards  the  whole  coast  of  North 
Germany,  including  Hamburg  and  most  of  the  old  Hanse  towns, 
the  duchy  of  Oldenburg,  and  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia, 
was  formally  annexed  by  Napoleon  in  order  to  effectually  close  the 
Elbe  and  the  Weser  against  English  commerce. 

§  38.  Napoleon  now  revived  the  idea  which  he  had  often  enter- 
tained before,  of  allying  himself  with  one  of  the  great  ruling  families. 


612  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

A  compliant  senate  and  a  packed  ecclesiastical  council  pronounced 
his  separation  from  Josephine  Beauharnais,  who  retired  with  a 
magnificent  pension  to  Malmaison,  where  she  died.  As  previous 
marriage  proposals  to  the  Russian  court  had  not  been  cordially 
received,  Napoleon  now  turned  to  Austria.  The  matter  was 
speedily  arranged  with  Metternich,  and  in  March,  1810,  the  arch- 
duchess Maria  Louisa  arrived  in  France  as  the  emperor's  wife. 
The  great  importance  of  the  marriage  was  that  it  broke  the  last 
links  which  bound  Russia  to  France,  and  thus  overthrew  the 
alliance  of  Tilsit.  Alexander  had  been  exasperated  by  the  addition 
of  Western  Galicia  to  the  grand-duchy  of  Warsaw,  which  he 
regarded  as  a  step  towards  the  restoration  of  Poland,  and  therefore 
as  a  breach  of  the  engagement  made  at  Tilsit.  The  annexation  of 
Oldenburg,  whose  duke  was  a  relative  of  the  Czar,  was  a  distinct 
personal  insult.  Alexander  showed  his  irritation  by  formally 
deserting  the  continental  system,  which  was  more  ruinous  to  Russia 
than  to  almost  any  other  country,  and  by  throwing  his  ports  open 
to  British  commerce  (Dec.  1810).  From  this  moment  war  between 
France  and  Russia  was  inevitable,  unless  Napoleon  would  resign  the 
great  object  to  which  he  had  so  long  subordinated  all  other  aims. 
But  before  considering  this  quarrel  it  is  necessary  to  trace  the  course 
of  the  war  in  the  Spanish  peninsula. 

§  39.  The  retreat  of  Wellington  to  Portugal  after  his  victory  at 
Talavera  left  Spain  at  the  mercy  of  the  French.  In  spite  of  the 
harassing  guerilla  warfare,  in  which  the  Spaniards  excelled,  they 
succeeded  in  capturing  Granada  and  Seville,  and  finally  reduced  the 
whole  of  the  southern  provinces  except  Cadiz,  which  now  became 
the  capital  of  independent  Spain.  The  treaty  of  Vienna  allowed 
Napoleon  to  send  reinforcements  to  the  peninsula,  and  if  he  had 
appeared  in  person  the  war  would  probably  have  come  to  a  speedy 
end.  But  he  underrated  the  military  power  of  England,  and  pre- 
ferred to  leave  the  task  to  his  marshals,  while  he  occupied  himself 
with  the  annexation  of  Holland  and  northern  Germany  and  inces- 
sant squabbles  with  the  imprisoned  Pope.  The  progress  of  the  French 
in  Spain  was  impeded  by  the  jealousy  with  which  the  marshals 
regarded  each  other,  and  by  the  want  of  sympathy  between  Napoleon 
and  his  brother;  Joseph  wished  to  restore  peace  and  order  to  his 
subjects  and  to  rule  them  as  an  independent  nation,  while  Napoleon 
was  determined  to  annex  the  peninsula  to  his  own  overgrown  empire. 
These  disputes  went  so  far  that  Joseph  resigned  his  crown,  and  was 
with  great  difficulty  induced  to  resume  it.  Among  the  Spaniards 
the  fall  of  the  old  monarchy,  and  the  consciousness  that  the  nation 
was  conducting  the  war  on  its  own  behalf,  had  given  a  great  im- 
pulse to  the  reforming  party,  which  had  long  existed,  but  had  been 


A.D.  1810.  THE  PENINSULAR  WAR.  613 

reduced  to  powerlessness  under  Charles  IV.  The  central  jui, 
Seville  had  promised  to  summon  the  Cortes,  but  that  body  was 
suppressed  by  the  French  advance  before  the  promise  was  fulfilled. 
But  at  Cadiz,  the  last  bulwark  of  independence,  the  Cortes  at  last 
came  together  in  1810  and  set  to  work  to  draw  up  a  new  consti- 
tution. The  liberals  had  matters  their  own  way,  and  the  principles 
of  the  French  Constituent  Assembly  were  closely  followed  in  the 
constitution  which  was  promulgated  early  in  1812.  Supreme  legis- 
lative power  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  single  national  assembly, 
aud  effective  checks  were  imposed  to  restrict  the  executive  pone? 
of  the  monarchy  whenever  it  should  be  restored.  The  freedom  1 4 
the  press  was  established,  the  old  feudal  rights  of  the  nobles  were 
abolished,  tithes  were  remitted,  and  the  j>ro|>erty  of  the  clergy  was 
confiscated  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war.  But  the  great  defect 
of  the  constitution  was  that  it  was  the  work  of  one  party  to  which 
circumstances  had  given  a  temporary  supremacy,  and  it  failed  to 
command  the  supiM>rt  of  the  united  nation.  The  nobles  and  | 
were  bitterly  hostile  to  the  reforms,  and  the  latter  class  had  far  more 
influence  in  Spaiu  than  they  bad  ever  enjoyed  iu  France.  More- 
over, the  democratic  character  of  the  constitution  was  not  likely  to 
commend  itself  to  Wellington,  and  the  liberal  leaders  viewed  with 
mistrust  the  conservative  general  to  whom  they  were  compelled  to 
confide  the  defence  of  their  country. 

§  40.  In  1810  Napoleon  determined  to  bring  the  peninsular  war, 
the  only  one  now  left  on  his  hands,  to  a  close.  He  ordered  Soult  to 
conduct  the  operation!  Igtinft  Cadiz,  while  Massena  undertook  the 
more  difficult  task  of  driving  the  English  from  Portugal.  Wellington 
had  foreseen  this  attack,  and  had  employed  the  winter  iu  erecting 
the  impregnable  lines  of  Torres  Vedras,  extending  from  the  Tagus  to 
the  sea.  His  intention  was  to  stand  strictly  on  the  defensive  and  to 
compel  the  enemy's  retreat  by  devastating  the  open  country  before 
his  lines.  He  made  no  attempt  to  defend  the  great  fortress  of 
Ciudad  Rodrigo,  the  key  of  the  northern  route  from  Spain  to 
Portugal,  which  was  taken  by  the  French  on  the  11th  of  July. 
The  cowardice  of  the  people  and  the  incompetence  of  the  regency  in 
Lisbon  compelled  Wellington  to  depart  from  his  programme  so  far 
as  to  fight  a  battle  at  Busaco  (29  Sept.).  But  though  he  won  a 
complete  victory  he  had  no  idea  of  making  a  permanent  stand,  aud 
hastened  to  re-occupy  his  position  at  Torres  Vedras.  Maasena  now 
found  himself  confronted  by  the  formidable  lines  of  which  neither  he 
nor  Napoleon  had  suspected  the  existence.  The  devastated  country 
could  furnish  him  with  no  supplies,  and  he  was  compelled  to  retreat 
after  losing  30,000  men  on  his  march.  Meanwhile  Soult  had 
been  ordered  to  leave  Cadi/,  aud  reinforce  Massena,     He  succeeded 


614  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

in  capturing  Badajoz,  which  commands  the  southern  pass  into 
Portugal ;  but  finding  that  his  colleague  had  already  retreated  he 
returned  to  the  blockade  of  Cadiz. 

In  March,  1811,  the  arrival  of  reinforcements  from  England  enabled 
Wellington  to  take  the  offensive,  and  he  drew  up  plans  for  a  grand 
campaign  in  Spain.  Before  leaving  Portugal,  however,  it  was 
necessary  to  secure  his  communications  by  taking  the  great  border 
fortresses.  Wellington  himself  undertook  operations  against 
Almeida  and  Ciudad  Rodrigo  in  the  north,  while  Beresford 
was  entrusted  with  the  siege  of  Badajoz  on  the  southern  road. 
Massena  had  by  this  time  rallied  his  forces  and  marched  against 
Wellington,  but  was  defeated  at  Fuentes  d'Onoro  (5  May),  and  as 
the  result  of  the  battle  Almeida  surrendered.  But  Soult  had 
rapidly  advanced  to  tlio  relief  of  Badajoz,  and  compelled  Beresford 
to  fight  a  great  battle  at  Albuera  (16  May).  After  an  obstinate 
aud  costly  struggle  the  English  gained  a  victory,  in  spite  of  the 
errors  committed  by  their  commander  ;  but  the  success  was  wholly 
without  results.  The  siege  of  Badajoz  was  resumed ;  but  before 
any  real  progress  had  been  ma<!c  Marmont,  who  superseded  the 
disgraced  Masse'na,  effected  a  junction  with  Soult,  and  compelled 
the  raising  of  the  siege.  Wellington  could  make  no  head  against 
the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  combined  French  armies,  and  had 
to  return  to  his  defensive  position  in  Portugal.  But  Ciudad  Rodrigo 
and  Badajoz  remained  in  French  hands,  and  Marmont  went  into 
winter  quarters  in  the  valley  of  the  Tagus. 

Early  in  the  next  year  Wellington  resumed  his  enterprise,  and 
captured  Ciudad  Rodrigo  (19  Jan.,  1812).  Hurrying  south- 
wards he  stormed  Badajoz  (G  April),  just  in  time  to  forestall  the 
advance  of  Soult.  Having  thus  secured  his  base  of  operations,  he 
advanced  against  Marmont's  army,  which  he  drove  before  him 
beyond  Salamanca.  Suddenly  the  French  marshal  turned,  and  by 
a  rapid  march  placed  himself  between  the  English  and  their  line  of 
retreat  to  Portugal.  Wellington  had  to  return  to  Salamanca  and 
give  battle  (22  July).  Marmont  was  completely  defeated,  and  so 
severely  wounded  that  he  had  to  resign  the  command  to  Clausel, 
who  conducted  the  retreat.  Wellington  now  marched  upon 
Madrid,  which  he  entered  in  triumph  (12  August),  and  Joseph 
retired  to  Valencia,  where  he  ordered  Soult  to  join  him.  Thus  all 
the  French  troops  were  concentrated  in  the  east,  and  the  English 
could  not  advance  without  having  to  face  vastly  superior  numbers. 
An  attack  upon  Burgos  was  foiled  by  Clausel,  who  had  retreated 
to  that  town  with  Marmont's  army.  Wellington  realised  that 
the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  the  conquest  of  Spain,  and  for  the 
third  time  he  evacuated  the  country  to  winter  at  Ciudad  Rodrigo. 


a.d.  1811-1812.         RUSSIA  AND  PRUSSIA.  615 

Joseph  returned  once  more  to  Madrid  to  enjoy  a  sovereignty  which 
was  doomed  to  speedy  destruction.  For  in  this  year  Napoleon  had 
commenced  his  famous  campaign  against  Russia,  and  the  turning- 
point  in  his  career  had  been  reached. 


IV.  The  Wab  of  Liberation. 

§  41.  The  alliance  between  Russia  and  France,  which  had  been 
formed  at  Tilsit  and  confirmed  at  Erfurt,  was  completely  under- 
mined by  Napoleon's  Austrian  marriage,  by  the  annexation  of 
Oldenburg,  and  by  Alexander's  desertion  of  the  continental  system. 
But  the  chief  grievance  to  Russia  was  the  apparent  intention  of 
Napoleon  to  do  something  for  the  Poles.  The  increase  of  the  grand- 
duchy  of  Warsaw  by  the  treaty  of  Vienna  was  so  annoying  to 
Alexander  that  he  began  to  meditato  on  the  possibility  of  restoring 
Poland  himself,  and  making  it  a  dependent  kingdom  for  the  Czar 
in  the  same  way  as  Napoleon  had  treated  Italy.  He  even  went  so 
far  as  to  sound  the  Poles  on  the  subject ;  but  he  found  that  they 
had  not  forgotten  the  three  partitions  of  their  country,  and  that 
their  sympathies  were  rather  with  France  than  with  Russia.  At 
the  same  time  Napoleon  was  convinced  that  until  Russia  was  sub- 
dued his  empire  was  unsafe,  and  all  hopes  of  avenging  himself  upon 
England  were  at  an  end.  All  through  the  year  1811  it  was  known 
that  war  was  inevitable,  but  neither  power  was  in  a  hurry  to  take 
the  initiative.  Meanwhile  the  various  powers  that  retained  nominal 
independence  had  to  make  up  their  minds  as  to  the  policy  they 
would  pursue.  For  no  country  was  the  decision  harder  than  for 
Prussia.  Neutrality  was  out  of  the  question,  as  the  Prussian 
territories,  lying  between  the  two  combatants,  must  be  occupied  by 
one  or  the  other.  The  friends  and  former  colleagues  of  Stein  were 
unanimous  for  a  Russian  alliance  and  a  desperate  struggle  for 
liberty.  But  Hardenberg,  who  had  become  chancellor  in  1810, 
was  too  prudent  to  embark  in  a  contest  which  at  the  time  was 
])<>]«-Kss.  The  Czar  had  not  been  so  consistent  in  his  policy  as  to 
be  a  very  desirable  ally ;  and,  even  with  Russian  assistance,  it  was 
certain  that  the  Prussian  frontiers  could  not  be  defended  against 
the  French,  who  had  already  garrisons  in  the  chief  fortresses. 
Hardenberg  fully  sympathised  with  the  patriots,  but  he  sacrificed 
enthusiasm  to  prudence,  and  offered  the  support  of  Prussia  to 
France.  The  treaty  was  arranged  on  the  24th  of  February,  1812. 
Frederick  William  gave  the  French  a  free  passage  through  his 
territories,  and  undertook  to  furnish  20,000  men  for  service  in  the 
field,  and  as  many  more  for  garrison  duty.  In  return  for  this 
Napoleon  guaranteed  the  security  of  the  Prussian  kingdom  as  it 


616  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

stood,  and  held  out  the  prospect  of  additions  to  it.  It  was  an 
unnatural  and  hollow  alliance,  and  was  understood  to  be  so  by  the 
Czar.  Scharnhorst,  Gneisenau,  and  other  friends  of  Stein  resigned 
their  posts,  and  many  Prussian  officers  entered  the  service  of  the 
Czar.  Austria,  actuated  by  similar  motives,  adopted  the  same 
policy,  but  with  less  reluctance.  After  this  example  had  been  set 
by  the  two  great  powers,  none  of  the  lesser  states  of  Germany  dared 
to  disobey  the  peremptory  orders  of  Napoleon.  But  Turkey  and 
Sweden,  both  of  them  old  allies  of  France,  were  at  this  crisis  in 
the  opposition.  The  treaty  of  Tilsit  had  promised  Moldavia  and 
Wallachia  to  Alexander,  and  in  1809  the  Czar  had  commenced  a 
war  for  the  conquest  of  these  provinces.  But  the  Turks  made  a 
more  obstinate  resistance  than  had  been  expected,  and  Napoleon 
now  did  all  in  his  power  to  induce  them  to  prolong  the  war.  Alex- 
ander, however,  was  willing  to  moderate  his  demands  as  the  contest 
with  France  approached,  and  the  treaty  of  Bucharest  established  the 
Pruth  as  the  boundary  between  Russia  and  Turkey  (28  May,  1812). 
The  Swedes  were  threatened  with  starvation  by  Napoleon's  stern 
command  to  close  their  ports  not  only  against  English,  but  against 
all  German  vessels.  Bernadotte,  who  had  just  been  adopted  as  the 
heir  of  the  childless  Charles  XIII.,  determined  to  throw  in  his  lot 
with  his  new  country,  rather  than  with  his  old  commander.  He 
had  also  hopes  of  compensating  Sweden  for  the  loss  of  Finland  by 
wresting  Norway  from  the  Danes,  and  this  would  never  be  agreed 
to  by  France.  Accordingly  Sweden  prepared  to  support  the  cause 
of  Alexander. 

§  42.  In  May  Napoleon  had  completed  his  preparations,  and 
had  collected  an  enormous  force  of  about  400,000  men  in  eastern 
Germany.  With  the  empress  he  appeared  in  Dresden,  where  the 
vassal  princes,  including  on  this  occasion  the  rulers  of  Austria  and 
Prussia,  assembled  to  pay  him  homage.  To  assure  himself  of  the 
support  of  the  Poles  he  sent  De  Pradt,  archbishop  of  Mechlin,  as 
ambassador  to  Warsaw.  A  diet  was  assembled,  which  formed  itself 
into  a  General  Confederation,  and  decreed  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Polish  kingdom  (26  June).  To  this  act  the  king  of  Saxony 
gave  his  approval;  but  Napoleon,  afraid  of  irritating  Austria, 
merely  declared  that  the  old  limits  of  Poland  could  not  be  restored. 
In  spite  of  this  unsatisfactory  answer,  the  Poles  displayed  the 
greatest  enthusiasm  for  the  French  cause,  and  fought  with  all  the 
national  gallantry  against  the  hated  Russians.  On  the  23rd  of  June 
the  French  crossed  the  Niemen  and  commenced  the  invasion  of 
Russian  Poland.  As  long  as  they  marched  through  Polish  territory 
they  found  no  special  difficulty,  as  the  population  was  well-disposed ; 
but  when  they  reached  Russia  proper  the  difficulties  of  the  task 


A.D.  1812.  THE  RUSSIAN  EXPEDITION.  617 

became  evident.  The  roads  were  bad  and  the  transports  broke 
down ;  the  health  of  the  soldiers  suffered  from  the  extreme  heat 
and  the  failure  of  supplies;  the  peasants  showed  themselves 
fanatically  hostile  to  the  invaders.  Napoleon's  plan  was  to  fail 
upon  the  Russian  troops  as  speedily  as  possible,  and  to  inflict  a 
crushing  disaster.  But  he  was  delayed  by  numberless  obstacles, 
and  the  delay  was  fatal.  Barclay  de  Tolly,  a  Livonian,  who  com- 
manded the  main  Russian  army  of  140,000  men,  fell  back  from  his 
original  position  at  Wilua  to  join  the  southern  army  of  50,000  men 
under  Bagration.  But  the  latter  failed  to  follow  his  instructions, 
and  the  junction  was  on.y  effected  at  Smolensk,  300  miles  faun  the 
frontier.  This  retreat,  the  result  of  accident  rather  than  of  design, 
was  as  successful  as  the  most  masterly  strategy  could  have  been. 
The  invaders  had  lost  nearly  100,000  men  before  they  reached 
Smolensk.  The  Russians  were  now  eager  for  a  battle ;  but  Barclay, 
who  saw  how  successful  his  previous  movements  had  been,  ck  tor- 
mined  to  continue  his  retreat.  He  allowed  the  rear  of  his  army  to 
engage  in  an  obstinate  and  indecisive  contest;  but  in  the  mean- 
time he  fired  Smolensk,  and  the  next  day  the  Russians  had 
disappeared  from  the  field  (18  August).  Napoleon  was  aghast  at 
tactics  of  which  he  had  had  no  previous  experiences,  but  he  deter- 
mined to  press  on  to  Moscow,  in  the  conviction  that  the  loss  of  his 
capital  would  compel  Alexander  to  treat.  Meanwhile  the  Czar, 
listening  to  the  complaints  of  the  ofliccrs  against  a  foreign  com- 
mander, replaced  Barclay  by  Kutusow,  a  native  Russian,  who  was 
willing  to  gratify  the  general  desire  for  a  pitched  battle.  At 
Borodino  the  Russians  waited  for  the  French  in  a  strong  position, 
and  a  desperate  struggle  ensued  (7  Sept).  The  losses  on  both 
sides  were  enormous  and  nearly  equal ;  and  Napoleon,  though  the 
enemy  retreated,  had  gained  nothing  but  the  power  to  march  to 
Moscow.  On  the  14th  of  September  he  entered  the  Russian 
capital,  and  discovered  to  his  horror  that  it  had  been  deserted  by 
all  the  native  inhabitants.  The  next  day  a  grand  conflagration 
began,  and,  in  spite  of  all  tho  efforts  of  the  French,  three-quarters  of 
the  city  were  reduced  to  ruins.  It  was  known  afterwards  that  the 
governor,  Count  Rostopchin,  had  purposely  had  the  fires  kindled 
when  the  evacuation  was  determined  upon.  Even  Napoleon  was  awed 
by  such  a  reckless  sacrifice  of  property ;  but  he  remained  for  five 
fatal  weeks  in  Moscow,  in  the  desperate  hope  that  Alexander  would 
give  way.  At  last  he  had  to  resign  hope,  and  on  the  19th  of  October 
he  gave  the  order  for  retreat.  To  avoid  starvation  he  determined  to 
take  a  more  southerly  route  than  that  by  which  he  had  come.  But 
Kutusow  had  foreseen  this  intention,  and  at  Jaroslavetz  the 
French  were  confronted  with  the  Russian  arniv  (24  Oct.).  A 
S8 


618  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

fierce  contest  ended  in  a  French  victory ;  but  another  such  battle 
must  result  in  annihilation,  and  Napoleon  was  compelled  to  take 
his  old  route,  on  which  all  supplies  had  been  exhausted.  From 
this  moment  the  story  of  the  retreat  is  one  long  catalogue  of 
unimaginable  horrors.  The  Russian  winter  set  in  with  terrible 
severity,  and  thousands  of  the  soldiers  perished  of  cold.  All 
discipline  was  given  up,  and  the  troops  marched  in  a  disorderly 
mass.  Kutusow  and  his  army,  marching  by  a  parallel  road,  cut  off 
stragglers  and  constantly  harassed  the  retreat.  Ney,  who  com- 
manded the  French  rear-guard,  spent  his  time  in  constant  fighting 
to  protect  the  march,  and  displayed  an  unconquerable  heroism 
which  earned  for  him  the  name  of  "  the  bravest  of  the  brave."  If 
Kutusow  had  chosen,  he  could  easily  have  annihilated  the  invaders 
and  captured  Napoleon,  but  he  preferred  to  leave  the  task  to  the 
slower  but  surer  agency  of  the  climate.  The  crisis  of  the  retreat 
was  the  crossing  of  the  Beresina  (27  Nov.).  The  Russians 
cannonaded  the  bridge,  and  nothing  but  the  brilliant  courage  of 
the  French  saved  them  from  total  destruction.  Soon  after  this 
Napoleon,  irritated  by  the  news  that  his  death  had  been  reported 
in  Paris  and  had  led  to  disorders  there,  quitted  the  army  and 
hurried  to  the  capital.  The  command  was  entrusted  to  Murat; 
but  the  soldiers  were  bitterly  irritated  at  their  desertion  by  the 
emperor,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  compare  it  to  his  conduct  in  Egypt. 
At  last,  on  the  13th  of  December,  a  small  and  shattered  remnant 
of  the  magnificent  army  that  had  started  six  months  before,  crossed 
the  Niemen  into  Prussian  territory.  At  least  200,000  men  had 
perished  in  the  invasion,  and  nearly  as  many  more  were  prisoners 
in  the  hands  of  the  Russians.  Murat,  who  had  been  king  of 
Naples  since  Joseph's  elevation  to  the  Spanish  throne,  thought 
Napoleon's  cause  ruined,  and  determined  to  make  terms  for  him- 
self. He  contrived  to  pass  through  Germany  in  disguise,  and 
arrived  safely  in  his  dominions.  The  command  now  devolved 
upon  Eugene  Beauharnais,  who  showed  an  honourable  devotion  to 
the  man  who  had  deserted  his  mother,  and  he  succeeded  in  conduct- 
ing the  remnant  of  the  grand  army  into  safe  quarters  at  Leipzig. 

§  43.  The  ruin  of  Napoleon's  army  made  a  profound  impression 
in  Germany,  and  especially  in  Prussia,  which  had  suffered  more  than 
any  other  country  from  French  aggressions.  Now  or  never  was  the 
moment  for  the  patriotic  party  to  realise  the  objects  for  which  they 
had  long  been  working.  But  the  king  and  ministry  hesitated. 
The  French  army  was  still  on  Prussian  soil  and  in  possession  of 
Prussian  fortresses.  Deliverance  could  only  be  obtained  with  the 
help  of  Russia,  and  the  Russians  were  allies  whom  it  was  easy  to 
call  in  but  difficult  to  get  rid  of.     The  treaty  of  Tilsit  was  not  yet 


a.d.  1812-1813.  TREATY  OP  KALISCH.  619 

forgotten,  and  Prussia  might  again  have  to  pay  the  expenses  of  a 
reconciliation  between  France  and  Russia.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
Prussia  adhered  to  its  alliance,  the  French  would  be  saved  from 
further  disasters,  the  Russians  would  not  advance  beyond  the 
Niemen,  and  Germany  would  remain  as  it  stood.  In  such  a  case 
could  not  Prussia  expect  more  from  French  gratitude  than  from 
Russian  ambition?  Moreover,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in 
Prussia,  as  in  all  the  German  states,  there  existed  a  strong  French 
party,  men  who  regarded  the  Empire  as  the  legitimate  successor  of 
the  Revolution,  and  who  thought  the  abolition  of  feudal  ideas  and 
institutions  a  sufficient  recompense  for  other  sacrifices.  The  decision 
was  one  of  vast  importance  both  for  Germany  and  for  Europe,  and 
fortunately  it  was  not  left  to  Frederick  William  III.  General  York, 
the  commander  of  the  Prussian  contingent  in  French  service,  took 
upon  himself  to  conclude  the  Convention  of  Tauroggen  (30  Dec., 
1812),  by  which  his  troops  deserted  the  power  they  had  been  sent 
to  assist  and  undertook  to  remain  neutral.  The  king  was  aghast 
at  the  compromising  act  of  his  general,  tried  by  all  means  to  excuse 
himself  to  Napoleon,  and  went  so  far  as  to  annul  the  Convention 
and  to  dismiss  York.  But  public  opinion  was  strongly  in  favour 
of  the  Russian  alliance,  and  the  king  was  soon  induced  to  alter 
his  mind.  For  a  moment  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  Russians 
would  cross  the  Niemen  and  undertake  the  task  of  freeing  Ger- 
many. The  old  Russian  party,  with  Kutusow  at  its  head,  was 
strongly  in  favour  of  standing  on  the  defensive  and  leaving  the 
foreigners  to  settle  their  own  affairs.  Alexanders  hesitation  was 
removed  by  the  influence  of  Stein,  who  eagerly  seized  the  opportu- 
nity for  which  he  had  long  waited.  Stein  was  appointed  to  ad- 
minister East  Prussia  as  the  Czar's  official,  and  in  that  capacity, 
which  aroused  the  suspicion  of  many  of  his  former  colleagues,  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  summon  a  diet  at  Konigsberg  (5  Feb.,  1813),  which 
decreed  a  levy  in  arms  of  the  whole  population  for  a  war  with 
France. 

Frederick  William  III.  found  that  his  hand  had  been  forced  and 
that  his  only  hope  lay  in  obedience  to  the  popular  will.  At  the 
end  of  January  he  fled  from  Berlin  to  Breslau,  and  a  month  after- 
wards he  concluded  the  treaty  of  Kalisch  with  the  Czar  (28  Feb.). 
Russia  agreed  to  furnish  150,000  men,  and  Prussia  was  to  supply  at 
least  80,000.  The  latter  kingdom  was  to  be  restored  to  its  old  dimen- 
sions before  1806 ;  but  Alexander  was  careful  not  to  pledge  himself  to 
the  former  frontiers.  The  understanding  was  that  Prussia  should 
give  up  some  of  the  Polish  annexations  and  should  be  compensated 
with  German  territory.  Vigorous  measures  were  now  taken  to  arm 
Prussia  for  the  great  struggle,  and  Scharnhorst  was  at  last  enabled 


620  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

to  complete  his  military  reforms.  War  was  formally  declared 
against  France  on  the  16th  of  March,  and  on  the  next  day  the  king 
departed  from  all  the  traditions  of  Prussian  rule  by  publishing  a 
touching  appeal  to  his  subjects.  It  was  answered  by  an  over- 
whelming burst  of  enthusiasm ;  classes  vied  with  each  other  in 
making  sacrifices  for  the  public  welfare,  and  in  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time  the  new  military  organisation  was  set  on  foot.  A 
patriotic  literature  was  called  into  being,  which  can  boast  the 
names  of  Koraer,  Riickert,  and  Arndt.  Already  Eugene  Beau- 
harnais  had  led  his  army  from  Prussian  soil,  and  Berlin  had  been 
entered  in  triumph  by  the  Russian  commander  Wittgenstein  with 
York  at  his  side  (11  March). 

§  44.  Meanwhile  Napoleon,  on  his  arrival  in  Paris,  had  speedily 
res'ored  order  and  set  to  work  to  repair  the  terrible  losses  he  had 
suifered.  As  his  dynasty  seemed  to  depend  only  upon  his  own  life, 
he  drew  up  rules  for  the  administration  of  the  country  in  case  of  his 
death.  The  Empress  Maria  Louisa  was  to  be  regent  for  his  infant 
son,  the  King  of  Rome,  who  had  been  born  in  1811.  Cambaceres, 
his  former  colleague  in  the  consulship,  was  to  be  First  Councillor  of 
the  Regency,  and  Champagny  was  to  be  chief  Secretary.  Further 
to  secure  his  power  he  determined  to  bring  his  long  quarrel  with 
the  church  to  a  close.  Pius  VII.  was  brought  from  Savona  to  Fon- 
tainebleau,  and  there  induced  to  sign  a  new  concordat  (25  Jau., 
1813).  In  this  he  gave  way  on  most  of  the  points  in  dispute, 
authorised  the  metropolitan  to  confirm  the  bishops  whom  Napoleon 
had  appointed,  and  practically  abdicated  his  temporal  sovereignty 
by  agreeing  to  take  up  his  residence  at  Avignon  and  to  receive 
the  proffered  income  of  two  million  francs.  But  Napoleon's  chief 
interest  was  the  formation  of  a  new  army.  The  regular  conscription 
of  1813  was  collected,  and  that  of  1814  anticipated,  the  national 
guard  had  to  furnish  100,000  men,  and  recruits  were  collected  in 
every  possible  way.  To  the  astonishment  of  Europe  the  French 
army  was  numerically  as  formidable  as  ever.  The  new  levies  were 
doubtless  raw  and  untrained,  but  there  were  sufficient  veterans 
left  to  set  them  an  example,  and  Napoleon  and  his  marshals  were 
unsurpassed  in  the  art  of  inspiring  their  troops  with  courage  and 
inuring  them  to  hardship.  But  the  new  army  had  two  fatal  defects, 
it  was  almost  without  either  artillery  or  cavalry,  and  these  were 
the  two  arms  on  which  Napoleon  had  been  accustomed  to  rely. 

§  45.  The  allies  commenced  the  "  war  of  liberation  "  by  issuing 
from  Kalisch  an  appeal  to  all  Germans  to  rise  in  defence  of  their 
liberty  (25  March).  But  it  met  with  a  very  scanty  response.  The 
princes  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  were  not  yet  prepared 
to  break  their  bonds,  or  to  accept  any  liberty  that  was  not  forced 


A.D.  1813.  THE  WAR  OF  LIBERATION.  621 

upon  thera.  The  most  powerful  of  them,  Frederick  Augustus  of 
Saxony,  was  so  incapable  of  deciding  between  his  personal  wishes 
and  his  obligations  to  Napoleon  that  he  escaped  responsibility  by 
flying  to  Prague,  and  he  had  no  general  to  play  the  part  of  York. 
The  allies  were  compelled  to  resort  to  arms  to  compel  the  adhesion 
of  the  states  in  whose  behalf  they  were  fighting.  The  only  power 
that  hastened  to  join  the  coalition  was  Sweden.  Bernadotte,  who 
practically  ruled  the  country  in  the  name  of  Charles  XIII.,  was 
determined  to  effect  the  annexation  of  Norway,  and  in  April  ho 
signed  a  treaty  with  Prussia,  by  which  Sweden  on  this  condition 
promised  help  against  France.  One  result  of  this  treaty  was  that 
Denmark  adhered  more  closely  than  ever  to  Napoleon,  who  promised 
to  guarantee  the  integrity  of  her  dominions. 

The  supreme  command  of  the  allied  forces  was  entrusted  to 
Kutusow,  and  under  him  the  chief  authority  was  exercised  by 
Wittgenstein  and  the  Prussian  cavalry-leader  Bliicher.  The  main 
efforts  of  the  allies  were  directed  towards  Saxony.  At  Mockern 
Wittgenstein  defeated  prince  Eugene  (5  April),  and  forced  him  to 
retire  to  Magdeburg.  By  the  end  of  the  month  Kutusow  and 
Bliicher  arrived,  and  the  combined  Russian  and  Prussian  armies 
occupied  Dresden  (24  April).  Even  this  blow  failed  to  induce  the 
king  of  Saxony  to  declare  himself,  and  by  this  time  Napoleon  had 
arrived  with  his  new  army,  in  which  he  bad  absorbed  Eugene's 
troops.  At  Gross  Gorscben,  near  the  scene  of  Gustavus  Adolphus' 
great  battle  of  Liitzen,  the  first  great  contest  was  fought  (2  May). 
The  French  were  superior  in  numbers,  and  Napoleon's  strategy  gave 
him  the  victory.  But  the  allies  were  neither  crushed  or  dispersed, 
and  might  have  resumed  the  battle  if  the  Russians  had  not  pre- 
ferred to  retreat  behind  the  Elbe  and  to  wait  for  reinforcements. 
Want  of  cavalry  prevented  the  French  from  pursuing  the  enemy, 
and  the  march  was  conducted  in  perfect  order  and  without  loss. 
The  unfortunate  Frederick  Augustus  was  compelled,  on  pain  of 
deposition,  to  place  his  army  at  the  disposal  of  the  emperor  and 
to  announce  his  continued  adhesion  to  the  Confederation  of  the 
Rhine.  Determined  to  follow  up  his  first  success,  Napoleon  now 
hastened  to  cross  the  Elbe  and  attacked  the  allies  in  the  position 
they  had  assumed  at  Bautzen  (20,  21  May).  Again  the  Russians 
and  Prussians  displayed  conspicuous  courage,  but  again  superior 
numbers  and  strategy  gave  the  French  the  victory.  Wittgenstein 
was  now  superseded  by  Barclay  de  Tolly,  and  the  allies  retreated 
into  Silesia.  A  vigorous  advance  of  the  French  might  have 
terminated  the  campaign,  but  to  everybody's  surprise  Napoleon 
opened  negotiations  and  concluded  an  armistice  for  two  months  at 
Poischwitz  (4  June). 


622  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

§  46.  This  armistice  was  afterwards  recognised  by  Napoleon  as 
one  of  the  gravest  errors  he  had  ever  committed.  His  motive  is  to 
be  found  in  the  threatening  attitude  of  Austria,  which  had  long  been 
entreated  to  join  the  coalition.  Mettemich  had  no  real  sympathy 
with  the  leaders  of  the  war  of  liberation.  He  regarded  their  dreams 
of  a  united  Germany  and  the  projected  reforms  of  Stein  as  revo- 
lutionary and  Jacobinical.  At  the  same  time  he  was  naturally 
anxious  to  recover  for  Austria  what  had  been  lost  in  the  treaties  of 
Pressburg  and  Vienna.  His  diplomacy  was  marvellously  acute  and 
well-timed,  and  circumstances  played  into  his  hands.  He  held  back 
from  the  coalition  until  the  Austrian  alliance  had  become  im- 
peratively necessary,  and  he  could  dictate  his  own  terms.  On  the 
27th  of  June  he  concluded  the  treaty  of  Reich  enbach,  by  which 
undertook  the  congenial  office  of  mediator,  and  promised  that 
Austria  would  join  the  allies  in  case  Napoleon  rejected  certain 
specified  terms  that  were  to  be  offered  to  him.  These  terms  were 
wholly  different  from  what  had  been  anticipated  in  the  alliance  of 
he  Kalisch,  and  were  primarily  conceived  in  the  interests  of  Austria. 
France  was  to  cede  the  Illyrian  Provinces  to  Austria,  to  dissolve  the 
grand-duchy  of  Warsaw,  to  evacuate  all  the  provinces  which  had 
been  taken  from  Austria  and  Prussia,  and  to  restore  the  district  in 
north  Germany  which  had  been  annexed  in  1810.  Napoleon  was 
determined  from  the  first  to  make  no  concessions,  but,  after  a  stormy 
interview  with  Mettemich,  he  accepted  the  proposal  of  a  congress  at 
Prague.  The  congress  was  nothing  more  than  a  sham.  Prussia 
used  every  effort  to  avert  the  possibility  of  the  Austrian  proposals 
being  accepted,  and  Napoleon  thought  only  of  bringing  his  Italian 
army  into  Carniola  so  as  to  intimidate  the  Austrian  government 
into  remaining  neutral.  This  scheme  was  based  on  a  complete  mis- 
conception, and  on  the  12th  of  August  Austria  declared  war  against 
France.  From  this  moment  the  ultimate  success  of  the  coalition 
was  almost  assured,  but  at  the  same  time  it  forfeited  all  hopes  of 
carrying  out  its  original  programme. 

§  47.  The  interval  of  peace  had  been  employed  by  both  sides  in 
military  preparations,  but  in  these  the  allies,  being  less  exhausted, 
had  a  great  advantage.  They  were  able  to  put  three  considerable 
armies  in  the  field  and  to  plan  a  campaign  on  the  grand  scale.  In 
Bohemia  the  chief  army,  250,000  strong,  was  commanded  by  the 
Austrian  Prince  Schwarzenberg.  Blucher  was  at  the  head  of 
100,000  Russians  and  Prussians,  while  the  northern  army  in  Bran- 
denburg, consisting  of  the  Swedish  contingent  and  50,000  troops 
of  the  allies,  was  led  by  Bernadotte,  the  crown-prince  of  Sweden. 
Great  things  were  expected  of  the  ex-marshal  of  France,  but  Ber- 
nadotte was  not  very  eager  to  fight  against  his  own  countrymen, 


a.d.  1813.  THE  WAR  OF  LIBERATION.  623 

and  his  chief  anxiety  was  to  preserve  his  Swedish  soldiers  for  a  war 
with  Denmark.  England  had  concluded  subsidy  treaties  witli  all 
the  allied  powers,  and  had  stipulated  for  the  restoration  and  increase 
of  Hanover.  The  plan  concerted  by  the  allies  was  that  the  throe 
armies  should  all  converge  upon  Dresden,  avoid  separate  encoun- 
ters as  much  as  possible,  and  only  strike  a  great  blow  when  their 
junction  had  made  them  irresistible. 

Napoleon  had  very  inferior  numbers  at  his  disposal,  but  he 
determined  to  surprise  the  enemy  by  a  succession  of  rapid  attacks. 
Oudinot  was  despatched  against  Berlin,  but  he  was  met  and  defeated 
at  Gross  Beeren  by  a  portion  of  Bernadotte's  army  under  Bulow 
(23  Aug.).  Napoleon  himself  started  to  attack  Bliicher  in  Silesia 
but  his  departure  encouraged  the  Bohemian  army  to  advance  upon 
Dresden,  and  this  news  compelled  him  to  entrust  the  command  to 
Macdonald,  and  to  return  by  forced  marches  to  the  defence  of  his 
head-quarters.  Bliicher  now  fell  upon  Macdonald  and  completely 
crushed  him  at  Katzbach  (26  Aug.).  Meanwhile  Napoleon  arrived 
in  time  to  save  Dresden,  and  in  a  great  battle  under  the  walls  the 
French  were  victorious  (27  Aug.).  Among  the  slain  was  Moreau, 
the  hero  of  Hohenlinden,  who  had  been  recalled  from  his  exile  in 
America  on  the  advice  of  Bernadotte  as  a  possible  rival  to  Napoleon 
in  the  favour  of  the  French  soldiers.  The  battle  of  Dresden  was  a 
great  blow  to  the  allies,  but  Napoleon  was  not  strong  enough  to 
complete  their  defeat  by  an  energetic  pursuit.  Vandamme,  who 
bad  been  sent  with  40,000  men  to  attack  the  Bohemian  army  in 
the  rear,  was  surrounded  by  superior  numbers  at  Kulm,  and  after 
an  obstinate  conflict  was  compelled  to  capitulate  with  all  his 
soldiers  (30  Aug.).  To  complete  the  French  disasters  Ney,  who 
had  attempted  to  renew  Oudinot's  attack  upon  Berlin,  was  utterly 
routed  by  Bulow  at  Dennewitz  (6  Sept.). 

Napoleon's  scheme  of  crushing  the  allies  in  detachments  had  failed. 
There  was  now  nothing  to  provent  the  junction  of  the  allied  forces, 
and  from  this  moment  the  freedom  of  Germany  was  assured.  The 
only  question  now  left  was  what  organisation  should  be  given  to  the 
German  states.  At  Kalisch  the  idea  had  been  that  all  the  princes 
of  the  Confederation  should  be  expelled  from  their  thrones,  and  if 
they  were  restored  it  should  only  be  on  conditions  which  should 
establish  the  unity  of  Germany.  A  central  commission,  with  Stein 
as  president,  had  actually  been  appointed  to  administer  the  territories 
which  should  be  thus  confiscated.  But  the  adhesion  of  Austria  to 
the  coalition  had  foiled  these  schemes,  and  Metternich's  conservative 
policy  was  enabled  to  prevail.  By  the  treaty  of  Toplitz  (Sept.  9, 
1813),  which  confirmed  the  alliance  between  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
Austria,  it  was  decided  that  all  members  of  the  Rhenish  Confedera- 


624  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

tion  should  retain  their  power  and  should  merely  resume  their 
independent  existence.  The  first  state  to  take  advantage  of  these 
advantageous  terms  was  Bavaria,  which  had  been  the  constant  ally 
of  Napoleon  since  1805.  By  the  treaty  of  Reid,  Maximilian  Joseph 
placed  his  army  at  the  disposal  of  the  allies  and  agreed  to  surrender 
Tyrol,  but  stipulated  that  he  should  receive  ample  compensation. 

The  allies  were  in  no  hurry  to  complete  the  work  they  had  so 
auspiciously  begun,  and  it  was  only  Bliicher's  energy  that  at  last 
induced  them  to  advance.  The  news  that  the  Silesian  army  had 
crossed  the  Elbe  drew  Napoleon  from  Dresden,  but  he  was  foiled 
in  his  attempt  to  force  Blucher  into  a  battle,  and  had  to  retire  to 
Leipzig.  Here  he  determined  to  make  a  stand  against  the  enormous 
forces  that  were  closing  round  him.  After  a  number  of  minor  but 
important  engagements  had  been  decided  on  the  16th  October, 
the  great  "  battle  of  the  nations  "  was  fought  on  the  18th.  The 
French  held  their  own  throughout  the  day,  but  their  losses  were 
so  great  that  they  had  to  retreat  in  the  evening,  and  they  could 
not  halt  until  they  had  crossed  the  Rhine.  In  Leipzig  was  found 
the  unlucky  king  of  Saxony,  who  was  sent  as  a  prisoner  to  Berlin. 
The  French  power  in  Germany,  lately  so  irresistible,  was  now 
represented  only  by  the  garrisons  which  occupied  the  chief  fortresses 
from  east  to  west.  Many  of  these,  including  Dresden,  Danzig, 
Ciistrin,  Stettin,  and  Torgau,  were  compelled  to  surrender  in  the 
next  few  months  ;  but  several,  such  as  Magdeburg,  Hamburg,  and 
Maiuz,  held  out  till  the  conclusion  of  peace.  The  Confederation  of 
the  Hhine  ceased  to  exist,  and  most  of  its  unpatriotic  members 
hastened  to  purchase  the  continuance  of  their  rule  by  accepting  the 
treaty  of  Toplitz.  The  only  territories  which  fell  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  Stein's  central  commission  were  the  kingdom  of  Saxony 
and  the  little  duchy  of  Berg,  which  Napoleon  had  conferred  on  his 
infant  nephew  Louis  after  Murat's  accession  in  Naples.  Olden- 
burg and  Brunswick  were  occupied  by  their  former  rulers.  The 
kingdom  of  Westphalia  disappeared  on  the  flight  of  Jerome,  and 
the  elector  of  Hesse  returned  to  Cassel.  Outside  Germany  the 
effects  of  Napoleon's  fall  were  equally  felt.  Holland  was  freed  by 
General  Billow,  and  the  son  of  the  former  Stadholder  was  restored  as 
Sovereign  Prince  of  the  Netherlands  with  the  title  of  William  I. 
Denmark  was  compelled  to  accept  the  treaty  of  Kiel  (Jan.  14, 
1814),  by  which  the  French  alliance  was  abandoned,  Norway  was 
ceded  to  Sweden,  and  Heligoland  to  England.  As  compensation 
Frederick  VI.  was  to  receive  Swedish  Pomerania  and  Rugen.  Thus 
Bernadotte  received  the  reward  of  his  adroit  but  not  very  generous 
conduct,  and  Sweden,  losing  the  last  of  the  acquisitions  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  ceased  to  have  any  connection  with  Germany. 


a.d.  1813.  THE  ALLIES  IN  FRANCE.  625 

§  48.  To  complete  the  list  of  Napoleon's  disasters,  this  same 
year,  1813,  witnessed  the  overthrow  of  his  power  in  Spain.  Soult 
with  a  large  number  of  the  best  troops  had  been  summoned  to  take 
part  in  the  German  war,  and  for  the  first  time  Wellington  had  to 
contend  with  fairly  equal  forces.  In  the  spring  he  advanced  from 
Ciudad  Rodrigo,  and  the  French  retreated  before  him  to  Vittoria, 
a  town  on  the  high  road  to  France.  There  Jourdan,  who  now 
commanded  in  Sonlt's  place,  was  utterly  defeated,  and  the  Pen- 
insular war  was  at  last  decided.  Joseph  retired  from  a  kingdom 
which  he  had  never  been  capable  of  ruling,  and  France  itself  was 
now  exposed  to  attack.  The  task  of  defending  the  frontier  was  en- 
trusted to  Soult,  who  discharged  it  with  skill  and  devotion.  Step 
by  step,  however,  Wellington  fought  his  way  through  the  Pyrenees, 
and  in  January  he  was  able  to  reduce  Bayonne. 

§  49.  Even  after  the  great  successes  of  Leipzig  and  Vittoria  the 
allies  seem  to  have  doubted  their  ability  to  depose  Napoleon,  and 
only  the  very  boldest  spirits  ventured  to  propose  such  an  enter- 
prise. Invasions  of  France  had  rarely  been  successful  in  the  past, 
and  if  Napoleon  had  enjoyed  the  real  affection  of  his  subjects,  tho 
march  upon  Paris  would  have  been  as  impossible  for  Schwarzenberg 
an  it  had  been  for  Charles  V.  or  Marlborough.  From  their  camp  at 
Frankfort  the  allied  sovereigns  offered  the  usurper  terms  that  after 
subsequent  events  appear  impossible.  Not  only  might  he  keep  his 
crown,  but  France  was  to  retain  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  and 
enjoy  its  "  natural  frontier."  This  proposal,  so  disgraceful  to  tho 
champions  of  Germany,  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  preponderating 
influence  of  Austria,  but  fortunately  Napoleon  was  still  too  confi- 
dent to  accept  it.  On  his  return  to  Paris  he  had  roughly  sup- 
pressed all  tokens  of  the  prevailing  discontent  and  had  occupied 
himself  with  wringing  more  conscripts  from  the  exhausted  people. 
As  some  of  his  acquisitions  must  needs  be  surrendered,  he  made  a 
virtue  of  necessity  by  dismissing  his  two  prisoners,  Pius  VII.  and 
Ferdinand  of  Spain.  He  felt  certain  that  the  allies  would  not 
enter  France  until  the  spring,  and  that  by  that  time  he  would  be 
ready  to  receive  them.  But  his  expectations  were  not  realised. 
Stein  arrived  in  Frankfort  and  recovered  his  influence  over  Alex- 
ander I.  By  the  end  of  November  it  was  decided  to  withdraw  the 
proposals  of  peace  and  to  cross  the  Rhine.  But  the  Austrians 
were  only  half-hearted  in  the  matter,  and  it  was  not  till  January 
that  the  two  armies  of  Schwarzenberg  and  Blucher  arrived  on 
French  soil.  This  winter  campaign  rendered  it  impossible  for 
Na]>oleon  to  defend  the  frontier,  and  he  concentrated  what  forces  ho 
could  collect  in  Champagne.  Never  did  he  display  more  desperate 
courage  or  more  brilliant  strategy.  Again  and  again  he  contrived 
28* 


626  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxrv. 

to  separate  the  hostile  forces  and  to  inflict  considerable  defeats 
upon  them,  but  want  of  troops  rendered  him  unable  to  follow  up 
his  successes.  To  some  extent  these  small  victories  were  disad- 
vantageous to  him,  for  they  prevented  him  from  accepting  the  very- 
favourable  terms  which  were  offered  to  him  by  a  congress  which 
met  in  February  at  Chatillon.  He  might  have  kept  the  French 
crown  with  the  boundaries  of  1792,  but  he  persisted  in  demanding 
not  only  the  Rhine  frontier,  but  also  the  Italian  kingdom  for  Eugene 
Beauharnais  and  establishments  for  his  brothers  Joseph  and  Jerome. 
These  demands  were  so  extravagant  that  the  congress  was  dis- 
solved, and  the  allies,  who  had  renewed  the  coalition  by  the 
treaty  of  Chaumont  (1  March),  determined  to  bring  the  war  to  a 
close  by  advancing  upon  Paris.  Bernadotte  had  now  brought  his 
army  to  join  the  other  two,  and  Napoleon  could  not  venture  to 
meet  such  tremendous  forces  in  the  field.  As  a  last  resource  he 
tried  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  allies  by  marching  round  to 
their  rear  and  attacking  their  communications.  But  no  attention 
was  paid  to  his  movements,  and  the  invaders  marched  steadily 
upon  the  capital.  Maria  Louisa  and  her  son  had  gone  to  Blois,  and 
the  defence  was  entrusted  to  Joseph  Bonaparte,  who  was  now 
commander  of  the  national  guard,  and  Marmont.  On  the  30th 
of  March,  Blucher  stormed  the  heights  of  Montmartre,  and  on  the 
next  day  Marmont  capitulated.  The  allied  sovereigns  made  a 
solemn  entry  into  Paris,  and  were  welcomed  with  acclamations  by  a 
mob  which  had  learned  by  experience  to  side  with  the  strongest. 

Napoleon  was  at  Fontainebleau  when  he  heard  of  this  crowning 
misfortune  which  made  further  resistance  hopeless.  His  marshals 
called  upon  him  to  abdicate,  and  he  was  obliged  to  send  a  letter  to 
the  allies  in  which  he  offered  to  resign  his  crown  to  his  son.  But 
the  offer  was  refused,  and  on  the  11th  of  April  the  terms  of  the 
bargain  were  finally  settled.  Napoleon  abdicated  unconditionally, 
and  was  allowed  to  rule  as  sovereign  in  the  island  of  Elba,  to  retain 
the  title  of  emperor,  and  to  receive  an  income  of  two  million  francs. 
Just  at  this  moment  the  last  struggle  upon  French  soil  was  being 
fought.  After  crossing  the  Pyrenees  Wellington  had  pursued  Soult 
from  point  to  point,  and  finally  defeated  him  at  Toulouse  (10  April). 
On  the  4th  of  May  Napoleon  landed  from  an  English  frigate  at 
Elba.  His  first  wife,  Josephine,  did  not  long  survive  his  downfall, 
as  she  died  on  the  29th  of  May.  Eugene  Beauharnais  had  to 
resign  his  hopes  of  the  Italian  kingdom  and  to  content  himself  with 
the  principality  of  Eichstadt  in  Bavaria. 

§  50.  The  occupation  of  Paris  had  placed  France  at  the  disposal 
of  the  allies,  but  as  yet  they  had  determined  on  nothing  but  the 
deposition  of  Napoleon.     The  infant  king  of  Rome  had  the  advan- 


a.d.  1814.  TREATY  OP  PARIS.  627 

tage  of  being  the  grandson  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  and  the  Czar 
was  determined  not  to  impose  any  ruler  upon  the  French  people 
against  their  will.  If  there  had  been  any  real  enthusiasm  for  the 
Napoleonic  dynasty  it  would  have  been  allowed  to  continue.  But 
the  French  had  witnessed  too  many  constitutional  changes  to  have 
any  prejudices  as  to  the  manner  of  their  rule,  and  witnessed  a 
foreign  occupation  as  complacently  as  the  establishment  of  the 
Directory  or  the  Consulate.  The  only  party  which  had  any  vigour 
at  all  was  the  royalists,  and  it  was  soon  agreed  that  the  Bourbons 
should  be  restored.  The  management  of  affairs  during  the  interim 
was  undertaken  by  the  skilful  hands  of  Talleyrand,  who  had  always 
been  a  royalist  at  heart.  At  his  dictation  the  Senate  appointed  a 
provisional  government  and  drew  up  a  constitution.  Soon  after- 
wards the  count  of  ArtoU  arrived  in  Paris  with  the  title  of 
Lieutenant  of  the  kingdom.  He  concluded  a  military  convention 
with  the  allies,  by  which  the  French  garrisons  were  to  evacuate  the 
fifty- three  fortresses  which  they  still  held  in  foreign  countries 
(23  April).  On  the  29th  of  April  the  count  of  Provence,  now 
Louis  XVIII.,  who  had  been  living  during  his  exile  at  Uartwell  in 
Buckinghamshire,  made  a  formal  entry  into  the  city  which  he  had 
quitted  in  1792.  He  had  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  a  cultivated 
and  moderate  man  in  contrast  with  his  hot-headed  younger  brother, 
but  he  was  really  imbued  with  all  the  old  traditions  of  his  family. 
He  refused  to  accept  the  constitution  which  the  Senate  had  drawn 
up,  and  insisted  on  the  restoration  of  the  absolute  monarchy.  It 
was  only  the  firmness  of  Alexander  I.  that  compelled  him  to  make 
concessions,  but  he  was  determined  that  the  liberty  of  his  subjects 
should  be  regarded  as  a  voluntary  grant  from  the  crown  and  not 
as  a  compact.  On  the  30th  of  May  he  concluded  the  treaty  of 
Paris  with  the  allied  sovereigns.  France  was  allowed  to  retain 
the  frontiers  of  1792,  so  that  tho  annexation  of  Avignon  and  the 
Venaissin  was  confirmed,  and  to  them  was  added  several  districts  of 
Germany  and  Savoy,  amounting  to  about  a  hundred  square  miles, 
and  containing  more  than  a  million  inhabitants.  Almost  all  the 
colonies  which  England  had  seized  were  restored,  except  Mauritius, 
Tobago,  and  St.  Lucia,  and  most  of  the  stolen  works  of  art  were 
allowed  to  remain.  No  indemnity  was  demanded,  and  the  allies 
undertook  to  evacuate  French  territory  at  once.  Few  conquered 
countries  have  ever  been  treated  so  leniently,  especially  when  one 
considers  the  provocation  that  had  been  given.  Holland  was 
restored  to  the  House  of  Orange,  and  it  was  arranged  that  its 
territory  should  be  increased.  The  navigation  of  the  Rhino  was 
declared  to  be  free.  Most  of  the  Dutch  colonies  were  given  back, 
but  England   retained  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Demerara,  and 


628  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

Essequibo.  Switzerland  was  to  be  independent.  The  German 
states  were  to  continue  subject  to  the  ruling  sovereigns,  but  were 
to  be  united  into  a  federation.  Italy,  with  the  exception  of  the 
portion  to  be  restored  to  Austria,  was  to  consist  of  independent 
states.  All  questions  still  unsettled  were  to  be  referred  to  a  general 
Congress  which  was  summoned  to  meet  at  Vienna  within  two 
months.  At  the  instance  of  England  a  clause  was  inserted  pro- 
viding that  the  powers  should  make  joint  efforts  for  the  suppression 
of  the  slave-trade.  Private  agreements  between  the  allies  settled 
that  the  addition  to  Holland  should  consist  of  Belgium;  that 
Austria  should  receive  in  Italy  the  Venetian  provinces  and 
Lombardy  as  far  as  the  Ticino ;  that  Genoa  should  be  given  to  the 
king  of  Sardinia ;  and  that  the  four  militant  powers  should  reserve 
to  themselves  all  questions  about  the  redistribution  of  Germany, 
Italy,  and  Poland. 

On  the  2nd  of  June  Louis  XVIII.  published  the  Charter  of  the 
French  constitution,  a  draft  of  which  had  been  submitted  to  the 
allies  before  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty.  Two  legislative  chambers 
were  to  be  appointed,  the  one  of  peers  nominated  by  the  crown,  the 
other  of  deputies  chosen  by  the  people.  A  deputy  must  be  over 
forty  years  old  and  pay  a  thousand  francs  in  direct  taxes  ;  an  elector 
must  be  over  thirty  and  pay  three  hundred  francs.  The  chamber 
of  deputies  had  the  right  of  granting  taxes  and  supervising  expen- 
diture. The  king  reserved  to  himself  the  right  of  initiating  laws  ; 
ministers  were  to  be  responsible  ;  the  peers  were  to  be  free  ;  and  all 
citizens  were  declared  eligible  to  office.  The  old  nobles  recovered 
their  titles,  and  the  new  nobles  were  confirmed  in  their  rank.  The 
Roman  Catholic  religion  was  declared  to  be  that  of  the  state,  but 
all  other  beliefs  were  to  be  tolerated.  The  Charter  was  signed  by 
Louis  XVIII.  as  given  "  in  the  19th  year  of  his  reign." 


V.  The  Congress  op  Vienna  and  the  Hundred  Days. 

§  51.  The  Congress  of  Vienna  was  the  greatest  European  as- 
sembly that  had  met  since  the  Council  of  Constance.  Every 
country  except  Turkey  was  represented.  Besides  the  rulers  of 
Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  the  kings  of  Bavaria,  Wurtemberg, 
and  Denmark,  with  a  number  of  lesser  German  princes,  were 
present  in  person.  But  the  most  important  members  were  the 
ministers  of  the  great  states :  Metternich  for  Austria ;  Hardenberg 
for  Trus.-ia ;  Castlereagh,  and  afterwards  Wellington,  for  England  ; 
Ncsselrode  for  Russia ;  and  Talleyrand  for  Franc.  A  secret  article 
of  the  Peace  of  Paris  had  reserved  the  most  burning  questions  for 
the   separate  decision  of  Amiria,  Russia,  Prussia,  and  England. 


a.d.  1814.  CONGRESS  OP  VIENNA.  629 

But  this  arrangement  was  overthrown  by  the  audacious  and 
masterly  intrigues  of  Talleyrand,  who,  at  first  barely  tolerated, 
gradually  managed  to  share  with  Metternich  the  chief  influence  in 
the  deliberations.  The  first  few  weeks  were  spent  in  festivities, 
and  it  was  not  till  the  1st  of  November  that  business  was  com- 
menced. Even  then  the  formal  sittings  of  the  Congress  were  of 
slight  importance,  as  the  real  decisions  were  arrived  at  in  private 
colloquies  between  the  chief  ambassadors.  The  Congress  marks 
the  formal  triumph  of  the  reaction  against  the  principles  of  tho 
Revolution,  but  its  proceedings  were  characterised  by  a  disregard  of 
popular  rights,  of  differences  of  race  and  religion,  and  of  historical 
tradition,  worthy  of  Napoleon  in  his  most  absolute  days.  Europe 
was  treated  as  if  it  were  a  blank  map  which  might  l»e  divided 
simply  into  arbitrary  districts  of  so  many  square  miles  and  so 
many  inhabitants. 

The  most  critical  questions  that  required  settlement  were  con- 
nected with  the  fate  of  Saxony  and  Poland.  Alexander  I.  had  set 
his  heart  on  obtaining  tho  grand-duchy  of  Warsaw,  and  Prussia 
demanded  as  compensation  for  its  loss  in  the  east  the  whole  of 
Saxony.  But  Austria  was  firmly  opposed  to  such  an  aggrandise- 
ment of  its  old  rival,  and  was  supported  on  this  point  by  Eng- 
land and  France.  Bavaria  and  most  of  the  lesser  German  states 
were  actuated  by  bitter  jealousy  against  Prussia.  Hardenberg  lost 
ground  by  foolishly  supporting  Austria  in  opposition  to  Russia  in 
the  Polish  question,  and  trusting  to  the  gratitude  of  Metternich. 
So  high  did  feeling  run  that  at  one  time  there  seemed  a  prospect  of 
a  new  European  war,  and  a  formal  alliance  was  concluded  between 
Austria,  England,  and  France.  Ultimately,  however,  the  matter 
was  peacefully  settled.  Saxony  was  divided  into  two  parts,  the  one 
including  Dresden  and  Leipzig  was  restored  to  Frederick  Augustus, 
the  other  was  ceded  to  Prussia.  As  further  compensation  Prussia 
obtained  Posen  with  the  town  of  Thorn  in  the  east,  and  in  the  west 
all  that  had  been  lost  by  tho  treaty  of  Tilsit,  the  duckies  of  Jiilich 
and  Berg,  the  old  electoral  territories  of  Cologne  and  Trier  with  the 
city  of  Aachen,  and  parts  of  Luxemburg  and  Limburg.  Russia 
received  the  whole  of  the  grand-duchy  of  Warsaw  except  Posen  and 
Thorn,  and  Alexander  fulfilled  his  promises  to  the  Poles  by  granting 
them  a  lil>eral  constitution. 

It  is  impossible  to  do  more  than  summarise  the  other  decisions  of 
the  Conaress.  Swedish  Pomerania  had  been  ceded  by  the  treaty  of 
Kiel  to  Denmark,  but  had  long  been  coveted  by  Prussia.  The 
Danish  claims  were  bought  off  with  two  million  t!  .Vers  and  the  due'  y 
of  Lauenburg,  but  Hanover  had  to  be  compensated  for  the  latter  by 
the  cession  of  the  devotedly  loyal  province  i  f  Fust  Friesland,  one  of 


630  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

the  acquisitions  of  Frederick  the  Great.  Hanover,  which  now  assumed 
the  rank  of  a  kingdom  without  opposition,  was  also  aggrandised  by 
the  acquisition  of  Hildesheim,  Goslar,  and  other  small  districts. 
Austria  was  naturally  one  of  the  great  gainers  by  the  Congress. 
Eastern  Galicia  was  restored  by  Russia,  and  the  Tyrol,  Salzburg, 
and  the  Inn  district  by  Bavaria.  As  compensation  for  the  Nether- 
lands, Venetia  and  Lombardy  became  Austrian  provinces.  Bavaria, 
in  return  for  its  losses  in  the  east,  received  Wurzburg,  AschafFen- 
burg,  and  its  former  possessions  in  the  Palatinate.  Long  discussions 
took  place  about  the  constitution  to  be  given  to  Germany,  and  here 
the  hopes  of  the  national  party  were  doomed  to  bitter  disappoint- 
ment. Metternich  would  hear  nothing  of  the  proposed  revival  of  the 
mediaeval  Empire,  and  Prussia  was  not  yet  strong  enough  to  assume 
an  imperial  position  in  opposition  to  Austria.  Finally  a  Confede- 
ration was  formed  which  secured  the  semblance  of  unity,  but  gave 
almost  complete  independence  to  the  separate  states.  The  members 
numbered  thirty-eight,  and  included  the  four  remaining  free  cities, 
Frankfort,  Hamburg,  Lubeck,  and  Bremen,  and  the  kings  of 
Denmark  and  the  Netherlands.  The  diet  was  to  meet  at  Frankfort 
under  the  presidency  of  Austria,  but  in  matters  concerning  religion 
or  the  rights  of  members  the  decision  of  a  majority  was  not  to  be 
binding.  The  Confederation  was  as  weak  and  disunited  as  the  old 
Empire  and  had  none  of  its  traditions  or  prestige. 

In  Italy  the  same  process  of  restoration  and  subdivision  was  car- 
ried out.  Victor  Emmanuel  I.  recovered  his  kingdom  of  Sardinia, 
with  the  addition  of  Genoa  as  compensation  for  the  portion  of  Savoy 
which  France  retained.  Modena  was  given  to  a  Hapsburg  prince, 
Francis  IV.,  son  of  the  archduke  Ferdinand,  and  Beatrice  the 
heiress  of  the  house  of  Este.  Tuscany  was  restored  to  Ferdinand  III., 
a  brother  of  the  Austrian  Emperor.  Charles  Louis,  son  of  the 
Bourbon  king  of  Etruria,  was  compensated  with  Lucca  and  a 
promise  of  the  succession  in  the  duchy  of  Parma,  which  was  for  the 
time  given  to  Napoleon's  wife,  Maria  Louisa.  Pius  VII.  had  already 
returned  to  Rome,  and  the  Papal  states  now  recovered  their  old 
extent.  But  Pius  refused  at  first  to  accept  these  terms  because  he 
was  deprived  of  Avignon  and  the  Venaissin,  and  because  Austrian 
garrisons  were  in  occupation  of  Ferrara  and  Comacchio.  Naples 
was  left  for  a  time  in  the  hands  of  Joachim  Murat,  as  a  reward  for 
his  desertion  of  Napoleon  after  the  battle  of  Leipzig.  Switzerland 
was  declared  independent  and  neutral,  but  its  federal  unity  was 
loosened  by  a  new  constitution  (Aug.,  1815).  The  number  of 
cantons  were  raised  to  twenty-two  by  the  addition  of  Geneva,  Wallis 
(Valais),  and  Neufchatel,  the  last  under  Prussian  suzerainty.  The 
position  of  capital  was  to  be  enjoyed  in  rotation  by  Berne,  Zurich, 


ad.  1815.  THE  HUNDRED  DATS.  631 

and  Lucerne.  The  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  was  formed  for  the 
house  of  Orange  by  the  union  of  Holland  and  Belgium  and  the 
addition  of  Luxemburg,  which  made  the  kin?  a  member  of  the 
German  Confederation.  The  professed  object  of  this  artificial  union 
of  Catholics  and  Protestants  was  the  erection  of  a  strong  bulwark 
against  French  aggressions. 

§  52.  The  deliberations  at  Vienna  had  been  hurried  on  by  the 
news  that  Napoleon  had  suddenly  quitted  Elba  and  had  landed  at 
Cannes  (1  March,  1815).  The  allies  had  already  recognised  the 
folly  of  placing  an  adventurous  and  reckless  man  midway  between 
two  kingdoms,  both  of  which  had  once  belonged  to  him  and  which 
were  still  unsettled.  In  France  the  Bourbons  failed  to  make  them- 
selves popular,  and  it  was  difficult  for  Frenchman  not  to  contrast 
the  humiliation  of  receiving  a  dynasty  at  foreign  dictation  with  the 
recent  glories  of  the  empire.  The  prevalent  discontent,  of  which 
intelligence  was  despatched  to  Elba,  coupled  with  the  news  of  dis- 
putes among  the  allies,  encouraged  Napoleon  to  make  a  last  effort 
to  regain  his  power.  For  the  moment  everything  seemed  to  favour 
him.  The  audacity  and  suddenness  of  his  movement  dazzled  and 
attracted  the  people.  In  his  proclamations  he  undertook  to  give 
up  all  thought  of  aggression  and  to  grant  a  liberal  constitution.  All 
the  towns  hastened  to  open  their  gates  to  him.  His  old  comrades, 
Soult,  Masse*na,  and  Augercau,  espoused  bis  cause,  and  even  Ney, 
who  had  completely  gone  over  to  the  Bourbons,  was  gained  by  a  few 
words  from  his  old  commander.  Louis  XVI 1 1,  was  speedily  con* 
vinced  that  resistance  was  impossible  and  fled  to  Ghent.  On  the 
30th  of  March  Napoleon  entered  the  Tuileries,  and  at  once 
appointed  a  ministry  which  included  Fouche",  Carnot,  Maret,  Cam- 
baceres,  etc.  In  a  formal  announcement  of  his  return  to  the  allies 
he  offered  to  accept  the  treaty  of  Paris. 

§  53.  The  news  of  Napoleon's  success  decided  the  action  of  Murat, 
who  was  discontented  with  his  treatment  by  the  allies.  He  had 
made  terms  with  Austria  at  the  beginning  of  1814,  in  the  hope  of 
obtaining  all  Italy  south  of  the  Po  as  a  kingdom  for  himself.  That 
hope  had  been  destroyed  by  the  restoration  of  Pius  VII.  and  of 
the  rulers  of  Tuscany  and  Modena,  and  he  felt.that  Naples  would 
not  long  be  left  to  him.  By  secret  negotiations  he  had  reconciled 
himself  with  Napoleon  at  Elba,  and  he  now  determined  openly  to 
espouse  the  cause  of  his  brother-in-law.  He  issued  a  manifesto 
calling  upon  the  Italians  to  rise  on  behalf  of  their  freedom  and 
unity,  and  led  his  Neapolitan  troops  into  the  Papal  States.  Austria 
gladly  welcomed  the  breach  of  a  treaty  which  had  become  a  serious 
obstacle  to  her  policy.  Murat's  early  successes  were  speedily 
reversed  when  the  Austrian  armies  had  time  to  unite.     He  was 


632  MODEBN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxiv. 

defeated  in  a  two  days'  battle  at  Tolentino  (May  2,  3),  and,  return- 
ing to  Naples,  he  embarked  with  a  few  of  his  immediate  followers  for 
the  south  of  France.  Two  days  later  the  Austrian  troops  entered 
Naples  and  restored  Ferdinand  IV.,  who  now  assumed  the  title  of 
"  Ferdinand  I.  of  the  Two  Sicilies." 

§  54.  Meanwhile  the  allies  had  refused  to  listen  to  Napoleon's 
proposals  and  had  declared  him  the  public  enemy  of  Europe. 
Steps  were  at  once  taken  to  prepare  for  war,  and  the  English  and 
Prussian  armies  were  assembled  in  Belgium  under  Wellington  and 
Bliicher  respectively.  Napoleon  on  his  side  was  eager  to  strike  the 
first  blow  and  if  possible  to  divide  the  two  armies  so  as  to  defeat 
them  separately.  He  succeeded  in  thrusting  himself  between  the 
English  and  Prussians,  but  they  were  so  near  together  that  he  had 
to  fight  a  double  battle  on  the  16th  of  June.  At  Ligny  the 
Prussians,  after  an  obstinate  struggle,  were  compelled  to  retreat. 
But  at  Quatre  Bras  Wellington's  mixed  army  of  English,  Belgians, 
and  Hanoverians,  made  a  successful  resistance  to  the  attacks  of 
Ney.  Still,  on  the  whole,  the  French  had  a  distinct  advantage,  and 
a  rapid  and  energetic  movement  might  have  given  them  a  great 
victory.  But  Napoleon  seemed  to  have  lost  some  of  his  old  vigour 
and  resolution.  The  17th  of  June  was  wasted  on  a  review,  and  he 
miscalculated  both  the  losses  of  the  Prussians  and  their  line  of 
retreat.  Thinking  that  they  were  utterly  routed,  he  detached  30,000 
men  under  Grouchy  to  pursue  them  in  the  direction  of  Liege.  But 
Bliicher,  with  Gneisenau  to  help  him,  had  already  rallied  his  troops 
and  retired  northwards  to  Wavre,  whence  it  was  possible  for  him  to 
advance  to  Wellington's  assistance.  On  the  18th  of  June  the  great 
battle  of  Waterloo,  or  of  La  Belle  Alliance,  as  the  Prussians  prefer 
to  call  it,  was  fought.  Through  the  whole  day  the  obstinate  courage 
of  the  English  held  their  position  against  the  desperate  assaults 
of  the  French.  At  last  the  battle  was  decided  by  the  arrival  of  the 
Prussians,  which  had  been  wholly  unforeseen  by  Napoleon.  His 
line  had  to  be  weakened  to  oppose  them,  and  the  English  were  thus 
enabled  to  assume  the  aggressive.  By  the  combined  exertions  of 
the  allies  the  French  army  was  driven  from  the  field,  and  the  Prus- 
sian pursuit  completed  the  rout.  Napoleon  had  fled  when  he  saw 
that  all  was  hopeless,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  June  he 
returned  to  Paris.  The  steady  advance  of  the  allies  and  the  obvious 
disinclination  of  the  citizens  to  suffer  in  his  personal  cause  proved 
to  Napoleon  that  he  could  not  struggle  with  destiny.  For  the 
second  time  he  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  son,  appointed  a  commis- 
sion to  govern  France,  and  endeavoured  to  ( scape  from  Rochfort  to 
America.  But  the  port  was  blockaded  by  the  English  fleet,  and  he 
embarked  on  the  Bellerophon,  throwing  himself  upon  the  generosity 


a.d.  1815.  SECOND  TREATY  OF  PARI&  633 

of  a  country  that  had  never  refused  to  shelter  the  unfortunate. 
But  with  the  allies  policy  prevailed  over  sentiment,  and  on  his  arri- 
val at  Plymouth  Napoleon  learned  that  he  had  been  condemned 
to  imprisonment  in  the  island  of  St.  Helena.  There  he  lived,  sur- 
rounded by  a  few  faithful  followers,  for  six  gloomy  years,  until  his 
death  on  the  5th  of  May,  1821. 

§  55.  Murat's  fate  was  soon  decided.  Napoleon  had  disapproved 
of  his  rash  movement,  and  had  forbidden  him  to  quit  the  south  of 
France.  On  the  news  of  Waterloo  he  determined  to  return  to  his 
former  kingdom  and  to  raise  an  insurrection  against  the  Hourbon 
king.  In  October  he  landed  on  the  coast  of  Calabria,  but  the  popu- 
lation refused  to  rise  on  his  behalf.  Before  he  could  effect  his  escape 
he  was  captured,  tried  and  condemned  by  a  military  commission, 
and  shot  (15  Oct,  1815).  His  rapid  rise  from  an  ignoble  origin 
and  his  tragic  fate  have  given  Murat  a  reputation  in  history  which 
he  hardly  deserves. 

§  56.  Long  before  this  Wellington  and  Bliicher  had  appeared 
before  Paris, and,  after  an  attempted  resistance  on  the  part  of  Davoust, 
the  city  capitulated  on  the  3rd  of  July.  The  Prussian  general  was 
eager  to  despoil  the  French,  and  expressed  in  a  letter  to  his  king  the 
hope  M  that  the  diplomatists  would  not  be  allowed  a  second  time  to 
lose  what  the  soldiers  had  won  with  their  blood."  Wellington  had 
had  great  difficulty  in  preventing  hi*  colleague  from  blowing  up  the 
bridge  of  Jena  over  the  Seine.  Again  the  allies  had  France  at  their 
disposal.  But  practically  the  matter  had  been  settled  by  the  in- 
trigues of  Fouche\  who  was  president  nf  the  provisional  government. 
He  convinced  Louis  XVIII.  that  moderation  was  necessary  in  his 
own  interests,  he  gained  over  Wellington,  always  attached  to  the 
cause  of  legitimacy,  and  he  c  ntrived  to  secure  the  tranquillity  of 
Paris.  On  the  8th  of  July  Louis  XVI II.  returned,  and  the  allied  sove- 
reigns, when  they  hurri'  d  to  Paris  to  settle  affairs,  were  surprised 
to  find  that  one  part  of  the  problem  was  already  solved.  Talleyrand 
and  Fouche"  were  both  appointed  ministers,  snd  their  ability  was 
conspicuously  displayed  at  this  crisis.  A  Congress  was  formed  at 
Paris  to  arrange  a  final  peace,  and  this  time  Prussia  pressed  very 
earnestly  that  France  should  be  rendered  jxwcrless  for  the  future. 
But  Alexander  I.  was  inclined  to  treat  the  conquered  country  gene- 
rously, and  the  French  ministers  found  means  to  work  uj«on  his 
susceptible  nature.  England  and  Austria  took  the  same  view,  and 
ultimately  the  second  Peace  of  Paris  was  concluded  on  the  20th  of 
November.  France  ha'l  to  i  ay  an  indemnity  of  700,000,000  francs, 
and  to  maintain  for  five  yeais  an  allied  army  of  150,000  men  in  the 
chief  northern  fortresses.  The  frontier  of  France  was  on  the  whole 
the  same  as  had  been  settled  the  year  before,  but  several  small  dis- 


634  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxit. 

tricts  were  given  to  Belgium  and  Prussia,  and  the  king  of  Sardinia 
recovered  the  ceded  portion  of  Savoy.  Still  France  was  larger  than 
before  the  Revolution,  as  the  Venaissin  was  twice  the  size  of  these 
last  districts.  Most  of  the  works  of  art  which  Napoleon  had  col- 
lected had  already  been  returned  to  their  original  homes. 

The  territorial  changes  that  followed  the  downfall  of  the  Napo- 
leonic empire  were  too  artificial  to  be  permanent.  The  formation 
of  national  unity  in  Germany  and  Italy  was  delayed,  but  not  pre- 
vented. In  Italy,  Napoleon's  rule,  worthless  as  it  was  in  itself, 
had  created  a  passion  for  unity  and  a  feeling  of  enmity  against  the 
Hapsburgs  and  other  dynasties  which  stood  in  its  way,  and  these 
feelings  were  destined  to  ripen.  In  Germany,  Prussia  had  made 
great,  if  unconscious,  strides  towards  a  national  headship.  By  giv- 
ing up  her  Slavonic  provinces  in  the  east  and  obtaining  compensa- 
tion in  the  west  she  had  become  a  purely  German  power.  By  the 
acquisition  of  the  Rhenish  provinces  she  had  become  the  champion 
of  Germany  against  France.  All  that  was  needed  to  complete  the 
work  was  the  exclusion  of  Austria,  as  a  really  Slavonic  power,  from 
German  affairs,  and  a  new  war  with  France.  These  conditions 
realised,  Germany  was  to  commence  a  new  era  in  its  history  under 
Prussian  guidance. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
EUROPE  AFTER  THE  GREAT  WAR. 

Western  Europe  and  the  Holy  Alliance. — §  1.  Formation  of  the 
Holy  Alliance.  §  2.  Reaction  in  Germany.  §  3.  France  under  Louis 
XVIII.  §  4.  Revolution  in  Spain.  §  5.  Revolutions  in  Portugal  and 
Brazil.  §  6.  Italian  governments  after  1815.  §  7.  Revolution  in 
Naples  and  Sicily.  §  8.  Congresses  of  Troppau  and  Laybach  ;  suppr< 
of  the  Neapolitan  constitution.  §  9.  Rising  in  Piedmont  suppressed. 
§10.  Congress  of  Verona;  suppression  of  the  constitutions  in  Spain  and 
Portugal.  II.  Eastern  Europe  and  the  1mm  b  l  mi.nceof  Greece. 
— §  11.  Condition  of  Turkey  at  the  beginning  of  the  19th  century. 
§  12.  Greek  rising  in  1821  ;  rivalry  of  the  chiefs  ;  Congress  of  Verona ; 
first  four  years  of  the  war.  §  13.  Egyptian  troops  in  Greece ;  fall 
of  Missolonghi  and  Athens.  §  14.  Accession  of  Nicolas  of  Russia; 
change  of  policy;  Convention  with  England.  §  15.  Destruction  of 
the  Janissaries  ;  Convention  of  Ackermann.  §  16.  Treaty  of  London ; 
battle  of  Navarino.  §  17.  Russo-Turkish  war,  1828-9 ;  treaty  of 
Adrianople.  §  18.  Establishment  of  the  Greek  kingdom.  III.  France 
under  Charles  X.  and  the  Revolution  or  1830. — §  19.  Accession 
of  Charles  X. ;  reactionary  government  in  France ;  fall  of  Villele. 
§20.  Fall  of  Martignac;  the  Polignac  ministry;  strength  of  the 
opposition;  Ordinances  of  July.  §21.  The  July  Revolution.  §22. 
Flight  of  Charles  X.  and  accession  of  Louis  Philippe.  IV.  Liberal 
Movements  in  Europe.— §  23.  Results  of  the  July  Revolution. 
§  24.  Causes  of  discontent  in  Belgium ;  rising  in  Brussels.  §  25. 
European  intervention;  the  Conference  of  London  ;  election  of  Leopold 
of  Coburg ;  the  Dutch  resort  to  arms ;  the  24  Articles ;  acknowledg- 
ment of  Belgian  independence.  §  26.  Revolution  in  Poland ;  disunion 
among  the  Poles ;  Russian  attack  upon  Warsaw ;  suppression  of  the 
revolt.  §27.  Constitutional  movements  in  Germany  ;  reaction ;  con- 
ference of  ministers  at  Vienna.  §  28.  Liberal  movement  in  Switzer- 
land. §  29.  livings  in  Modena,  the  Papal  States,  and  Parma ;  inter- 
vention of  Austria  ;  French  occupation  of  Ancona.  §  30.  Usurpation 
of  Dom  Miguel  in  Portugal;  arrival  of  Pedro  I.  from  Brazil;  the 
Quadruple  Alliance;  Maria  da  Gloria  obtains  the  crown.  V.  The 
Reign  of  Louis  Philippe. — §  31.  Difficulties  of  the  Orleanist  monar- 
chy ;  the  restricted  franchise;  industrial  discontent ;  socialist  theories ; 
foreign  politics.  §  32.  Ministerial  changes  ;  insurrections ;  the  duchess 
of  Berri ;  Fieschi's  attempt  to  assassinate  the  king ;  the  "  laws  of  Sep- 
tember." §  33.  Parties  in  France ;  first  ministry  of  Thiers ;  its  fall ; 
ministry  of  Mole*.  §  34.  Louis  Napoleon  at  Strasburg;  proposed 
settlements  for  the  royal  family;  changes  in  the  ministry;  coalition  of 
1838  ;  fall  of  the  ministry  ;  interim  ministry  ;  Thiers  again  premier; 
Napoleon's  body  brought  to  Paris;  the  treaty  of  London;  Louis 
Napoleon  at  Boulogne ;  fall  of  Thiers.  §  35.  The  Soult-Guizot  ministry. 
§  36.   Retrospect  of  Spanish  affairs ;  the  Spanish  marriages. 


636  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

I.  Western  Europe  and  the  Holy  Alliance. 

§  1.  England  had  done  more  than  any  other  country  to  crush  the 
power  of  Napoleon,  but  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  it  was  Russia  that  had 
contributed  most  to  his  final  overthrow.  The  story  of  the  French 
invasion  and  of  the  burning  of  Moscow  had  fascinated  men's  minds 
and  given  them  a  profound  impression  of  the  invincible  strength  of 
the  great  eastern  empire.  Alexander  I.  found  himself  the  greatest 
of  living  sovereigns  and  elevated  to  a  kind  of  European  dictator- 
ship. He  became  impressed  with  the  idea  that  he  had  a  divine  mis- 
sion to  restore  peace  and  order  to  the  world,  and  his  enthusiastic 
temperament  gave  way  to  the  impulses  of  religious  superstition. 
He  fell  under  the  influence  of  the  Baroness  Krudener,  a  native 
of  Riga,  with  whom  he  spent  several  hours  of  each  day  in  prayer 
and  consultation.  At  her  instigation  he  drew  up  the  plan  of  the 
famous  Holy  Alliance,  to  which  he  obtained  the  assent  of  the 
rulers  of  Austria  and  Prussia  on  the  26th  of  September,  1815.  The 
three  monarchs  solemnly  announced  their  intention  of  regulating 
their  foreign  and  domestic  policy  by  the  precepts  of  Christianity, 
and  declared  that  they  would  rule  justly,  promote  brotherly  love 
among  their  subjects,  and  do  all  in  their  power  to  maintain  peace. 
All  princes,  except  the  Pope  and  the  Sultan,  were  invited  to  join 
the  alliance,  which  was  to  introduce  a  new  era  into  Europe,  and  to 
prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  convulsions  as  that  which  had 
lately  been  experienced. 

The  motives  which  were  expressed  in  the  preamble  were  sincere 
at  the  moment,  but  they  were  the  outcome  of  an  unpractical  enthu- 
siasm that  was  entirely  out  of  date.  The  objects  of  the  Holy  Alliance 
were  necessarily  modified  by  circumstances.  The  Revolution  had 
been  apparently  suppressed,  but  its  principles  survived,  and  to  some 
extent  they  had  been  adopted  by  the  conquerors.  The  French 
empire  had  fallen  before  the  power  of  the  peoples,  who  demanded  a 
share  in  the  government  as  a  reward  for  their  dangers  and  exertions. 
The  old  system  of  personal  and  irresponsible  rule  seemed  to  be  an 
anachronism,  and  was  regarded  as  such  even  by  the  Russian  Czar. 
Alexander  I.  promised  a  constitution  to  the  vassal  kingdom  of 
Poland  which  the  treaty  of  Vienna  had  subjected  to  him.  Frederick 
William  III.  had  made  a  similar  promise  to  Prussia.  More  conspi- 
cuous still,  the  allies  had  not  only  permitted,  but  had  almost  com- 
pelled, Louis  XVII I.  to  give  a  charter  to  France.  It  seemed  likely 
that  before  long  every  country  in  Europe  would  receive  a  constitu- 
tion on  the  model  of  that  of  England,  and  that  the  people  would  be 
allowed  a  voice  in  the  control  of  taxation  and  expenditure.  But 
these  liberal  principles  of  Alexander  and  his  colleagues  were  accom 


ad.  1815.  THE  HOLY  ALLIANCE.  637 

panied  with  important  reservations.  All  these  constitutional  pri- 
vileges were  to  be  free  grants  from  the  sovereign,  any  attempt 
on  the  part  of  the  people  to  enforce  concessions  was  regarded  as 
Jacobinism,  and  any  tendency  in  that  direction  must  be  suppressed 
as  endangering  the  tranquillity  of  Europe.  It  was  obvious  from 
the  first  that  this  presupposed  an  amount  of  contentment  among 
the  subject  populations  that  did  not  exist.  The  arrangements  of 
the  treaty  of  Vienna  had  been  in  the  highest  degree  artificial, 
and  they  could  not  be  maintained  without  the  employment  of 
force.  Before  long  the  Holy  Alliance  abandoned  its  high  sound- 
ing professions  and  became  simply  a  league  of  sovereigns  against  the 
people — a  kind  of  European  police  to  put  down  all  liberal  move- 
ments. As  such  as  it  was  joined  by  most  of  the  European  powers 
except  England,  which  was  necessarily  in  sympathy  with  the 
constitutional  aspirations  on  the  continent,  and  could  not  honour- 
ably withhold  from  others  the  blessings  which  she  enjoyed  herself. 
But  her  refusal  in  the  first  instance  was  duo  rather  to  accident  than 
to  principle.  The  Alliance  was  a  personal  league  of  princes,  it  was 
simply  signed  "  Francis,  Frederick  William,  Alexander."  English 
traditions  made  it  impossible  for  the  Prince  Regent  to  accept  a  treaty 
except  through  the  intervention  of  a  responsible  minister.  But 
Castlercagh,  who  was  foreign  secretary  at  this  time,  was  on  the 
whole  in  sympathy  with  the  reactionary  policy  of  the  great  powers, 
and  for  some  years  England  continued  in  cordial  relations  with  her 
continental  allies. 

§  2.  It  was  in  Germany  that  the  force  of  the  reaction  first  dis- 
played itself.  In  Austria  the  old  absolute  government  had  not 
been  shaken  by  the  revolution,  and  was  continued  without  opposi- 
tion. The  Viennese  were  too  careless  and  pleasure-loving  to  desire 
liberties  which  involved  labour,  and  the  real  danger  to  Austria,  the 
national  aspirations  of  the  Bohemians  and  Hungarians,  had  not  yet 
arisen.  Francis  L  was  a  cautious  and  not  unpopular  sovereign, 
and  Metternich,  an  amiable  roue,  thought  only  of  suppressing  dis- 
order during  his  own  generation.  Apres  nous  le  deluge  was  his 
favourite  sentiment.  The  finances  were  so  culpably  mismanaged 
that  the  debt  continued  to  increase  in  time  of  peace,  and  the  stale  fell 
under  the  control  of  Jewish  money-lenders.  Iu  Prussia  the  ardent 
hopes  that  had  been  roused  by  the  war  of  liberation  were  doomed 
to  bitter  disappointment.  Frederick  William  III.,  well-meaning  but 
weak,  submissively  followed  the  lead  of  Russia,  and  sought  only  to 
secure  quiet  to  his  exhausted  country.  Hardenberg,  who  remained 
chief  minister  till  his  death,  broke  off  his  connection  with  the 
reforming  party  and  adopted  the  royal  system.  The  promised  con- 
stitution was  withheld,  and  expressions  of  discontent  were  carefully 


638  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

suppressed.  At  the  same  time  the  administration  was  honest  and 
efficient,  which  helped  to  prevent  any  outbreak.  But  Prussia  lost  the 
chance  of  assuming  the  leadership  of  Germany,  and  the  lesser  states, 
who  were  jealous  of  her  influence,  adopted  a  more  liberal  attitude 
as  the  reaction  gained  ground  in  Berlin.  In  Wurfcemberg,  Bavaria, 
Baden,  Hanover,  Brunswick,  and  other  provinces,  the  rulers  granted 
constitutions  on  the  model  of  the  French  Charter.  But  care  was 
taken  not  to  allow  popular  privilege  to  encroach  upon  prerogative, 
and  the  machinery  of  the  Confederation  was  employed  to  suppress 
the  slightest  tendency  towards  liberal  opinions.  In  1817  a  sensation 
was  created  by  a  grand  meeting  of  German  students  at  the  Wart- 
burg  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the  Reformation.  Real  alarm 
was  professed  two  years  later  when  Kotzebue,  the  dramatist,  was 
assassinated  by  a  student  named  Sand.  The  motive  for  the  act 
was  that  Kotzebue  was  in  correspondence  with  Alexander  I.,  and 
was  supposed  to  have  warned  him  against  the  liberal  spirit  in 
the  German  universities.  Metternich  took  advantage  of  this  occur- 
rence to  hold  a  conference  of  ministers  at  Carlsbad,  where  it  was 
decided  to  take  active  measures.  The  press  was  subjected  to  a 
rigorous  censorship,  the  control  of  the  universities  was  transferred 
to  officials  appointed  by  the  government,  and  a  commission  was 
established  at  Mainz  to  examine  into  the  supposed  conspiracy  and 
to  punish  the  guilty.  Metternich  wished  to  utilise  the  opportu- 
nity to  suppress  the  constitutions  of  the  lesser  states,  but  in  this 
he  was  foiled.  The  rulers  of  these  states  wished  to  be  popular  with 
their  subjects  in  order  to  strengthen  themselves  against  Austria 
and  Prussia,  and  they  were  supported  by  the  Czar,  who  was  anxious 
to  keep  a  hold  on  Germany.  The  commission  at  Mainz  continued 
in  activity  for  some  years,  but  no  real  conspiracy  existed,  and  the 
only  result  of  its  labours  was  the  removal  of  a  number  of  liberal 
professors  from  their  chairs. 

§  3.  Few  princes  have  ever  been  placed  in  a  more  difficult  posi- 
tion than  that  of  Louis  XVIII.  after  his  second  restoration  in  1815. 
It  is  true  that  any  open  opposition  was  impossible  as  long  as  the 
allied  troops  remained  in  occupation  of  French  soil ;  but  the  very 
fact  that  he  owed  his  crown  to  foreign  intervention  was  one  of  the 
great  causes  of  his  insecurity.  Under  these  circumstances  he  took 
the  wisest  course  open  to  him  and  determined  to  conciliate  the 
people  by  a  punctilious  observance  of  his  engagements  and  by 
avoiding  a  revengeful  and  reactionary  policy.  But  he  found  him- 
self confronted  by  vehement  opposition  from  his  own  family  and 
his  immediate  followers.  A  royalist  reaction  had  set  in  like  that 
of  1660  in  England.  In  the  southern  provinces  the  people  rose 
and  massacred  the  Bonapartists.      In   Paris  the  emigrant  nobles 


A.D.  1815-1817.  LOUIS  XVIII.  639 

demanded  the  restoration  of  the  old  r6gime  and  the  punishment 
of  all  who  were  connected  with  the  recent  revolution.  At  the  head 
of  this  extreme  party  was  the  king's  brother,  the  Count  of  Artois, 
whose  position  was  the  more  important  as  he  was  heir-apparent  to 
the  throne.  His  residence  in  the  Tuileries,  the  Pavilion  Marsan, 
became  the  headquarters  of  the  Ultras,  and  he  went  so  far  as  to 
urge  the  revocation  of  the  Charter.  Louis  XVIII.  was  determined 
not  to  yield  to  the  solicitations  of  this  party,  or  to  adopt  a  policy 
which  must  inevitably  lead  to  a  new  revolution  as  soon  as  the 
first  force  of  the  reaction  was  spent.  But  certain  concessions  had 
to  be  made,  especially  as  the  majority  in  the  newly  elected  cham- 
bers was  vehemently  royalist.  Talleyrand  and  Fouche*  were 
dismissed  from  the  ministry,  and  their  places  taken  by  the  due  de 
Km  ht'lieu,  who  had  won  an  honourable  reputation  in  the  Russian 
service  as  the  founder  and  governor  of  Odessa,  and  M.  Decazes. 
Ney  and  several  others  who  had  betrayed  the  monarchy  on 
Napoleon's  return  were  tried  and  executed.  Three  laws  were 
proposed  and  carried,  to  put  down  seditious  cries,  to  authorise 
extraordinary  arrests  by  the  government,  and  to  create  special 
military  courts  for  the  summary  trial  of  political  crimes  without 
the  intervention  of  a  jury.  But  here  the  government  determined 
to  stop,  and  when  the  majority  of  the  chambers  demanded  more 
extreme  measures  and  clamoured  against  the  granting  of  an  amnesty 
to  traitors,  Louis  dissolved  them.  On  the  5th  of  September,  1816, 
he  issued  an  edict  on  his  own  authority,  which  made  important 
changes  in  the  system  of  representation.  The  number  of  deputies 
was  reduced  from  394  to  260,  and  the  franchise,  as  settled  by  the 
Charter,  was  secured  to  all  who  paid  300  francs  in  direct  taxes. 
The  measure  was  a  coup  d'etat  in  the  liberal  interest,  and  it  was 
for  the  moment  completely  successful.  The  modorate  party  was  in 
a  majority  in  the  new  chamber  of  deputies,  and  the  danger  from  the 
royalists  was  averted.  But  the  change  involved  serious  dangers  in 
the  future.  A  fifth  of  the  chamber  had  to  be  renewed  every  year, 
and  it  was  almost  certain  that  the  new  elections  would  be  more  and 
more  liberal  in  their  character.  Neither  the  king  nor  Richelieu 
were  prepared  to  free  themselves  from  the  party  of  reaction  in  order 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  radicals. 

But  at  first  this  danger  was  overlooked,  the  ministry  and  the 
legislature  were  in  accord  with  each  other,  and  a  good  opportunity 
seemed  to  present  itself  for  freeing  France  from  the  expensive 
humiliation  of  its  foreign  garrison.  In  1817  a  part  of  the  allied 
troops  was  recalled  and  the  moderation  of  Alexander  I.,  who  wished 
France  to  be  strong  enough  to  balance  the  other  western  powers, 
obtained  a  diminution  ,»f  tin  indemnity  which  was  to  be  paid  before 


640  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

the  occupation  altogether  ceased.  In  September,  1818,  a  great 
Congress  of  princes  and  ministers  met  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Here  it 
was  agreed  that  the  occupation  of  French  territory  should  entirely 
cease  by  the  30th  of  November,  five  years  before  the  stipulated  date. 
Next  to  the  Czar  the  chief  advocate  of  this  generous  act  was  the 
duke  of  Wellington,  who  had  won  universal  respect  as  commander 
of  the  allied  army.  At  the  same  time  France  was  admitted  to 
a  share  with  the  other  great  powers  in  regulating  the  affairs  of 
Europe.  By  a  treaty  which  was  drawn  up  in  November,  the  five 
powers,  the  "  pentarchy  "  as  they  were  called,  pledged  themselves  to 
act  in  concord  for  the  maintenance  of  European  peace.  In  case 
of  any  disturbance  measures  were  to  be  concerted  at  a  congress, 
either  of  the  sovereigns  themselves  or  of  their  chief  ministers. 

This  signal  diplomatic  triumph  seemed  to  give  additional  fecu- 
rity  to  the  ministry  of  Richelieu.  But  he  was  troubled  by  the  in- 
creasing liberal  majority  in  the  chamber  of  deputies,  and  especially 
by  the  elections  of  1818,  at  which  Lafayette,  Manuel,  and  Benja- 
min Constant  were  returned.  He  attributed  these  disasters  to  the 
edict  of  September,  1818,  which  gave  a  majority  of  votes  to  the 
lower  middle  class,  and  he  became  convinced  of  the  necessity  of 
again  changing  the  electoral  law.  As  the  king  refused  to  recognise 
this  necessity,  Richelieu  resigned  in  December,  and  Decazes  became 
head  of  a  purely  liberal  ministry.  A  number  of  popular  measures 
followed.  The  censorship  was  abolished  and  trial  by  jury  was 
established  for  cases  concerning  the  press.  To  prevent  opposition 
from  the  upper  chamber  the  king  consented  to  the  creation  of 
sixty  new  peers,  nearly  all  of  whom  were  men  who  had  occupied 
important  positions  under  the  empire.  The  royalists  were  in 
despair,  and  the  count  of  Artois  maintained  that  his  brother  must 
have  lost  his  senses.  But  Louis  XVIII.  soon  discovered  that  even 
these  enormous  concessions  had  failed  to  conciliate  the  extreme 
liberals  either  to  the  crown  or  to  the  ministry.  One  of  the  chief 
causes  of  complaint  was  an  agreement  that  had  been  made  with 
the  Pope,  by  which  Napoleon's  concordat  was  annulled,  and  the 
old  concordat  between  Francis  I.  and  Leo  X.  (1516)  was  restored. 
Decazes  found  himself  attacked  on  both  sides,  and  at  last  began  to 
meditate  some  modification  of  the  electoral  edict  of  1816.  But 
while  the  matter  was  being  discussed  an  event  happened  which  com- 
pletely revolutionised  French  politics.  On  the  13th  of  February, 
1820,  the  duke  of  Berry,  second  son  of  the  Count  of  Artois,  was 
assassinated  by  a  man  named  Louvel.  His  death  was  the  more  impor- 
tant because  his  elder  brother,  the  duke  of  Angouleme,  was  childless, 
and  it  was  to  the  duke  of  Berry  that  men  looked  for  a  continuation 
of  the  royal  line.     He  had  been  married  in  1816  to  Caroline  Mary, 


a.d  1818-1821.        FERDINAND  VII.  OF  SPAIN.  641 

granddaughter  of  the  king  of  Naples,  who  was  already  the  mother 
of  a  daughter,  and  who  was  pregnant  at  tl  e  time  of  her  husband's 
murder.  An  irresistible  royalist  reaction  now  fet  in,  Decazes  had 
to  resign,  and  Richelieu  once  more  undertook  the  diiection  of  affaire, 
with  the  support  of  the  right  ins'ead  of  the  left  in  the  chambers. 
The  censorship  of  the  press  was  re-established  and  a  new  electoral 
law  was  introduced,  which  placed  the  election  of  half  the  deputies 
in  the  bands  of  the  wealthy  classes.  The  feeling  in  favour  of  the 
crown  was  increased  by  two  events,  the  birth  of  a  son,  Henry  duke 
of  Bordeaux,  to  the  duchess  of  Berry  in  September,  1820,  and  the 
death  of  the  late  emr>eror  at  St.  Helena  on  the  5th  of  Max ,  L821. 
In  December,  1821,  Richel:eu,  who  found  himself  mora  and  more 
out  of  harmony  xvith  the  Ultras,  resigned  office  for  Ihe  second  t  me, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Villele,  the  recognised  leader  of  the  rovalist 
party.  From  this  time  Louis  XVIII.,  xvhose  energy  declined  with 
advancing  years,  and  who  fell  under  the  influence  of  Madame  du 
Cay  la,  practically  resigned  his  authority  to  the  count  of  A 
Another  change  in  tho  constitution,  which  abolished  the  annual 
election  of  a  fifth  of  the  deputies,  and  authorised  the  chamber  to  sit 
for  eevtn  years,  secured  tho  victory  of  the  reactionary  party. 

§  4.  Nothing  illustrates  more  clearly  tbe  wisdom  of  Louis  XV 1 1 1. 
than  a  comparison  of  the  policy  pursued  by  another  r<  stored 
Bourbon,  Ferdinand  VI T.  of  Spain.  When  Ferd  inand  was  release)  1 1 » y 
Napoleon  at  the  beginning  of  1814,  Sjwin  xvas  still  governed  by  the 
Cortes  which  had  been  created  under  the  constitution  of  1812.  At 
first  the  king  undertook  to  maintain  this  form  of  govern  m<  at,  bat 
on  arriving  on  Spanish  soil  he  discovered  that  the  liberal  adminis- 
tration xvas  by  no  means  popular  among  the  peasants  and  was 
detested  by  the  priests.  Ferdinand  was  a  xvorthless  and  incapable 
prince,  who  had  learned  nothing  in  his  four  years*  captivity  except 
an  aptitude  for  lying  and  intrigue,  and  who  was  subject  to  two 
guiding  passions,  sensuality  and  superstition.  From  Valencia  ho 
issued  an  edict  dissolving  the  Cortes  and  promising  a  new  constitu- 
tion in  place  of  that  of  1812.  So  strong  was  the  reaction  in  favour 
of  the  monarchy  that  this  measure  was  hailed  with  applause,  and 
the  king  entered  Madrid  in  triumph.  No  sooner  was  he  established 
on  the  throne  than  he  threw  his  promises  to  the  wind  and  restored 
the  old  absolutism  with  all  its  abuses.  The  nobles  recovered  their 
privileges  and  their  exemption  from  taxes,  the  monasteries  were 
restored,  the  Inquisition  resumed  its  activity,  and  the  Jesuits 
returned  to  Spain.  All  Liberals  and  all  adherents  of  Joseph 
Bonaparte  were  ruthlessly  persecuted.  The  government  was  con- 
ducted by  a  camarilhi  of  worthless  courtiers  and  priests,  vvfro 
encouraged  the  kin^i;  to  fresh  acts  of  reactionary  violence.  Por  six 
20 


642  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

years  this  royalist  reign  of  terror  was  continued,  and  the  suppression 
of  isolated  revolts  gave  occasion  for  new  cruelties.  The  finances  of 
the  country  were  in  the  most  wretched  condition,  owing  to  the  loss 
of  the  American  colonies,  which  had  taken  advantage  of  Napoleon's 
conquest  of  Spain  to  establish  their  independence.  Instead  of 
trying  to  restore  prosperity  by  maintaining  peace,  Ferdinand 
squandered  large  sums  uj)on  futile  expeditions  to  recover  the 
colonies.  One  of  his  expedients  for  raising  money  was  the  sale  of 
Florida  to  the  United  States  in  1819.  Discontent  in  Spain  found 
expression  in  numerous  secret  societies,  for  which  the  model  was 
found  in  Italy.  It  was  among  the  soldiers,  neglected  and  ill-paid, 
that  these  societies  found  their  most  numerous  and  active  ad- 
herents. At  last,  in  1820,  the  standard  of  revolt  was  raised  at  Cadiz 
by  Riego  and  Quiroga,  two  officers  of  an  expedi  ion  that  had  been 
prepared  for  South  America.  Vigorous  ac'lon  at  the  outset  might 
have  crushed  the  rising,  but  Ferdinand  and  his  advisers  were  as 
incapable  as  they  were  tyrannical,  and  before  long  the  movement 
had  spread  over  the  whole  country.  In  March  the  king  gave  wray 
and  accepted  the  constitution  of  1812.  The  royalists,  the  serviles 
as  they  were  called,  were  dismissed  from  office  and  their  places 
taken  by  liberals.  The  Cortes  met  in  July,  and  at  once  proceeded 
to  dissolve  the  monasteries  and  the  Inquisition,  to  confiscate  the 
clerical  tithes,  to  abolish  entails,  and  to  secure  freedom  for  the  press 
and  for  popular  meetings.  At  first  the  moderate  party,  headed  by 
Martinez  de  la  Rosa,  endeavoured  to  suppress  disorder  and  to 
establish  a  durable  constitutional  government.  But  this  the  king 
was  determined  to  prevent,  and  the  moderates  were  defeated  by  a 
factious  combination  of  royalists  and  radicals.  Risings  of  the  loyal 
and  bigoted  peasants  in  the  provinces  were  suppressed,  and  con- 
tributed to  the  victory  of  the  extreme  party.  In  1822  the  election 
of  Riego  as  president  of  the  Cortes  seemed  to  mark  the  final 
triumphs  of  the  revolution  in  Spain. 

§  5.  The  rising  in  Spain  gave  the  signal  for  similar  movements  in 
other  countries.  Portugal,  as  being  the  nearest,  was  the  first  to 
feel  the  impulse.  The  Portuguese  had  many  grievances  to  com- 
plain of.  On  the  first  invasion  of  Marshal  Junot  the  royal  family 
had  fled  to  Brazil.  When,  in  1816,  the  death  of  Maria  gave  the 
crown  to  the  former  regent,  John  VI.,  he  continued  to  reside  in 
Rio  Janeiro  as  ruler  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Portugal,  Brazil,  and 
the  Algarves.  The  government  of  Portugal  was  entrusted  to  a 
council  of  regency  at  Lisbon.  But  the  real  power  was  in  the 
hands  of  Lord  Beresford,  who  remained  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  The  Portuguese  were 
naturally  indignant   that   their   country  should    be   ruled    by  a 


a.d.  1810-1822.  REVOLUTION   IN  PORTUGAL.  643 

foreigner,  and  that  it  should  be  treated  as  an  appendage  of  one  of 
its  own  colonies.  In  August,  1820,  the  events  in  Spain  encouraged 
a  rising,  for  which  a  convenient  opportunity  was  given  by  the 
absence  of  Beresford  at  Rio.  A  revolutionary  junta  was  established 
at  Oporto  and  speedily  obtained  adherents  in  the  other  towns. 
The  council  of  regency  was  compelled  to  abdicate,  and  a  constitution 
was  introduced  on  the  model  of  that  of  Spain.  Lord  Beresford  was 
refused  admittance  to  Lisbon  and  had  to  sail  to  England,  but  tho 
government  refused  to  interfere  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Portugal. 
At  the  same  time  the  revolutionary  movement  spread  to  Brazil, 
where  it  found  a  supporter  in  the  king's  eldest  son,  Don  Pedro. 
The  result  was  that  John  VI.  had  to  resign  the  administration  to  his 
son,  and  with  the  rest  of  his  family  sailed  to  Lisbon,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  3rd  of  July,  lsjl.  Here  he  was  compelled  to 
accept  the  constitution  which  had  been  established  in  his  absence. 
These  events  were  followed  by  the  formal  separation  of  Brazil  from 
Portugal.  The  Cortes  at  Lisbon  was  determined  to  reduce  the 
powerful  colony  to  its  former  independence,  and  orders  were  sent 
to  Don  Pedro  to  return  to  Portugal.  The  prince,  convinced  that 
such  a  step  would  result  in  the  loss  of  Brazil  to  the  house  of 
:iza,  refused  obedience,  and  was  supported  by  his  subjects.  In 
1822  he  was  proclaimed  Emperor  of  Brazil  and  adopted  a  con- 
stitution. The  northern  provinces,  which  were  averse  to  a  separa- 
tion from  the  mother-country,  were  reduced  to  obedience  with  tho 
help  of  the  English  admiral,  Lord  Cochrane. 

§  G.  In  Italy  tho  house  of  Ilapsburg  had  recovered  even  more 
than  its  old  predominance  by  tho  treaty  of  Vienna.  The  instinct 
of  self-preservation  impelled  Austria  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  crush 
the  tendencies  towards  self-rule  or  national  unity  which  had  been 
aroused  during  the  Napoleonic  period.  In  the  provinces  of  Lom- 
bardy  and  Venice  a  carefully  organised  system  of  espionage  and 
police,  with  an  active  censorship  of  the  press,  reduced  the  people  to 
dumb,  if  unsatisfied,  submission.  But  for  absolute  security  it  was 
necessary  that  the  other  states  of  the  peninsula  should  pursue  the 
same  system,  so  that  there  should  be  no  ground  for  jealous  com- 
parisons. This  object  was  also  obtained.  The  rulers  of  Parma 
and  Modena  obeyed  the  slightest  hint  from  Vienna,  and  anxiously 
copied  the  Austrian  administration  in  every  detail.  In  Rome, 
Pius  VII.,  and  still  more  his  successor,  Leo  XII.,  strove  success- 
fully to  restore  the  old  traditions  of  priestly  rule.  In  Tuscany, 
Ferdinand  III.  allowed  a  certain  freedom  of  thought  and  expression, 
and  Florence  became  a  refuge  for  men  whose  utterances  were 
checked  elsewhere.  But  the  grand  duke  was  too  much  of  a 
Hapsburg  to  extend  this  liberty  to  politic* ;  all  popular  institutions 


644  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

were  suppressed,  the  police  were  as  active  as  in  Milan,  and  the 
people  were  encouraged  to  forget  public  affairs  in  a  life  of  indolent 
pleasure.  In  Naples  the  aged  Ferdinand  I.  owed  his  restoration 
to  Austria,  and  was  thus  compelled,  even  if  lie  had  not  wished  it 
himself,  to  suppress  all  liberal  tendencies.  One  of  his  first  acts  on 
recovering  his  independence  was  to  revoke  the  constitution  which 
he  had  given  to  Sicily  while  he  was  under  the  guidance  of  the 
English  admiral,  Lord  Bentinck.  Any  energy  that  was  wanting  to 
the  king  himself  was  amply  supplied  by  his  wife,  Caroline,  who 
constantly  urged  her  husband  to  fresh  precautions  against  revolu- 
tion. But  the  province  in  which  the  reaction  was  most  thoroughly 
carried  out  was  Piedmont.  During  the  French  occupation  the 
king,  Victor  Emmanuel,  had  lived  quietly  in  the  island  of  Sardinia, 
completely  untouched  by  all  that  was  passing  on  the  continent. 
He  returned  to  Turin  with  all  the  prejudices  and  prepossessions 
of  a  system  that  was  thoroughly  out  of  date.  Regardless  of  the 
confusion  and  absurdity  that  was  involved  in  such  an  act,  he  issued 
an  edict  which  abolished  all  laws  and  regulations  introduced  by 
the  French,  and  restored  the  government  as  it  had  existed  in 
1770.  Even  the  new  roads  were  abandoned,  and  it  was  almost 
decided  to  destroy  the  bridge  which  Napoleon  had  built  across  the 
Po.  As  compared  with  the  system  pursued  at  Turin  the  Austrian 
government  of  Milan  appeared  liberal  and  far-seeing.  But  liberal 
opinions  survived  in  Piedmont  and  were  nourished  by  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  France.  Among  their  adherents  was  a  member  of  the 
royal  house,  Charles  Albert,  Prince  of  Carignano.  As  both  Victor 
Emmanuel  and  his  brother  Charles  Felix  were  childless,  Charles 
Albert  was  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne.  But  so  strong  was 
the  reaction,  that  the  idea  was  entertained  of  disinheriting  him,  and 
securing  the  succession  to  the  archduke  Francis  IV.  of  Modena, 
who  had  married  a  daughter  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  and  whose  re- 
actionary principles  were  above  suspicion. 

§  7.  Although  the  government  of  the  Italian  provinces  corre- 
sponded so  exactly  to  the  wishes  of  Austria,  there  was  still  some 
ground  for  uneasiness  in  the  numerous  secret  societies  which 
covered  the  whole  country.  The  most  important  and  active  of 
these  was  the  famous  Carbonari,  which  eagerly  watched  for  an 
opportunity  of  overthrowing  foreign  despotism  and  effecting  the 
simidtaneous  union  and  freedom  of  Italy.  The  first  opening  for 
active  measures  was  given  by  the  effect  of  the  Spanish  revolution 
in  Naples,  always  closely  connected  with  Spain  by  dynastic  ties. 
Here,  as  in  Spain,  the  movement  originated  with  the  army.  The 
garrison  of  Nola  raised  the  first  cry  for  the  Spanish  constitution, 
other  troops  followed  the  example,  and  General  Pep£,  a  popular 


A.D.  1815-1820.  THE  TWO  SICILIES.  645 

officer,  assumed  tho  lead  of  the  rebellion.  No  semblauce  of  resist- 
ance was  made  by  Ferdinand  I.,  who  at  once  undertook  to  form  a 
liberal  ministry  and  to  take  the  oath  to  the  constitution,  of  the 
I ti«. visions  of  which  both  he  and  the  rebels  were  completely 
ignorant.  In  four  days  the  revolution  was  accomplished  without 
disturbance,  and  the  king  even  went  out  of  his  way  to  express  his 
gratitude  to  General  Pepe*  and  his  determination  to  uphold  the  new 
system. 

Very  different  was  the  course  of  events  in  Sicily,  where  the 
people  hated  the  Neapolitans  and  wished  to  break  off  the  connection 
between  the  two  kingdoms.  The  news  reached  Palermo  on  the 
festival  of  St.  Kosalia  (14  July,  1820),  the  patron  saint  of  the  city. 
A  wild  tumult  followed,  in  which  a  number  of  lives  were  lost,  and 
the  governor  and  other  officials  escaped  with  difficulty.  Envoys 
were  sent  to  Naples  to  demand  legislative  independence  and  a  free 
constitution.  But  the  Neapolitans  were  indignant  at  the  excesses 
that  bad  disgraced  the  movement  in  Sicily,  and  were  eager  to 
maintain  their  hold  over  the  island.  An  army  was  sent  under 
Florestan  I'epe\  brother  of  the  popular  hero,  to  enforce  obedience,' 
;m  i  Palermo,  after  an  obstinate  resistance,  was  compelled  to  yield. 

§  8.  The  rapid  spread  of  revolution  in  Europe  inspired  serious 
misgivings  among  the  great  powers,  and  impelled  the  Holy 
Alliance  to  show  its  true  colours.  Austria  was  especially  alarmed 
by  the  movement  in  Naples,  which  threatened  to  overthrow  its 
power  in  Italy,  and  Metternich  convoked  a  congress  at  Troppau,  in 
Upper  Silesia  (Oct.,  1820),  at  which  Austria,  Russia,  Prussia, 
France  and  England  were  represented.  Neapolitan  affairs  were 
the  chief  subject  of  discussion,  and  it  was  soon  evident  that 
Austria,  Russia  and  Prussia  were,  agreed  as  to  the  necessity  of 
armed  intervention.  England  made  a  formal  protest  against  such 
high-handed  treatment  of  a  peaceful  country ;  but  as  the  protest 
was  not  supported  by  France,  and  England  was  not  prepared  to  go 
to  war  for  Naples,  it  was  disregarded.  The  three  allied  powers 
decided  to  transfer  the  congress  to  Laybach  and  to  invite  Ft  rdi- 
Dfenfl  I.  to  attend  in  person.  The  news  of  this  decision  made  a 
profound  impression  in  Naples,  but  the  king  was  allowed  to  depart 
after  he  had  made  a  solemn  promise  to  adhere  to  the  constitution, 
and  to  defend  it  before  the  other  sovereigns.  During  his  absence 
the  administration  was  entrusted  to  his  son  Francis,  who  proved  to 
be  as  profound  a  master  of  deceit  as  his  father.  The  question  of 
principle  having  been  settled  at  Troppau  there  was  no  need  for  lon^ 
discussions  at  Laybach.  Ferdinand  I.  had  no  idea  of  observing 
his  promises,  and  it  was  decided  that  an  Austrian  army  should 
march    into    Naples    to  restore  his   authority.    On   the  5th  of 


646  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

February  60,000  Austrian  troops  started  from  Lombardy  under 
General  Frimont.  The  Neapolitans  determined  to  resist ;  but  their 
leaders  were  divided,  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  were  not 
devoted  to  the  cause,  and  all  patriotic  efforts  were  impeded  by  the 
treacherous  intrigues  of  the  regent.  Pepe  was  defeated  in  an  en- 
gagement at  Rieti  and  his  troops  deserted  him.  Without  further 
opposition  the  Austrian s  entered  Naples  on  the  24th  of  March.  A 
small  detachment  was  sufficient  to  reduce  Sicily.  Ferdinand  I. 
took  a  terrible  revenge  upon  his  opponents,  and  those  who  were 
fortunate  enough  to  escape  the  scaffold  had  to  seek  safety  in  exile. 

§  9.  It  was  fortunate  for  Austria  that  no  effective  resistance 
was  made  by  the  Neapolitans,  for  directly  after  the  departure  of  the 
troops  from  Lombardy  a  revolution  broke  out  in  Piedmont.  It  was 
effected  by  a  combination  of  the  liberals,  who  wished  to  establish 
constitutional  government,  with  the  officers  of  the  army,  who  were 
anxious  to  free  Piedmont  from  Austrian  tutelage.  The  aged  king, 
Victor  Emmanuel,  was  unable  to  resist  a  movement  that  appeared 
unanimous,  and  sought  to  evade  the  difficulty  by  abdicating  in 
favour  of  his  brother,  Charles  Felix  (12  March).  As  the  latter  was 
absent  in  Modena,  the  administration  was  entrusted  to  Charles 
Albert  of  Carignano.  The  latter  was  placed  in  a  very  difficult 
position.  Personally  he  sympathised  with  the  revolution,  but  on 
the  other  hand  he  was  afraid  of  losing  his  chance  of  the  succession 
if  he  alienated  Austria.  His  first  act  was  to  proclaim  the  Spanish 
constitution,  and  to  appoint  a  new  ministry,  in  which  Santa  Rosa, 
the  leader  of  the  military  party,  had  a  place.  But  at  the  same 
time  he  sent  to  Modena  to  justify  these  measures  on  the  plea  of 
necessity,  and  to  profess  his  obedience  to  Charles  Felix.  The  new 
king  replied  by  condemning  all  that  had  been  done,  and  expressed  his 
intention  of  appealing  for  support  to  the  Holy  Alliance.  On  receipt 
of  this  answer  Charles  Albert  felt  that  his  position  was  untenable, 
and  fled  to  Novara,  where  he  formally  resigned  his  authority.  At 
the  same  time  Austrian  troops  crossed  the  Ticino  and  speedily 
suppressed  the  revolt.  As  Victor  Emmanuel  persisted  in  abdicating, 
Charles  Felix  ascended  the  throne  and  restored  the  old  system,  but 
without  any  of  the  cruelties  that  disgraced  the  reaction  in  Naples. 
Austria  urged  that  Charles  Albert  should  be  disinherited  as  an 
accomplice  in  the  revolution,  but  the  strong  family  feeling  of  the 
house  of  Savoy  prevented  Charles  Felix  from  giving  his  consent. 
But  the  prince  had  to  absent  himself  from  the  kingdom  for  the 
next  two  years,  and  to  give  proofs  of  his  severance  from  the  liberal 
party. 

§  10.  Meanwhile  the  disorders  in  Spun  continued,  and  a  rebellion 
broke  out  in  Greece  against  the  Turks.     In  October,  1822,  another 


a.d.  1821-1823.   FRENCH   INTERVENTION   IN  SPAIN.    647 

European  congress  met  at  Verona  to  consider  these  matters.  The 
French  Government,  which  was  now  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the 
royalists,  maintained  that  any  intervention  in  Spain  must  be  under- 
taken by  France,  just  as  the  intervention  in  Naples  had  been 
entrusted  to  Austria.  A  French  army  had  been  already  drawn  up 
on  the  frontiers,  on  the  pretext  that  it  was  a  necessary  precaution 
against  the  yellow  fever,  which  had  broken  out  with  terrible  violence 
in  Spain.  Austria,  Russia  and  Prussia  were  inclined  to  distrust 
France,  and  favoured  the  plan  of  a  combined  invasion  by  the  allied 
forces  of  Europe.  On  the  other  hand,  Canning,  who  had  become 
foreign  minister  on  the  death  of  Castlercagh,  sent  the  duke  of 
Wellington  to  Verona  with  instructions  to  protest  against  any 
armed  intervention  whatever.  Ultimately  the  four  powers  deter- 
mined to  demand  from  the  Spanish  government  an  alteration  of 
the  constitution  and  greater  liberty  for  the  king.  It  was  under- 
stood that  in  case  of  an  unsatisfactory  answer  being  received,  France 
would  take  active  measures  with  the  authority  of  the  other  three 
states.  As  the  Spanish  ministers  rejected  the  demand  of  the 
powers,  all  the  ambassadors  except  the  English  envoy  left  Madrid, 
and  the  French  army,  100,000  strong,  entered  Spain  ui.der  the 
duke  of  Anjiouleme  (April,  1823).  No  effective  resistance  was 
made,  and  Madrid  was  entered  on  the  23rd  of  May.  But  the 
Cortes  had  carried  the  king  to  Seville,  and  on  the  approach  of  the 
French  they  retreated  to  Cadiz.  The  last  resistance  was  overcome 
by  a  bombardment  of  the  city,  and  on  the  1st  of  October  Ferdinand 
VII.  was  released.  His  first  act  was  to  revoke  everything  that 
hod  been  done  since  the  beginning  of  1820.  The  Inquisition  was 
not  restored,  but  the  secular  tribunals  took  a  terrible  vengeance 
on  the  revolutionary  leaders.  The  duke  of  Angouleme  protested 
against  these  cruelties,  but  in  vain.  Even  the  fear  of  revolt, 
the  last  check  upon  despotism,  was  removed  by  the  presence  of 
the  French  troops,  which  remained  in  Spain  till  1827.  As  a 
protest  against  this  occupation,  which  he  had  been  unable  to 
prevent,  Canning  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  Spanish 
colonies. 

Once  more  events  in  Portugal  followed  the  example  of  those  in 
Spain.  For  some  time  the  reactionary  party  had  been  gaining  in 
strength,  and  the  news  of  French  intervention  in  the  neighbouring 
country  gave  it  an  easy  triumph.  The  Cortes,  deserted  both  by 
the  people  and  the  army,  dissolved  itself,  and  absolute  government 
was  restored.  John  VI.,  a  careless  and  easy-tempered  ruler,  wished 
to  issue  a  general  amnesty  and  to  grant  a  new  constitution.  But 
his  wife,  a  sister  of  Ferdinand  VII.,  and  her  second  son,  Dom 
Miguel,  a  monster  of  bigotry  and  cruelty,  were  determined  to  punish 


648  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxv, 

the  conquered  party.  The  king  found  himself  a  prisoner  in  his  own 
palace,  his  favourite  minister,  Louie,  was  murdered,  and  the  queen 
aimed  at  her  husband's  deposition  and  the  elevation  of  Miguel  to 
the  throne.  At  last  John  VI.  escaped  to  an  English  ship  in  the 
Tagus  (May  9,  1824),  and  the  people  rallied  to  his  cause.  Miguel 
obtained  his  father's  forgiveness,  but  retired  to  Vienna,  whence  he 
returned  after  John's  death  to  bring  further  troubles  on  his  country. 
For  the  time  the  Holy  Alliance  had  triumphed,  and  the  revolu- 
ti  nary  movement  in  western  Europe  seemed  to  be  suppressed. 
But  the  resolute  attitude  which  Canning  had  assumed  at  the 
Congress  of  Verona  and  in  subsequent  negotiations  had  broken  up 
the  pentarchy,  and  deprived  the  decisions  of  the  other  powers  of 
the  unity  which  was  necessary  for  permanence.  The  death  of 
Alexander  I.  in  1825  gave  a  final  blow  to  a  league  which  must 
either  have  crushed  the  growth  of  liberty  in  Europe,  or  have  led  to 
another  continental  war,  not  less  general  and  destructive  than  that 
which  had  been  aroused  by  the  French  Revolution. 

II.    Eastern  Europe  and  the  Independence  of  Greece. 

§  11.  One  of  the  services  which  the  house  of  Hapsburg  rendered 
to  Europe  was  the  defence  of  the  eastern  frontier  against  the 
.  aggressions  of  the  Turks.  The  victories  of  Montecuculi  and  Eugene 
destroyed  for  ever  the  terror  which  the  Ottoman  arms  had  once 
inspired.  All  the  successes  of  Austria,  and  the  treaties  of  Carlowitz 
(1699)  and  Passarowitz  (1718),  by  which  those  successes  were 
secured,  had  been  not  only  acquiesced  in  but  eagerly  welcomed  and 
exulted  over  by  the  other  European  states.  The  infidel  was  the 
common  enemy  of  all  Christian  nations.  But  in  the  latter  half  of 
the  18th  ceutury  the  great  eastern  question  entered  a  new  phase. 
Russia  began  to  make  rapid  strides  southwards  and  obtained  a 
permanent  hold  upon  the  Black  Sea.  The  ultimate  acquisition  of 
Constantinople  became  an  acknowledged  object  of  the  house  of 
Rom  an  of.  Catharine  II.  had  taken  a  great  step  in  this  direction 
by  establishing  a  sort  of  Russian  protectorate  over  the  Christian 
population  of  Turkey  in  the  treaty  of  Kutschuk  Kainardji ;  she 
had  inscribed  over  the  entrance  to  the  Chersonese  "  the  way  to 
Constantinople ; "  and  she  had  giveu  the  name  of  Constantine  to 
her  second  grandson  as  if  he  were  the  destined  successor  of  the 
Palasologi.  Alexander  I.  had  pursued  the  same  policy  of  aggression 
after  the  treaty  of  Tilsit,  and  although  the  French  invasion  com- 
pelled him  to  conclude  the  peace  of  Bucharest,  he  succeeded  in 
extending  his  frontier  to  the  Pruth,  and  in  reserving  the  right  of 
Russia  to  interfere  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  Turkey.     But  these 


a.d.  1789-1825.       CONDITION  OF  TUBKEY.  649 

advances,  unlike  those  of  Austria,  were  by  no  means  welcomed  by 
the  other  powers.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  great  Slavonic  empire 
was  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  dangers  to  western  Europe.  From 
this  time  the  western  nations,  and  especially  England  and  France, 
began  to  recognise  the  necessity  of  supporting  the  Mohammedan 
Sultan  rather  than  allow  Constantinople  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  Christian  Czar. 

The  decline  of  the  Turkish  power,  as  has  been  seen  before,  was 
not  only  due  to  external  defeats  at  the  hands  of  Austria  and  Russia, 
but  still  more  to  internal  disorders.  The  authority  of  the  Sultan 
was  perpetually  checked  by  the  haughty  independence  of  the 
dreaded  Janissaries,  who  played  the  part  of  the  Praetorian  guards  at 
Rome,  and  made  a  puppet  of  the  sovereign  whom  it  was  their 
function  to  defend.  Selim  III.  (1789-1807)  had  sought  to  free 
himself  from  this  military  oligarchy  by  forming  a  new  army  on  the 
European  model,  and  had  paid  the  penalty  for  his  boldness  by 
deposition  and  death.  His  nephew  and  successor,  Mustafa  IV.,  had 
only  ruled  a  year  before  he  also  was  murdered.  Mahmoud  II. 
(1808-1839),  a  brother  of  Mustafa,  and  a  man  of  considerable  energy 
and  resolution,  was  compelled  to  purchase  his  throne  by  act  • 
all  the  demands  of  the  infuriated  soldiers,  and  by  promising  to 
abandon  all  thought  of  reform.  It  is  true  that  he  only  awaited  the 
first  opportunity  to  break  his  promise,  but  in  the  meanwhile  he  was 
as  powerless  as  his  predecessors.  Another  source  of  weakness  to 
the  Turks  was  the  independence  assumed  by  the  pashas  of  distant 
provinces.  Two  conspicuous  illustrations  of  this  existed  in  the 
time  of  Mahmoud.  In  Egypt,  Mehemet  Ali,  a  native  of  Macedonia, 
had  taken  advantage  of  the  disturbances  that  followed  the  struggle 
between  the  English  and  French  to  obtain  his  nomination  as  pasha. 
In  that  position  he  had  crushed  every  clement  of  resistance,  and 
was  able  to  treat  his  nominal  sovereign  as  an  equal.  Nearer  home, 
Ali  Pasha,  the  famous  "  Lion  of  Jannina,"  had  thrown  off  the 
Sultan's  yoke,  and  was  enabled,  by  the  strength  of  his  island  fortress, 
to  defy  the  forces  that  were  sent  against  him.  Two  other  officials, 
the  Hospodars  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  who  were  nominated 
by  the  Porte,  were  far  more  under  the  authority  of  Russia. 

§  12.  These  and  other  difficulties  in  the  way  of  Ottoman  rule 
must  have  led  to  the  speedy  disruption  of  the  empire,  but  for  the 
military  prowess  of  the  Turks  and  the  divisions  of  the  subject 
populations.  The  four  races  that  inhabited  European  Turkey — 
Slavs,  Roumans,  Albanians,  and  Greeks — were  not  only  hostile  to 
each  other,  but  were  again  subdivided  among  themselves  by 
differences  of  religion  and  by  geographical  boundaries.  Of  these 
races  the  most  active  and  intelligent,  the  Greeks,  were  also  the 
29* 


650  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

least  numerous.  The  old  inhabitants  of  Greece  had  been  almost 
lost  among  the  numerous  immigrants  who  had  settled  in  the 
peninsula  since  its  conquest  by  the  Romans.  The  mass  of  the 
population  consisted  of  Slavs,  and  the  old  name  of  Peloponnese  had 
long  given  way  to  the  Slavonic  appellation  of  the  Morea.  In  spite 
of  this  the  scholars  of  western  Europe  were  in  the  habit  of  re- 
garding the  Greeks  as  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Hellenes,  and 
this  was  sufficient  to  secure  them  general  sympathy  in  a  struggle 
against  Turkish  misrule.  At  the  Congress  of  Vienna  great  efforts 
had  been  made  to  do  something  for  the  cause  of  the  Greeks,  and  a 
literary  society  of  their  admirers  (iraipeia  faXo/iavo-ov)  derived 
political  importance  from  the  fact  that  one  of  its  leading  members, 
Count  Capo  dTstria,  was  secretary  to  Alexander  I.  The  Czar  had 
an  obvious  interest  in  the  cause,  and  was  believed  by  many  to  be 
himself  a  member  of  a  secret  committee  of  Philhellenes.  The 
risings  in  Spain  and  Naples  gave  the  necessary  impulse  to  a  move- 
ment which  had  been  already  prepared.  It  was  commenced,  not  in 
Greece  itself,  but  in  Moldavia,  because  that  province  was  near  to 
Russia,  from  which  help  was  confidently  expected.  The  revolt  was 
headed  by  Ipsilanti,  an  officer  in  the  Russian  service,  whose  father 
had  been  Hospodar  of  Moldavia.  Ipsilanti  was  a  Phanariote — i.e. 
he  belonged  to  one  of  the  old  Greek  families  who  lived  in  the 
Phanar,  a  suburb  of  Constantinople.  The  Phanariotes  had  long 
been  in  intimate  connection  with  Russia,  and  it  was  from  among 
them  that  the  Porte  usually  selected  the  Hospodars  of  Moldavia 
and  Wallachia.  Ipsilanti's  rising  depended  entirely  for  success  on 
Russian  support,  but  at  the  Congress  of  Lay  bach  Alexander  ex- 
pressed his  disapproval,  and  it  speedily  collapsed.  The  Turks  won 
a  complete  victory  at  Dragatschan  (19  June,  1821),  and  Ipsilanti 
spent  the  next  seven  years  in  an  Austrian  prison.  But  his  move- 
ment had  been  the  preconcerted  signal  for  another  and  more 
general  rebellion  in  Greece  proper.  Under  the  leadership  of 
Kolokotroni,  Nikitas,  Pietro  Bey  and  others,  the  people  rose  all  over 
the  Morea,  and  in  a  few  days  the  Turks  were  driven  to  the 
fortresses,  where  they  were  speedily  besieged.  The  rich  islands  of 
the  iEgean,  Hydra,  Ipsara,  and  Spezzia,  espoused  the  national 
cause,  and  the  skill  and  daring  of  their  sailors  gave  the  Greeks  a 
maritime  superiority  which  was  of  decisive  importance  in  the 
war.  AH  Pasha,  of  Jannina,  having  quarrelled  irretrievably  with 
the  Porte,  took  the  side  of  the  Greeks,  though  he  remained  a 
Mohammedan.  He  rendered  considerable  service  by  concentrating 
against  himself  the  main  force  of  the  Turks  for  a  year,  thus 
leaving  the  Greeks  time  to  gain  a  firm  position.  North  of  the 
isthmus  of  Corinth,  Odysseus,  a  famous  chieftain  of  the  mountain 


a.d.  1821-1822.  REVOLT  OF  GREECE.  651 

tribes,  revolted  against  the  Turks  and  barred  their  passage  into 
the  Morea.  The  Porte  was  wholly  unprepared  for  war,  and 
though  the  garrisons  of  Patras  and  Nauplia  repulsed  their 
besiegers,  the  important  fortress  of  Tripolitza  was  taken  by  storm. 
The  Turks  could  only  avenge  their  disasters  by  the  murder 
of  the  Greek  Patriarch  in  Constantinople  and  by  massacres  of 
the  Christian  population  in  Asia  Minor.  These  cruelties  led  to 
reprisals  on  the  part  of  the  rebels,  and  gave  the  war  a  bloodthirsty 
character.   • 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1822,  a  national  convei.tion  met  in 
Piada  and  drew  up  a  constitution.  The  executive  power  wa<*  en- 
trusted to  a  convention  of  five  members  and  the  work  of  legislation 
to  a  council  of  seventy.  The  president  of  the  convention  was 
Miivrocordato,  the  descendant  of  an  old  family  of  Chios,  but  he  was 
regarded  with  jealousy  by  the  military  leaders,  and  especially  by  Ko- 
lokotroni.  From  the  first  the  movement  was  hampered  by  personal 
quarrels  and  divisions.  One  party  looked  to  Russia  for  assistance, 
another  to  England,  while  several  chiefs,  notably  Odysseus  and  Pietro 
Bey,  were  fighting  mainly  for  plunder.  A  great  blow  was  dealt  to 
the  cause  by  the  defeat  and  death  of  Ali  Pasha  (Feb.  182*.'),  which 
enabled  the  Turkish  army  to  leave  Jannina  and  to  turn  against  the 
<  i  it  t-ks.  In  spite  of  this  the  balance  of  success  during  the  year  was 
decidedly  in  favour  of  the  rebels.  The  Turkish  fleet  captured  the 
island  of  Chios  and  massacred  or  enslaved  all  the  inhabitants,  but 
their  atrocities  were  avenged  by  the  destruction  of  several  of  their 
largest  vessels  by  fire-ships,  in  the  manayen  ent  of  which  the  islanders 
were  proficient.  A  grand  expedition  which  Chourchid  Pasha,  the 
conqueror  of  Jannina,  led  into  the  Morea,  was  repulsed  with  such  l««s 
that  the  commander  had  to  escape  the  bowstring  by  suicide.  The 
first  siege  of  Missolonghi  was  triumphantly  defeated,  the  citadels  of 
Athens  and  Corinth  were  reduced,  and  finally,  Nauplia  (Napoli  di 
Romania)  was  compelled  to  surrender. 

In  spite  of  these  successes  it  seemed  probable  that  the  Greeks 
must  ultimately  succumb  to  superior  force  unless  they  could  obtain 
the  active  assistance  as  well  as  the  sympathy  of  Europe.  The 
question  of  intervention  was  seriously  discussed  at  the  Congress 
of  Verona,  but  in  fatal  conjunction  with  the  question  of  Spain. 
Metternich,  at  this  time  the  guiding  spirit  of  European  diplomacy, 
succeeded  in  representing  the  movements  in  the  two  peninsulas  as 
identical  in  character.  Alexander  I.,  the  natural  champion  of  Greek 
independence,  and  a  few  years  ago  the  professed  adherent  of  liberal 
principles,  was  worked  upon  through  his  dread  of  revolution.  He 
himself  declared  that  he  "discerned  the  revolutionary  march  in  the 
troubles  of  the  Peloponnese,  and  fiom  that  moment  kept  aloof  from 


652  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

them."  By  a  curious  inversion  of  interests,  the  English  minister 
Canning,  by  policy  the  opponent  of  Russian  influence  in  Turkey,  was 
personally  an  eager  champion  of  the  Greek  cause.  But  he  could  not 
venture  to  take  the  initiative,  and  the  practical  result  of  the  Congress 
was  a  decision  that  the  Greeks,  as  rebels  against  legitimate  authority, 
should  be  left  to  their  fate.  It  is  true  that  the  Russian  envoy 
protested  against  the  Turkish  cruelties,  and  when  satisfaction  was 
refused  quitted  Constantinople.  But  even  this  diplomatic  rupture 
did  not  impel  Alexander  to  desert  the  neutrality  that  was  enjoined  ' 
by  his  new  principles. 

In  1823  the  quarrels  among  the  Greek  leaders  blazed  more  fiercely 
than  ever.  The  central  government  lost  all  authori'y  and  Mavro- 
conlato  had  to  escape  to  Hydra.  Still  the  Turks  were  unable  to  seize 
the  advantages  offered  to  them.  Omer  Brione,  the  successor  of  Ali 
in  the  Pashalic  of  Jannina,  was  defeated  by  the  Suliote  hero,  Marcos 
Bozzaris,  who  lost  his  life  in  the  engagement.  The  threatened  attack 
upon  Missolonghi  was  averted  by  this  victory,  and  in  the  Morea 
Nikitas  succeeded  in  reducing  the  citadel  of  Corinth.  In  the  next 
year  a  great  impulse  was  given  to  the  rebellion  by  the  efforts  of 
foreign  enthusiasts.  Lord  Byron  and  Colonel  Stanhope  appeared  in 
Greece,  and  a  large  loan  on  the  part  of  foreign  capitalists  restored 
credit  to  the  constitutional  government.  Mavrocordato  returned,  and 
his  chief  opponent,  Kolokotroni,  was  compelled  to  submit.  At  the 
same  time  Odysseus,  who  was  suspected  of  intrigues  with  the  Turks, 
was  seized  and  imprisoned  at  Athens.  The  Turkish  fleet  succeeded 
in  capturing  and  devastating  the  island  of  Ipsara  (July,  1824),  but 
Canaris  took  a  signal  revenge  by  destroying  more  than  twenty  of 
the  enemy's  ships.  The  European  powers  begnn  to  take  an  interest 
in  a  movement  that  had  shown  itself  so  difficult  to  suppress.  Can- 
ning expressed  the  willingness  of  England  to  recognise  the  Greek 
blockade,  and  Alexander  I.  proposed  that  Greece  should  be  divided 
betweeu  four  Hospodars,  who  should  occupy  the  same  relation  to  the 
Porte  as  the  rulers  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia.  This  scheme,  how- 
ever, offered  too  many  advantages  to  Russia  to  be  accepted  by  the 
other  powers,  and  Mettenrch  succeeded  for  a  time  in  averting  any 
active  intervention. 

§  13.  For  four  years  the  Greeks  had  more  than  held  their  own,  but 
their  resources  were  so  limited  that  victory  was  as  costly  to  them 
as  defeat  was  to  the  Turks.  And  their  incorrigible  dissensions  alien- 
ated their  foreign  supporters.  The  loans  were  uselessly  squandered, 
and  Byron  died  of  fever  and  disappointment  in  the  swamps  of  Mis- 
solonghi. In  1825  a  wholly  new  character  was  «iven  to  the  war  by 
the  arrival  of  an  army  from  Egypt.  Mehemet  Ali,  who  hoped  to 
succeed  to  the  position  of  the  house  of  Othman,  determined  to  pre- 


ad.  1823-1827.      ACCESSION  OF  NICOLAS.  653 

vent  the  rupture  of  an  empire  which  he  might  one  day  rule.  In 
Fehruary  his  son,  Ibrahim,  landed  at  Modon  with  17,000  men. 
From  the  first  it  was  evident  that  the  Greeks  were  no  match  for  the 
Egv  ptian  troops,  who  had  been  carefully  formed  and  trained  on  the 
European  model.  Ibrahim  captured  Navarino  and  Tripolitza,  and 
advanced  through  the  Morea  to  the  walls  of  Nauplia.  At  the  same 
time  Kedschid  Pasha  was  despatched  by  the  Sultan  to  resume  the 
siege  of  Missolonghi.  Early  in  1826  Ibrahim  joined  the  Turks,  and 
the  fate  of  the  town  Was  secured  by  a  rigorous  blockade.  After 
enduring  the  most  terrible  hardships,  the  garrison  made  a  heroic 
effort  to  cut  their  way  through  the  besiegers,  and  only  accident 
I>n  v.  nted  their  complete  success  (2  April,  1826).  The  fall  of  Mis- 
solonghi was  followed  by  the  siege  of  Athens.  An- it  he r  obstinate 
.•  wan  made,  but  in  spite  of  the  assistance  rendered  by  Colonel 
Fabvier,  Lord  Cochrane,  and  General  Church,  At  he*  s  had  to  surrender 
(2  June,  1827).  The  Greek  cause  was  hopeless  unless  tl> 
powers  would  interfere,  and  the  old  dissensions  broke  out 
Fortunately  for  the  Greeks  events  had  occurred  which  nlt.u.1 
the  relations  of  the  European  states,  and  frustrated  Met  tern  ich's 
determination  to  uphold  the  Poite  as  the  champion  of  legitimate 
authority  against  revolution. 

§  14.  On  the  1st  of  December,  1825,  Alexander  I.  died  suddenly 
on  a  journey  to  the  Crimea.  As  he  left  no  children,  his  natural 
successor  was  his  brother,  Consbtntine,  who  resided  in  Warsaw 
as  governor  of  Poland.  But  Constantine,  who  had  contracted  a 
morganatic  marriage  with  a  Polish  princess,  and  who  was  devoid  of 
ambition,  had  in  1822  formally  renounced  all  claims  in  favour  of 
his  younger  brother,  Nicolas.  This  renunciation  had  never  been 
made  public,  and  Nicolas,  unwilling  to  act  upon  it  until  it  lia«i 
been  confirmed,  caused  the  troop*  to  swear  fealty  to  Constantino, 
as  Alexander's  successor.  But  the  elder  brother  positively  refused 
to  ascend  the  throne,  and  Nicolas  was  compelled  to  assume  the 
authority  that  now  devolved  upon  him.  But  unexpected  difficulties 
confronted  him.  Alexander's  desertion  of  liberal  principles  in  his 
later  years  had  alienated  the  affection  of  his  subjects,  and  a  secret 
association  had  been  formed,  under  Prince  Troubetskoi,  with  the 
object  of  forming  Russia  into  a  federal  republic.  The  uncertainty 
alx)iit  the  succession  and  the  consequent  interregnum  gave  the 
conspirators  an  unexpected  opportunity.  They  persuaded  the 
soldiers  that  Constantine's  pretended  renunciation  was  a  fraud,  and 
that  Nicolas  was  trying  to  usurp  his  brother's  throne.  The  result 
was  that,  when  the  troops  were  called  upon  to  take  a  new  oath  .it* 
fealty,  a  cry  was  raised  for  Constantine,  and  the  tumult  went  so  lar 
that  artillery  had  to  be  employed,  and  the  disloyal  raiments  wero 


654  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap  xxv. 

almost  destroyed  before  they  would  yield.  The  conspiracy  was 
now  discovered  and  its  leaders  punished. 

The  accession  of  Nicolas  brought  with  it  a  complete  change  in 
both  the  internal  and  foreign  politics  of  Russia.  From  the  first 
moment  he  abandoned  the  system  pursued  by  his  predecessors  from 
Peter  the  Great  downwards.  Instead  of  attempting  to  civilise 
Russia  by  introducing  the  customs  and  laws  of  western  Europe,  he 
showed  himself  an  ardent  partisan  of  all  the  old  national  institu- 
tions, and  especially  of  the  Greek  church.  The  Russian  language 
was  ordered  to  be  taught  in  the  German  and  Polish  provinces,  and 
a  knowledge  of  it  was  essential  for  a  place  in  the  public  service.  If 
a  foreigner  married  a  Russian  their  children  must  be  educated  in 
the  faith  of  the  latter.  The  zeal  for  proselytism  only  just  stopped 
short  of  actual  persecution.  At  the  same  time  Nicolas  claimed  to 
be  the  head  and  protector  of  all  members  of  the  Greek  church 
outside  his  own  dominions.  It  was  evident  that  his  attitude  in  the 
eastern  question  would  be  very  different  from  that  of  Alexander, 
and  that  it  would  be  determined  by  the  interests  of  Russia  rather 
than  by  the  principles  of  legitimacy.  The  Holy  Alliance  had  been 
shaken  by  the  conduct  of  Canning;  it  was  shattered  by  the 
accession  of  Nicolas.  Metternich  lost  the  control  of  European 
diplomacy  which  he  had  contrived  to  hold  for  the  last  ten  years. 

Canning  lost  no  time  in  sending  Wellington  to  St.  Petersburg  to 
discuss  the  question  of  Greece  with  the  Czar.  At  first  Nicolas 
haughtily  declared  that  his  relations  with  the  Porte  concerned  no 
other  power,  but  he  soon  saw  the  advantage  of  making  England  his 
accomplice  in  a  partition  of  Turkey.  In  April,  1826,  a  secret  con- 
vention was  signed,  which  arranged  that  Greece  should  be  formed 
into  a  regular  state,  but  should  pay  tribute  to  the  Sultan.  In  case 
of  refusal  the  two  powers  were  to  compel  the  Porte  to  accept  these 
terms.     The  other  powers  were  to  be  invited  to  join  the  alliance. 

§  15.  At  the  same  time  Nicolas  had  other  matters  to  settle  with 
the  Sultan,  and  Mahmoud  II.  played  into  his  hands  by  choosing 
this  very  moment  for  the  reforms  which  he  had  been  meditating 
ever  since  his  accession.  He  issued  an  ordinance  altering  the 
constitution  of  the  Janissaries,  though  it  left  the  existing  members 
of  the  corps  in  enjoyment  of  their  privileges.  The  result  was  a 
general  mutiny  on  the  14th  of  June.  But  the  Sultan  was  prepared 
for  extreme  measures.  He  produced  the  sacred  standard  of  the 
prophet  and  called  upon  all  true  believers  to  support  him.  A 
wholesale  massacre  of  the  Janissaries  followed,  and  the  name  was 
abolished  for  ever.  Mahmoud  now  set  to  work  to  raise  a  new 
army,  which  was  to  consist  of  250,000  men  armed  and  trained  like 
European  troops.     But  a  long  time   must  elapse  before  such  an 


aj>.  1826-1827.       BATTLE  OF  NAVABINO.  C5ft 

elaborate  scheme  could  be  carried  out,  and  meanwhile  Turkey  was 
defenceless.  This  compelled  the  Sultan  to  accept  all  the  demands 
of  Nicolas  in  the  convention  of  Ackermann  (October,  1826).  The 
treaty  of  Bucharest  was  confirmed,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the 
Hospodars  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia  should  be  chosen  for  seven 
years,  that  they  should  rule  with  a  council  of  Boyars  in  complete 
independence  of  the  Porte,  and  that  they  could  not  be  deposed 
without  the  consent  of  Russia,  Servia  was  to  elect  its  own  prince 
and  the  Sultan  was  not  to  interfere  in  its  internal  affairs.  Russia 
was  to  occupy  the  fortresses  cm  the  east  coast  of  the  Black  Sea, 
and  Russian  ships  had  the  right  of  entering  all  Turkish  wateis. 

§  16.  One  of  the  Sultan's  motives  for  such  abject  compliance  was 
a  desire  to  separate  Russia  from  England  on  the  Gieek  question. 
But  Nicolas  was  the  last  man  to  le  turned  Horn  his  course  by  an 
exhibition  of  weakness,  and  the  negotiations  were  actively  pro- 
secuted at  a  conference  in  London.  Metternich  resolutely  refused 
to  countenance  rebellion  in  any  form,  and  induced  Frederick  William 
of  Prussia  to  adhere  to  the  programme  of  the  Holy  Alliance.  In 
France  the  moderate  Louis  XVIII.  had  been  succeeded  by  the 
reactionary  Charles  X.,  but  the  strong  French  sympathy  with  the 
Greeks  induced  the  government  to  disregard  the  danger  of  revolu- 
tion and  to  join  Russia  and  England.  On  the  6th  of  July,  1827, 
the  three  powers  concluded  the  treaty  of  London,  which  was  based 
on  the  previous  convention  of  April,  1826.  Greece  was  to  be 
tributary  but  otherwise  independent;  hostilities  were  to  cease 
immediately ;  and  if  the  Sultan  failed  to  accept  the  mediation  of 
the  powers  within  a  month,  the  latter  would  recognise  the  entire 
inde|>endence  of  Greece.  This  treaty,  which  was  forced  upon 
Canning  by  the  fear  of  allowing  Russia  to  interfere  single-handed, 
was  his  last  conspicuous  act.  He  died  on  the  8th  of  August,  and 
the  Tories  gradually  regained  the  upper  hand  in  the  ministry. 

The  Sultan,  whose  hojics  of  success  had  been  raised  by  the 
capture  of  Missolonghi  and  Athens,  haughtily  refused  to  admit 
the  right  of  any  power  to  interfere  between  himself  and  his 
rebellious  subjects.  Ibrahim  at  this  time  received  large  reinforce- 
ments, which  were  brought  to  Navarino  by  an  Egyptian  fleet  from 
Alexandria.  He  received  orders  to  wage  a  war  of  extermination  in  the 
Morea,  and  he  act*  d  up  to  the  letter  of  his  instructions.  Meanwhile 
the  allied  fleets  of  England,  France,  and  Russia  had  appeared  on 
the  scene  to  enforce  the  treaty  of  London.  The  admirals  called 
upon  Ibrahim  to  ceare  hostilities,  and  entered  the  harbour  of 
Navarino  to  compel  his  submission.  In  these  circumstances  a 
battle  was  inevitable,  and  in  four  hours  the  whole  Egyptian  fleet 
was  utterly  destroyed   (20  October,   1827).     Mehemet  Ali   was 


656  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

compelled  to  recall  his  son.  Such  active  mediation  had  not  been 
anticipated  in  England,  where  the  ministers  alluded  to  the  battle 
as  "an  untoward  event."  But  the  Greeks,  whose  cause  seemed 
on  the  very  verge  of  collapse,  received  the  news  with  frantic 
enthusiasm.  Mahmoud  II.  complained  bitterly  of  the  outrage, 
and  expressed  his  determination  not  to  yield.  In  December  the 
ambassadors  of  the  allied  powers  had  to  leave  Constantinople. 

§  17.  That  the  battle  of  Kavarino  really  proved  an  "untoward 
event"  to  English  interests,  was  due  mainly  to  the  conduct  of 
the  ministers,  who  abandoned  the  policy  of  Canning  and  allowed 
Russia  to  attack  Turkey  single-handed,  the  very  thing  which  he 
had  striven  to  avoid.  No  opposition  was  made  to  the  election 
of  the  Russian  nominee,  Capo  d'Istria,  as  president  by  the  Greek 
national  assembly.  Nicolas  was  eager  to  seize  the  advantages 
offered  to  him  by  the  vacillation  of  England  and  the  destruction  of 
the  Janissaries.  Time  was  required  to  collect  the  resources  of  so 
vast  a  country  as  Russia,  but  in  April,  1828,  war  was  declared,  and 
in  May  150,000  Russian  troops  under  Wittgenstein  crossed  the 
Pruth.  To  the  astonishment  of  Europe  the  campaign  was  a 
complete  failure.  The  Turks  wisely  restricted  their  efforts  to  the 
defence  of  fortresses,  in  which  they  have  always  excelled.  The 
Russians  spent  so  much  time  in  the  siege  of  Schumla,  Varna,  and 
Silistria,  that  winter  compelled  them  to  retreat  before  they  had 
achieved  anything  beyond  the  reduction  of  Varna.  The  simulta- 
neous campaign  in  Asia  was  more  fortunate,  and  Paskiewitsch, 
who  had  already  made  a  great  name  in  the  wars  with  Persia, 
captured  the  strong  fortresses  of  Kars  and  Achalzik,  which  the 
Turks  regarded  as  impregnable.  At  the  same  time  the  with- 
drawal of  Ibrahim  and  his  Egyptian  troops  enabled  the  Greeks  once 
more  to  hold  their  own  in  the  peninsula.  Still,  on  the  whole  the 
Russians  had  failed,  and  Metternich  endeavoured  to  take  advantage 
of  this  to  arrange  a  peace  which  should  save  Turkey  from  humili- 
ation. But  France  and  Prussia  declined  to  support  him,  and  even 
Wellington,  who  was  now  at  the  head  of  the  English  ministry, 
would  not  take  any  active  steps  to  check  the  advance  of  Russia. 

In  1829  the  command  of  the  Russian  army  was  transferred 
from  Wittgenstein  to  Diebitsch,  a  native  of  Silesia.  His  plan  was 
to  cover  the  Turkish  fortresses  and  to  push  on  with  his  main 
force  across  the  Balkans.  A  complete  victory  over  the  newly- 
appointed  Vizier,  Redschid  Pasha,  was  followed  by  the  surrender  of 
Silistria  (30  June).  The  passage  of  the  Balkans,  a  military  feat 
which  the  Russians  had  never  yet  attempted,  was  successfully 
accomplished,  and  on  the  19th  of  August  Diebitsch  appeared  before 
Adrianople.     But  his  troops  had  suffered  so  much  from  hunger  and 


a.d.  1827-1833.     THE  KINGDOM  OP  GREECE.  657 

disease  that  he  was  only  followed  by  about  13,000  men,  and  a 
resolute  attack  on  the  pirt  of  the  Turks  must  have  resulted  in  his 
utter  ruin.  Fortunately,  his  marvellous  achievement,  and  the- 
approach  of  the  enemy  to  so  short  a  distance  from  his  capital,  over- 
came the  courage  of  Mahmoud  II.,  and  he  concluded  the  treaty  of 
Adrianoplo  on  the  14th  of  September.  Russia  resigned  all  couquesta 
except  some  islands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Danube  and  a  stiip  of 
territory  in  Asia  which  included  the  fortress  of  Achalzik.  These 
:u<| ii tuitions,  though  small,  were  of  considerable  strategical  im- 
portance. The  Hospodars  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia  were  to  be 
api*  int»l  for  life,  they  were  to  have  independent  sovereign  power, 
ami  mo  Mussulman  night  reside  in  these  provinces,  which  became 
I >r:i<  tic-ally  appendage*  of  Russia.  The  navigation  0f  the  Danube 
was  to  be  free,  and  the  vessels  of  neutral  powers  were  to  be  allowed 
to  pass  through  the  Dardanelles.  The  Porte  accepted  the  pro- 
is  of  the  treaty  of  London  with  regard  to  Greece. 
§  18.  Another  conference  in  London  undertook  to  settle  the 
affairs  of  the  new  state,  and  issued  a  protocol  on  the  subject  in 
February,  1830.  A  tardy  and  ill-timed  regard  for  Turkish  sensi- 
tiveness gave  Greece  a  niggardly  frontier,  extending  from  the  Gulf 
of  Volo  on  the  east  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Aspro  on  the  west. 
The  government  waa  to  be  a  constitutional  monarchy,  and  the 
crown  was  offered  to  Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg,  the  widower  of 
Princess  Charlotte  of  England.  After  some  hesitation  he  refused 
it,  and  during  the  interregnum  Capo  d'Istria  continued  to  rule. 
The  latter  was  suspected  of  aiming  at  the  crown  himself,  and  the 
opposition  to  him  became  so  vehement  that  it  led  to  civil  war. 
The  Greek  fleet  was  burnt  by  Miaulis  to  prevent  its  being  used  by 
the  Russians  to  support  the  President.  Soon  afterwards  Capo  d'Ist  ria 
was  assassinated  (Oct  1831).  At  last  the  allied  powers  agreed  to 
extend  the  frontier  on  the  west  from  the  Aspro  to  Arta,  and 
f.»im<l  an  aspirant  to  the  throne  in  Otho  I.,  a  younger  son  of  the 
kin-  of  Bavaria,  In  1833  he  landed  at  Nauplia,  but  two  years 
elapsed  before  he  really  undertook  the  work  of  government,  and 
fixed  upon  Athens  as  his  capital. 


III.  France  under  Charles  X.  and  the  Revolution  of  1830. 

§  19.  The  reaction  in  France  which  commenced  with  the  death 
of  the  duke  of  Berry  was  carried  to  its  height  by  the  ministry 
of  VillMc.  The  expedition  to  Spain  in  1823  was  so  completely 
sful  that  a  royalist  chamber  was  elected  and  its  existence 
prolonged  for  seven  years.  On  the  16th  of  September,  1824,  Louis 
XVIII.  died.     He  had  never  been  popular  in  France,  and  he  was 


658  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

not  a  strong  ruler ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  displayed 
creditable  wisdom  and  self-restraint.  He  disapproved  of  the  re- 
action and  foresaw  the  disasters  that  it  would  bring  upon  his 
successor,  but  he  was  too  weak  to  resist  the  pressure  of  his 
ministers  and  his  own  family.  The  count  of  Artois,  who  now 
became  king,  was  imbued  with  all  the  prejudices  and  prepossessions 
of  the  old  regime,  and  he  had  none  of  his  brother's  power  of  seeing 
when  it  was  necessary  to  yield.  He  contrasts  with  Louis  XVIII.  as 
James  II.  did  with  Charles  II.  But  his  first  measures  were  popular. 
He  expressed  his  determination  to  uphold  the  Charter,  he  removed 
the  censorship  of  the  press,  and  he  restored  to  Louis  Philippe,  the 
son  of  Philippe  Egalite,  the  great  possessions  of  the  house  of 
Orleans  and  the  title  of  Royal  Highness.  But  before  long  he 
showed  his  real  intentions.  The  ministry  of  Villele  was  retained, 
more  than  150  officers  of  the  Empire  were  dismissed  from  the  army, 
and  the  Jesuits,  though  still  proscribed  by  law,  were  allowed  to 
return  to  France  and  to  resume  their  control  of  education.  The 
enormous  sum  of  100,000,000  francs  was  raised  to  compensate  the 
losses  of  the  emigrants ;  and  in  spite  of  vigorous  opposition  the 
scheme  was  adopted  by  the  submissive  chambers.  But  it  was  the 
king's  devotion  to  the  Church  that  raised  the  bitterest  discontent. 
The  opeu  patronage  of  the  Jesuits,  the  gorgeous  processions  through 
the  streets,  in  which  the  king  himself  took  part,  and  a  law  which 
proposed  to  punish  sacrilege  with  death,  aroused  uncompromising 
hostility  in  a  city  where  the  teaching  of  Voltaire  still  prevailed.  In 
1825  the  funeral  of  General  Foy,  the  most  eloquent  leader  of  the 
opposition,  gave  an  opportunity  for  a  grand  liberal  demonstration. 
To  silence  criticism  the  government  brought  in  a  new  law  to  shackle 
the  press,  but  it  was  received  with  such  disfavour  in  both  chambers 
that  it  had  to  be  withdrawn.  In  1827,  while  the  king  was  re- 
viewing the  national  guard,  a  cry  was  raised  of  "  Down  with  the 
Jesuits ! "  and  the  force  was  broken  up.  Villele  now  determined  on 
a  last  effort  to  maintain  his  power.  The  chamber  of  deputies  was 
dissolved  and  seventy-six  new  peers  were  created.  But  the  new 
elections  went  completely  against  the  government,  and  the  liberals 
secured  a  majority  of  428  to  125.  The  king  was  compelled  to  give 
way,  and  Villele  was  dismissed  (Jan.  3,  1828). 

§  20.  A  moderate  ministry  now  came  into  office  under  the 
presidency  of  M.  de  Martignac.  A  law  was  introduced  which 
imposed  only  slight  restrictions  upon  the  press,  and  a  number  of 
ordinances  were  issued  against  the  Jesuits.  But  Martignac  found 
that  he  had  a  very  difficult  position  to  occupy.  Charles  X.  re- 
garded the  ministers  as  forced  upon  him,  and  refused  to  give  them 
his  confidence.     At  the  same  time  the  majority  of  deputies  were 


a.d.  1824-1830.     FRANCE  UNDER  CHARLES  X.  659 

hostile  to  them  for  not  carrying  liberal  measures,  which  their 
relations  to  the  king  made  impossible.  Martignac  wished  to 
strengthen  the  monarchy,  and  to  give  stability  to  the  constitution, 
by  freeing  the  provinces  from  the  excessive  preponderance  of  the 
capital.  Early  in  1829  he  brought  forward  a  proposal  to  give  to 
colleges  in  the  communes  and  departments  some  control  over  the 
authority  of  the  mayors  and  prerects.  But  this  was  not  well 
received  by  the  liberals,  who  had  matters  their  own  way  in  Paris, 
and  who  feared  the  preponderance  of  conservative  and  clerical 
influence  in  the  country.  On  the  3(Xh  of  July,  1829,  the  king 
dissolved  the  chambers,  and  seized  the  opportunity  to  dit-miss 
Martignac  and  his  colleagues.  lie  had  convinced  himself  that 
concessions  only  encouraged  more  extreme  demands,  and  he  was 
determined  not  to  yield.  At  the  head  of  the  new  ministry  was 
Prince  Jules  de  Polignac,  the  son  of  Marie  Antoinette's  favourite, 
and  the  representative  of  the  emigrant  nobles.  The  choice  was  an 
unfortunate  one,  as  Polignac  was  incapable  as  well  as  unpopular, 
but  it  was  dictated  to  some  extent  by  foreign  politics.  It  was  just 
at  this  time  that  Russia  and  Turkey  were  negotiating  at  Adrianople, 
and  Austria  and  England  were  anxious  to  prevent  the  former  from 
obtaining  excessive  advantages  from  its  victory.  Martignac  had 
been  altogether  on  the  side  of  Russia,  and  one  of  his  chief  supporters 
had  been  Pozzo  di  Borgo,  the  Russian  envoy  at  Paris.  Polignac 
was  a  personal  friend  of  Wellington,  the  head  of  the  Tory  ministry 
in  England,  and  this  contributed  to  bis  elevation.  Still  more  un- 
fortunate was  the  choice  of  the  minister  of  war,  General  Bourmont, 
who  had  deserted  to  the  allies  at  the  beginning  of  the  battle  of 
Waterloo,  an  act  which  the  French  could  neither  forget  nor 
forgive. 

The  appointment  of  th^  new  ministry  was  greet  d  with  general 
indignation.  Lafayette  came  forward  as  the  leader  of  the  agitation, 
aud  formed  a  secret  society  with  the  name  Aide  toi  et  le  ciel  Vaidera, 
which  exercised  considerable  influence  over  the  elections.  When 
the  chambers  met  in  March,  1830,  the  liberals  had  an  over- 
whelming majority  among  the  deputies.  Their  leaders  were  Royer- 
Collard  and  Guizot,  the  representatives  of  the  constitutional 
theorists  or  doctrinaires,  and  the  former  was  elected  president.  A 
number  of  royalist  peers,  influenced  either  by  jealousy  of  Polignac 
or  by  Russian  intrigues,  deserted  the  ministry,  and  an  address 
expressing  want  of  confidence  was  carried  by  lar^e  majorities. 
Charles  X.  dissolved  the  chambers  again,  and  determined  to  make 
a  bold  bid  for  popularity  by  an  expedition  against  the  Dey  of 
Algiers,  who  had  insulted  the  French  consul.  The  French  have 
always  been  very  eager  for  military  glory,  and  it  was  hoped  that 


660  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

the  news  of  a  brilliant  success  just  at  the  time  of  the  election 
would  secure  a  majority  for  the  government.  But  the  scheme  was 
too  obvious  not  to  be  seen  through,  and  unforeseen  accidents 
postponed  the  expected  triumph  until  the  elections  were  over 
(4  July).  A  chamber  was  returned  which  was  still  more  hostile  to 
the  government  than  its  predecessor.  Matters  had  now  reached  a 
crisis,  but  Charles  X.  was  resolute  to  make  no  concessions.  On 
the  25th  of  July  a  ministerial  conference  at  St.  Cloud  drew  up  the 
celebrated  Ordinauces,  which  were  issued  on  the  next  day.  The 
press  was  subjected  to  a  strict  censorship  and  the  chief  liberal 
papers  were  suppressed.  The  number  of  electors  was  diminished 
by  raising  the  property  qualification,  and  elections  were  to  be  no 
longer  direct  but  indirect.  The  recently  chosen  chamber  was 
dissolved  before  it  had  even  met,  and  a  new  one  was  summoned  for 
the  8th  of  September.  These  exceptional  measures  were  justified 
by  the  14th  article  of  the  Charter — "  The  king  makes  regulations 
and  ordinances  for  the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  safety  of  the 
state." 

§  21.  The  Ordinances  were  wholly  unexpected  in  Paris,  where  the 
first  feeling  was  one  of  stupefied  astonishment.  If  the  government 
had  been  fully  prepared  for  active  measures,  an  easy  triumph  was 
assured.  But  there  were  only  12,000  troops  in  the  capital,  and  the 
command  was  in  the  hands  of  Marmont,  who  was  unpopular  among 
the  soldiers  as  a  traitor  to  Napoleon,  and  who  personally  disap- 
proved of  the  Ordinances.  The  first  opposition  came  from  the 
journalists,  headed  by  Thiers  and  Mignet,  who  refused  to  recognise 
the  suppression  of  their  papers  as  a  legal  act.  The  liberal  deputies 
assembled  at  the  house  of  Casimir  Perier,  but  they  distrusted  the 
chances  of  a  popular  revolt,  and  contented  themselves  with  a  written 
protest  against  the  dissolution  of  a  chamber  which  had  never  met. 
Among  the  citizens  there  were  bolder  spirits.  The  manufactories 
were  closed,  the  workmen  crowded  the  streets,  >md  a  number  of 
collisions  with  the  troops  occurred  on  the  28th  of  July.  Marmont 
advised  concessions,  but  Charles  X.,  who  had  gone  on  a  hunting-party 
as  if  nothing  was  happening,  sent  him  orders  to  stand  firm.  On  the 
29th  came  the  decisive  conflict.  Lafayette,  who  was  absent  when 
the  Ordinances  were  issued,  hurried  back  to  Paris  and  assumed  the 
command  of  the  national  guard.  The  troops  were  concentrated  to 
defend  the  Tuileries,  the  Louvre,  and  the  Palais  Royal,  and  an 
obstinate  conflict  took  place,  in  which  much  blood  was  shed.  At 
la^t  Marmout's  indecision  allowed  the  populace  to  gain  posse.-sion  ol 
the  Louvre,  from  which  the  long  gallery  admitted  them  to  the 
Tuileries.  So  strong  was  the  feeling  against  disgracing  the  revolt, 
that  the  treasures  of  the  palace  were  left  undisturbed,  and  a  man 


d.  1830.  THE  JULY  REVOLUTION.  G(*»l 

who  was  detected  in  the  act  of  plunder  was  promptly  executed. 
By  the  evening  Paris  was  in  the  hands  of  the  mob. 

When  the  news  of  these  events  readied  St.  Cloud  the  old  king 
was  at  last  compelled  to  recognise  the  necessity  of  concessions. 
-Polignac  was  dismissed,  and  the  duke  of  Mortemart,  a  m< 
man  and  acceptable  to  the  Russian  court,  was  appointed  in  his 
place.  Mortemart  lost  no  time  in  sending  to  Paris  and  announcing 
the  revocation  of  the  Ordinances.  But  it  was  too  late.  The 
deputies  had  recovered  their  courage  when  the  victory  bad  been 
won  for  them,  and  had  entrusted  the  provisional  government  to  a 
munici|>al  commission,  of  which  Lafayette,  Laffite,  Casimir  Pe"rier 
and  Gdrard  were  members.  They  refused  to  recognise  Mortemart, 
and  declared  that  "the  stream  of  blood  which  has  flowed  in 
Charles  X.'s  name  has  separated  him  from  France  for  ever."  The 
respectable  bourgeoisie  wished  to  secure  themselves  against  anarchy 
and  to  form  a  durable  government  The  establishment  of  a 
republic  would  inevitably  excite  the  enmity  of  the  great  powers, 
would  lead  to  another  European  war,  and  probably  to  a  third 
restoration.  These  considerations  urged  all  moderate  nun  to 
maintain  a  monarchical  government  in  Franco.  Fortunately  they 
had  not  far  to  look  for  a  suitable  candidate  for  tin-  kfcipoe.  Tin* 
take  of  Orleans  had  been  the  acknowledged  patron  of  the  liberal 
party  ever  since  his  return  to  France  in  1815,  and  the  favonr  shown 
t<>  him  by  Charles  X.  had  failed  to  draw  him  any  closer  to  the 
elder  branch  of  his  family.  He  was  a  Bourbon  and  therefore  might 
be  expected  to  satisfy  the  scruples  of  the  monarchical  states  of 
Europe.  At  the  same  time  he  would  owe  his  power  altogether  to 
the  popular  choice,  and  could  hardly  venture  upon  unconstitutional 
government.  Laffite  and  Thiers  were  his  active  supporters,  and 
found  no  difficulty  in  gaining  over  the  majority  of  the  deputies. 
Messengers  were  sent  to  Neuilly,  where  the  duke  was  then  resid- 
ing, to  ask  him  to  undertake  the  office  of  Lieutenant-General  of  the 
kingdom  until  the  chambers  could  meet  to  secure  the  observance  of 
the  Charter.  Louis  Philippe,  whose  r&e  was  to  profess  a  becoming 
want  of  ambition,  waited  to  consult  Talleyrand,  on  whose  diplo- 
matic experience  he  relied  to  conciliate  the  European  courts.  On 
receiving  his  approval,  he  at  once  journeyed  to  Paris  and  accepted 
the  proffered  office.  At  the  same  time,  to  secure  himself  on  both 
sides,  he  sent  a  letter  through  Mortemart  to  assure  Charles  X.  of 
his  fidelity.  The  king  placed  such  confidence  in  there  treacherous 
professions  that  he  confirmed  the  duke's  appointment,  and  thus 
helped  to  drive  his  own  supporters  to  the  side  of  the  usurper.  The 
municipal  commission,  which  was  suspected  of  republican  ten- 
dencies, was  not  informed  of  the  action  of  the  deputies  until  all 


662  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

had  been  settled.  Lafayette,  however,  was  soon  won  over  by  Louis 
Philippe's  professions,  and  the  name  of  Orleans  was  so  popular  in 
Paris  that  opposition  was  out  of  the  question. 

§  22.  Charles  X.  was  still  confident  that  his  crown  was  secure, 
but  the  anxiety  of  the  duchess  of  Berry  for  the  safety  of  her  son 
induced  him  to  move  from  St.  Cloud  to  the  Trianon  and  thence  to 
Rambouillet.  There  he  was  persuaded  that  his  own  unpopularity 
endangered  the  dynasty,  and  both  he  and  the  Dauphin  abdicated  in 
favour  of  the  duke  of  Bordeaux  (1  August).  The  duke  of  Orleans, 
whose  honesty  was  still  relied  upon,  was  asked  to  assume  the 
regency  for  the  infant  king.  But  Louis  Philippe  now  saw  the 
crown  within  his  grasp,  and  was  determined  to  drive  his  rivals 
from  the  kingdom.  The  cry  was  raised  that  Charles  X.  meditated 
an  attack  upon  Paris,  and  a  mob  of  60,000  men  marched  upon 
Rambouillet.  At  last  Charles  realised  the  treachery  of  his  relative 
and  gave  up  all  hope.  His  misfortunes  were  respected  by  the 
people  as  he  journeyed  to  Cherbourg,  whence  he  sailed  to  England, 
and  for  the  second  time  took  up  his  residence  at  Holyrood.  On 
the  3rd  August  the  French  chamkrs  were  opened,  and  on  the  7th 
they  had  decided  the  future  of  France.  The  crown  was  declared 
vacant  through  the  abdication  of  Charles  X.  and  the  Dauphin,  and 
no  allusion  was  made  to  the  duke  of  Bordeaux.  By  219  to  33 
votes  Louis  Philippe  was  raised  to  the  throne  with  the  title  of 
"  King  of  the  French."  The  Roman  Catholic  church  was  no 
longer  to  be  privileged,  and  all  forms  of  religion  were  placed  on  an 
equal  footing ;  the  censorship  of  the  press  was  abolished ;  the  king 
was  forbidden  to  suspend  any  law,  to  appoint  extraordinary 
tribunals,  or  to  employ  foreign  troops;  indirect  election  was 
abolished  ;  deputies  were  to  be  chosen  for  five  years  ;  the  sessions  of 
the  peers  were  to  be  public,  and  the  peers  nominated  by  Charles  X. 
were  struck  off  the  list ;  the  chambers  were  to  have  the  right  of 
initiating  laws  as  well  as  the  king,  the  tricolour  was  substituted  for 
the  white  flag.  On  the  9th  of  August,  Louis  Philippe  was  formally 
enthroned  in  the  Palais  Bourbon.  He  found  little  difficulty  in 
procuring  the  recognition  of  the  European  courts,  which  were  only 
too  pleased  that  the  dangers  of  a  republican  government  in  France 
had  been  avoided.  England  was  the  first  to  approve  a  change 
which  was  a  flattering  imitation  of  her  own  institutions,  and  which 
seemed  to  ensure  a  preponderating  influence  in  the  neighbouring 
state.  The  last  sovereign  to  acknowledge  Louis  Philippe  was  the 
Czar  of  Russia. 


a.d.  1830.  HOLLAND  AND  BELGIUM.  663 

IV.  Liberal  Movements  in  Europe. 

§  23.  The  contrast  between  the  two  Revolutions  through  whioh 
France  had  passed  is  conspicuously  illustrated  by  the  difference  in 
their  results,  and  this  difference  is  nowhere  more  obvious  than  in 
England.  The  reaction  after  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  and  the 
reign  of  terror  effectually  stayed  the  progress*>f  English  liberties. 
Pitt  abandoned  the  reforming  projects  of  his  earlier  years,  the 
government  adopted  a  sternly  repressive  attitude,  the  Tories  obtained 
almost  uninterrupted  rule  for  forty  years,  and  the  Whigs  became  a 
powerless  and  discredited  minority.  But  the  Revolution  of  1830 
fascinated,  instead  of  repelling,  the  English  people.  Wellington's 
ministry  All,  and  the  Whigs  came  into  office  under  Lord  Grey.  The 
Reform  Bill  of  1832,  the  first  great  step  in  extending  to  the  masses 
the  liberties  that  had  been  won  in  1688,  was  carried  by  the  over- 
whelming pressure  of  public  opinion,  and  the  House  of  Ix>rds  did 
not  dare  to  persist  in  its  opposition.  Throughout  Europe  the 
example  of  the  French  exercised  a  similar  influence,  and  encouraged 
the  liberal  party  to  shake  off  the  trammels  that  had  been  imposed 
by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  and  the  Holy  Alliance.  The  inde- 
pendence of  Belgium,  the  rising  in  Poland,  the  advance  of  consti- 
tutional principles  in  several  of  the  German  states,  the  movements 
in  Italy,  Switzerland,  and  Portugal,  were  all  more  or  less  direct 
results  of  the  July  Revolution. 

§  24.  The  treaty  of  Vienna  had  united  Holland  and  Belgium  into 
a  single  kingdom  under  William  I.,  who  had  previously  been  stake- 
holder of  Holland.  In  doing  this  the  congress  had  been  actuated 
by  purely  political  motives,  and  had  paid  no  regard  whatever  to 
the  interests  or  wishes  of  the  peoples  they  dealt  with.  But  the 
(iitlciciices  which  had  divided  the  Netherlands  into  two  halves  isi 
the  16th  century  had  by  no  means  been  removed  by  the  la/pse  of 
300  years.  The  second  branch  of  the  House  of  Orange  was  not 
likely  to  succeed  where  William  the  Silent  an  A  Maurice  of  Nassau 
had  foiled.  The  Dutch  were  bigoted  Oivinists,  the  Belgians  were 
equally  devoted  to  Roman  Catholicism ;  the  northern  provinces 
were  essentially  Teutonic,  the  southern  were  inclined  to  the 
civilisation  and  language  of  the  Romance  lands  that  lay  near 
them ;  Holland  was  a  tracing,  Belgium  a  manufacturing  country. 
William  I.,  by  his  obvious  preference  of  his  Dutch  subjects,  had 
intensified  rather  tha.o  removed  these  natural  differences.  The 
Dutch,  though  their  numbers  were  smaller,  had  an  equal  number  of 
representatives  wi*h  the  Belgians,  and  the  constitution  was  forced 
upon  the  latter  in  spite  of  their  protests.  The  Belgians  wero 
saddled  with  *he  burden  of  the  national  debt  of  the  northern  state. 


664  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

The  clergy  were  alienated  by  the  establishment  of  secular  education 
under  state  control,  and  by  the  placing  of  the  Roman  Catholic  and 
Calvinist  churches  upon  an  equal  footing.  A  close  alliance  was 
formed  between  the  clerical  and  the  liberal  parties,  and  this  alliance, 
though  as  unnatural  as  the  state  itself,  was  none  the  less  formidable. 
Ever  since  1828  the  opposition  had  been  growing  in  strength,  and 
had  been  encouraggd  rather  than  appeased  by  the  concessions  which 
had  been  extorted  from  the  king. 

Matters  were  in  this  state  when  the  news  arrived  of  the  Revolu- 
tion in  Paris.  For  three  weeks  the  quiet  prevailed  that  precedes 
the  storm.  On  the  25th  of  August  a  performance  of  the  "  Mute 
of  Portici,"  an  opera  of  which  the  plot  centres  round  the  revolt  of 
Masaniello,  was  followed  by  a  rising  in  Brussels.  The  residences 
of  Van  Maanen  and  other  unpopular  ministers  were  sacked,  anl  the 
troops,  when  they  were  at  last  called  out,  were  driven  back  to  their 
barracks.  The  government  practically  abdicated  its  functions  and 
made  no  further  efforts  to  restore  order.  A  national  guard  was 
formed  which  speedily  made  itself  master  of  the  capital.  A  pro- 
visional government  of  some  of  the  chief  citizens  opened  nego- 
tiations with  the  king.  But  the  movement  had  gone  too  far  to  be 
contented  with  concessions  which  might  have  been  welcomed  a 
month  before.  The  example  of  Brussels  was  followed  by  the  other 
towns,  and  in  some,  e.g.  Verviers,  the  mob  was  guilty  of  revolu- 
tionary excesses.  William  I.,  though  determined  to  maintain  his 
rights,  found  it  necessary  to  temporise,  and  sent  his  eldest  son, 
William  prince  of  Orange,  to  calm  the  rebels  with  promises.  The 
prince  went  so  far  as  to  suggest  the  legislative  and  administrative 
independence  of  Belgium  under  the  Dutch  crown.  The  king 
showed  no  hostility  to  the  scheme,  but  reserved  a  definite  settle- 
ment for  the  meeting  of  the  States-General,  which  he  summoned  at 
the  Hague  on  the  13th  of  September. 

There  would  have  been  no  difficulty  in  carrying  through  the 
States-General  the- scheme  of  a  separate  legislature  and  administra- 
tion, as  the  Dutch  were  quite  as  eager  fur  it  as  the  Belgians.  But 
the  king  was  really  detemlined  not  to  give  way,  and  the  Dutch 
deputies  did  not  like  to  thwart  him.  The  matter  was  not  even 
discussed,  and  William  I.  went  so  for  as  to  recal  Van  Maanen,  whom 
he  had  previously  dismissed.  The  Belgians  felt  that  they  had  been 
duped,  and  the  rebellion  was  carried  on  with  new  vigour.  This 
time  the  Lidgeois  took  the  lead.  Marching.to  Brussels,  they  estab- 
lished a  new  and  more  democratic  provisional  government.  Prince 
Frederick,  the  king's  second  son,  who  had  been  collecting  troops 
while  his  elder  brother  was  negotiating,  attackeri  Brussels  but  was 
repulsed.     The  Belgian  soldiers  espoused  the  national  cause,  and  the 


A.D.  1830-1831.      BELGIAN  INDEPENDENCE.  665 

Dutch  troops  were  expelled  from  most  of  the  fortresses.  Antwerp, 
Maastricht,  and  the  citadel  of  Ghent  alone  remained  in  their  hands. 
The  States-General,  alarmed  at  the  course  of  events,  now  hastened  to 
decree  the  legislative  and  administrative  separation,  but  it  was  too 
late.  On  the  5th  of  October  the  provisional  government  proclaimed 
the  independence  of  Belgium,  appointed  a  commission  to  draw  up  a 
constitution,  and  summoned  a  national  congress  to  meet  At  Brussels. 
Four  days  later  they  declared  that  the  House  of  Orange  had  forfeited 
all  claims  upon  Belgium.  If  they  had  had  their  own  way,  they 
would  probably  have  istablished  a  republic.  But  the  clerical  ]>arty, 
hitherto  thrown  into  the  background  by  its  liberal  allies,  showed  its 
strength  in  the  elections  to  the  national  congress,  and  secured  the 
return  of  a  moderate  majority. 

§  25.  Tho  Belgian  question  excited  the  keenest  interot  in 
Europe,  and  there  was  a  fear  lest  it  might  revive  a  general  war. 
The  liberal  party  was  known  to  desire  the  re-union  of  Belgium  with 
Franco,  and  this  would  have  been  a  t>unal  for  general  hostilit  ies.  But 
Louis  Philippe  hastened  to  purchase  the  reo  giition  of  the  great 
powers  by  promising  not  to  accept  the  Belgian  crown  or  to  allow  the 
erection  of  a  republic.  Nicolas  of  Russia  was  inclined  to  support 
William  I.,  who  had  appealed  for  the  aid  of  the  five  powers,  but  his 
bands  were  full  with  the  contemporary  Polish  revolution.  Tho 
Tory  ministry  in  England,  which  night  hare  hacked  np  the  Cear, 
was  hampered  by  the  growing  power  of  the  Liberals,  and  moreover, 
the  interests  of  English  commerce  and  manufactures  demanded  the 
separation  of  Holland  and  Belgium.  Prussia  was  afraid  lest  the 
revolutionary  movement  might  extend  to  its  Rhine  provinces,  and 
Austria  was  anxious  about  Poland  and  Italy.  The  result  was,  that 
the  principles  of  the  Holy  Alliance  were  abandoned,  and  the  great 
powers  adopted,  for  the  first  time,  the  policy  of  non-intervention. 
A  conference  of  ministers,  of  which  Talleyrand  was  the  guiding 
.spirit,  met  in  London,  and  its  first  protocol  (4  Nov.)  called  upon 
Holland  and  Belgium  to  accept  an  armistice,  which  was  done. 

The  national  congress  met  at  Brussels  on  the  10th  of  November, 
and  determined  to  act  as  much  as  possible  in  accord  with  the 
London  conference.  It  was  decreed  that  Belgium  should  be  an 
independent  state,  the  delicate  question  of  Luxemburg  being  re- 
I  ;  that  the  government  should  be  a  monarchy ;  that  tho 
house  of  Orange  should  be  excluded  from  the  throne  ;  and  that  the 
legislature  should  consist  of  two  chambers.  These  decrees,  and 
especially  the  abandonment  of  republican  designs,  were  acceptable 
to  the  powers,  and  on  the  20th  of  December  the  London  conference 
accepted  the  principle  of  Belgian  inde{>endeuco.  Early  in  18.il  the 
'  bases  de  separation1  were  drawn  up,  which  preserved  in  Holland 
30 


666  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

the  boundaries  of  1790  with  Luxemburg,  and  imposed  upon  Belgium 
one  half  of  the  Dutch  debt.  These  terms  were  accepted  by 
William  I.,  but  were  protested  against  by  the  Belgian  congress. 
The  Belgians  refused  to  give  up  their  hold  upon  Luxemburg,  and 
the  Dutch  retained  Antwerp. 

The  congress  now  proceeded  to  draw  up  a  new  constitution  and 
to  elect  a  king.  Their  choice  fell  upon  the  duke  of  Nemours,  the 
second  son  of  Louis  Philippe.  But  the  French  connection  was  dis- 
tasteful to  the  other  powers,  and  Louis  Philippe  was  compelled  by 
prudence  to  decline  the  offer.  On  the  4th  of  June  the  Belgians 
chose  Leopold  of  Saxe  Coburg,  the  widower  of  the  English  Princess 
Charlotte.  The  London  conference  now  issued  a  new  protocol 
(27  June)  containing  18  articles,  which  gave  Belgium  more  favour- 
able boundaries,  left  Luxemburg  in  statu  qu  »,  and  made  the  country 
responsible  only  for  its  own  debt  and  for  a  s  are  of  that  which  had 
been  jointly  contracted.  These  terms  having  been  approved  by 
the  congress,  Leopold  accepted  the  crown,  proceeded  to  Belgium, 
and  swore  to  accept  the  constitution.  William  I.  protested  bitterly 
against  the  18  articles,  and  on  this  ground  the  representatives  of 
Russia,  Austria  and  Prussia  postponed  their  recognition  of  Leopold. 
While  Leopold  was  engaged  in  a  tour  through  his  new  kingdom, 
he  was  disagreeably  surprised  by  the  news  that  a  Dutch  army 
had  crossed  the  frontier.  The  Belgians,  trusting  in  the  support  of 
Europe,  were  wholly  unprepared  for  war,  and  their  troops  were  routed 
in  every  engagement.  On  August  11th  Leopold  himself  was  com- 
pletely defeated  at  Tirlemont  and  escaped  with  difficulty  to  Mechlin. 
But  on  the  first  news  of  hostilities  a  French  army  under  Marshal 
Gerard  marched  into  Belgium,  while  an  English  fleet  appeared  in 
the  Scheldt.  The  Dutch  were  compelled  to  retire  and  to  conclude 
an  armistice.  But  their  energetic  action  had  the  desired  result  of 
obtaining  more  favourable  terms  from  the  powers.  On  October  14th 
the  London  conference  issued  24  articles,  by  which  Limburg  on  the 
right  of  the  Meuse  was  ceded  to  Holland  and  Walloon  Luxemburg 
to  Belgium,  and  the  latter  country  was  to  pay  8,400,000  florins  a 
year  towards  the  debt.  With  great  reluctance  the  Belgians  accepted 
these  altered  conditions,  and  on  November  15th  all  the  powers  except 
Russia  recognised  the  kingdom  of  Belgium.  But  William  I., 
obstinately  trusting  to  the  friendship  of  the  Czar,  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  24  articles.  Even  when  Nicolas,  in  May,  1832,  at  last 
accepted  the  protocol  of  November  15,  the  Dutch  king  refused  to  give 
way.  It  was  necessary  to  employ  force ;  an  English  fleet  blockaded 
the  coast  of  Holland,  and  Marshal  Gerard  laid  siege  t>  Antwerp. 
After  an  heroic  defence,  General  Chasse',  the  commander  of  the  gar- 
rison, was  compelled  to  capitulate  on  December  23rd.     On  May  21, 


a.d.  1830-1833.  RISING  IN  POLAND.  667 

1833,  a  preliminary  treaty  was  arranged  which  put  an  end  to  hos- 
tilities. But  it  was  not  till  January  22,  1830,  that  William  I. 
finally  consented  to  accept  the  24  articles  in  a  definitive  treaty. 
Meanwhile  Leopold  had  married  in  1832  the  eldest  daughter  of 
Louis  Philippe,  and  had  utilised  the  period  of  peace  to  establish  an 
orderly  constitutional  government  in  Belgium,  under  which  the 
moral  and  material  welfare  of  the  kingdom  made  rapid  progress. 

§  26i  The  kingdom  of  Poland,  which  the  congress  of  Vienna  had 
called  IntcTrjeing,  and  to  which  Alexander  I.  had  presented  a  con- 
stitution on  the  model  of  the  French  Charter,  was  as  artificial  a 
creation  as  the  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands.  Ruled  by  a  Russian 
viceroy,  it  could  hardly  be  termed  a  kingdom,  and  it  comprised  only 
a  small  part  of  the  old  Poland.  The  constitution  was  utterly  un- 
suited  to  a  country  which  possessed  no  middle  class  to  mediate 
between  the  crowd  of  nobles  and  serfs.  Moreover,  constitutional 
checks  were  inconsistent  with  the  habits  and  traditions  of  Russian 
despotism,  'lhe  grand-duke  Constantine,  who  had  preferred  his 
government  at  Warsaw  to  the  throne  of  the  Czars,  had  already 
broken  through  the  letter  of  the  constitution,  and  several  conspira- 
cies had  been  detected  and  punished,  when  the  French  Revolution 
gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  undying  love  of  national  independence. 
In  the  dusk  of  the  evening  of  November  29,  1830,  a  number  of 
young  men  attacked  the  residence  of  the  viceroy.  Several  oflicers 
were  killed,  but  Constantine  himself  escaped  to  join  the  Russian 
troops.  The  citizens  of  Warsaw  rose  at  the  signal,  and  the  Polish 
soldiers  came  over  to  their  side.  Constantine  made  no  effort 
to  put  down  the  rebellion,  and  was  allowed  to  depart  from  the 
province  without  molestation. 

The  first  step  in  the  revolution  had  been  successful,  and  Poland 
was  free.  But  from  this  moment  the  want  of  unanimity,  which  was 
ultimately  fatal  to  the  movement,  began  to  show  itself.  Chlopicki, 
who  had  won  renown  in  the  Napoleonic  wars,  assumed  the  command 
of  the  army,  but  ho  was  out  of  sympathy  with  the  people,  and  eager 
to  make  terms  with  the  Czar.  At  tho  head  of  the  provisional 
government  was  Adam  Czartoriski,  a  descendant  of  the  great  house 
of  Jagellon,  but  wanting  in  decision  and  ability.  In  the  diet  which 
met  on  the  18th  of  December,  parties  were  hopelessly  divided.  The 
extreme  revolutionists  wished  to  push  on  as  rapidly  as  jossible,  and 
to  kindle  the  flames  of  insurrection  in  all  the  provinces  that  had 
once  belonged  to  Poland.  But  the  moderate  party  was  afraid  of 
alienating  Austria  and  Prussia,  and  hoped,  by  laying  stress  on  the 
breaches  of  the  constitution,  to  secure  the  support  of  the  western 
powers.  The  result  was  that  the  rebellion  remained  stationary,  and 
envoys  wero  sent  to  make  terms  with  Nicolas.     The  Czar  refused 


668  MODEKN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

all  concessions,  demanded  immediate  submission,  and  ordered  Die- 
bitsch  to  advance  with  an  army  into  Poland.  On  receipt  of  this 
answer,  Chlopicki  resigned  his  command,  and  was  succeeded  by  the 
honest  but  incapable  Radziwill.  The  diet  now  proceeded  to  decree 
the  deposition  of  Nicolas,  but,  to  gratify  the  western  powers, 
announced  that  Poland  should  remain  a  constitutional  monarchy. 
All  hopes  of  foreign  intervention,  however,  proved  futile.  Louis 
Philippe  took  advantage  of  the  Polish  difficulty  to  extort  his 
recognition  from  the  Czar,  and  the  other  states  thought  only  of 
excluding  Russian  influence  in  the  settlement  of  the  Belgian 
question. 

In  February,  1831,  Diebitsch,  with  114,000  men,  crossed  the  fron- 
tier and  marched  against  Praga,  the  bulwark  of  Warsaw  on  the  side 
of  the  Vistula.  Now  followed  a  heroic  struggle  which  casts  a  ray 
of  glory  upon  the  last  days  of  Poland.  In  one  battle  after  another 
the  Russians  were  foiled  by  the  resolute  courage  of  their  opponents. 
The  cholera  broke  out  among  the  besiegers,  and  carried  off  Diebitsch 
on  the  10th  of  June,  and  the  grand-duke  Constantine  a  month 
later.  Paskiewitsch,  who  now  assumed  the  command,  determined 
to  cross  the  Vistula  lower  down,  and  to  take  Warsaw  in  the  rear. 
His  plans  were  aided  by  the  bitterness  of  party  quarrels  among 
the  Poles.  The  democrats  had  alienated  the  nobles  by  proposing 
the  emancipation  of  the  serfs.  The  generals  who  had  defeated 
Diebitsch  were  accused  of  treachery.  Moderate  men  were  still  led 
away  by  the  futile  hope  of  French  intervention.  A  rising  in 
Lithuania,  which  might  yet  have  turned  the  current  of  success, 
was  allowed  to  fail  for  want  of  support.  Finally,  the  democratic 
party  gained  the  upper  hand  in  Warsaw,  expelled  Czartoriski  and 
the  existing  government,  put  to  death  all  who  were  suspected 
of  treachery,  and  gave  dictatorial  power  to  its  own  leader, 
Krukowiecki.  While  these  events  were  going  on,  the  enemy  were 
at  the  gates,  and  resistance  became  impossible.  On  September  8th 
Warsaw  capitulated  to  Paskiewitsch,  and  on  the  28th  General 
Riidiger  entered  Krakau.  The  remnants  of  the  heroic  defenders  of 
Warsaw  escaped  to  Prussian  territory,  where  they  were  disarmed 
and  dispersed  as  exiles  to  France  and  other  parts  of  Europe. 
Poland  was  deprived  of  its  constitution,  and  became  a  Russian 
province  with  Paskiewitsch  as  governor.  An  amnesty  was 
promised  by  Nicolas,  but  the  exceptions  were  so  numerous  that  it 
might  as  well  have  been  withheld.  It  was  computed  that  in  1832 
80,000  Poles  were  sent  to  Siberia.  The  keenest  sympathy  was 
excited  in  Europe  by  the  fate  of  a  country  which  had  fought  so 
bravely  for  a  liberty  which  it  did  not  deserve. 

§  27.  The  great  evil  in  Germany  at  this  period  was  the  want  of 


A.D.  1831-1833.      REACTION  IN  GERMANY.  669 

unity.  Material  prosperity  was  obstructed,  not  only  by  the  closing 
of  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine  and  Danube,  but  also  by  the  strict 
customs  regulations  of  the  numerous  petty  states.  An  attempt  had 
been  made  to  remedy  this  evil  by  the  arrangement  of  a  Zollverein, 
or  customs  union.  This  was  concluded  first  between  Bavaria  and 
Wurtemberg,  and  in  1829  was  joined  by  Prussia  and  the  northern 
states.  The  Revolution  of  1830  exercised  a  marked  influence  in 
Germany,  but  unfortunately  it  hindered  rather  than  promoted 
union.  A  number  of  isolated  movements  broke  out  to  demand 
constitutional  privileges  for  individual  states.  It  is  impossible  to 
trace  in  detail  the  petty  revolutions  by  which  concessions  were 
extorted  from  the  rulers  of  Brunswick,  Hanover,  Saxony,  Hesse, 
etc.  In  Austria  and  Prussia  no  disturbances  took  place,  although 
a  distinct  impulse  was  given  to  national  independence  in  Hungary. 
Metternich,  however,  was  alarmed  by  the  prospect  of  danger  to  his 
principles  of  government,  and  the  machinery  of  the  Confederation 
was  once  more  put  in  working  to  repress  the  progress  of  reform. 
In  1832  the  diet  confirmed  the  Carlsbad  decrees,  forbade  all 
popular  assemblies  and  festivals,  and  promised  military  assistance 
to  any  government  that  was  threatened  by  revolution*  The  foolish 
attempt  of  a  few  enthusiasts  to  attack  the  diet  at  Frankfort  (April, 
1833)  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  reaction.  Russia  now  sought  to 
exercise  that  influence  in  Germany  which  the  treaty  of  Vienna 
had  given  her.  In  September,  1833,  the  Czar  met  the  emperor  of 
Austria  and  the  crown-prince  of  Prussia  at  Miinchengratx  in 
Bohemia.  The  eastern  powers  formed  a  natural  league  to  resist 
the  liberal  tendencies  of  England  and  France.  The  result  of  this 
meeting  was  the  holding  of  a  ministerial  conference  at  Vienna 
under  the  presidency  of  Metternich.  Here  it  was  decided  that  th< 
sovereign  of  each  state  in  the  Confederation  should  defend  his 
rights  against  the  encroachments  of  the  chambers,  that  military 
force  should  be  employed  when  necessary,  that  a  judicial  court 
should  be  created  to  decide  all  disputes  between  rulers  and 
their  subjects,  and  that  the  universities  and  the  press  should 
be  carefully  watched.  By  these  means  liberal  tendencies  were 
repressed,  and  the  cultivated7  classes  of  Germany,  excluded  from 
politics,  consoled  themselves  with  an  almost  unique  devotion  to 
literature. 

§  28.  The  desire  of  the  congress  of  Vienna  to  provide  strong 
bulwarks  against  France  had  brought  about  a  great  increase  in  the 
territory  of  Switzerland.  Geneva,  Wallis  ( Valais),  Tessin  (Ticino), 
Neuenburg  (Neufcbatel),  and  the  Gri&uns  {(Jraubunden),  had 
all  been  added  to  the  confederation.  But  for  this  accession 
of  strength   the  Swiss  had  to  pay  by  the   restoration  in  many 


670  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

of  the  cantons  of  the  aristocratic  government  that  had  been 
swept  away  by  the  French  conquest.  As  time  went  on  a  strong 
democratic  party  was  formed  in  Switzerland,  which  aimed  at  the 
destruction  of  these  revived  class  privileges.  Already,  in  April, 
1830,  the  oligarchy  in  Tessin  had  been  overthrown,  and  the  news  of 
the  July  Revolution  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  liberal  movement. 
Zurich,  the  most  powerful  canton  after  Berne,  took  the  lead  in  the 
work  of  reform.  In  November,  1830,  a  new  constitution  was 
introduced,  by  which  the  country  districts  were  to  elect  two-thirds 
of  the  grand  council,  while  the  town  only  elected  one-third.  This 
example  was  followed  by  nearly  all  the  other  cantons,  and  even  the 
powerful  aristocracy  of  Berne  had  to  resign  its  privileges.  In  Basel 
an  obstinate  conflict  took  place  between  the  citizens  and  the  country 
residents,  which  was  at  last  settled  by  the  division  of  the  canton 
into  two,  Stadt  Basel  and  Landschaft  Basel.  In  Neufchatel 
special  difficulties  arose  because  it  was  subject  to  the  king  of 
Prussia  as  well  as  a  Swiss  canton ;  but  the  monarchical  party 
ultimately  succeeded  in  retaining  the  upper  hand.  The  liberal 
cantons  now  endeavoured  to  complete  their  work  by  reforming  the 
constitution  of  the  confederation.  In  March,  1832,  a  league  was 
formed,  known  as  the  Siebener- Concordat,  between  Berne,  Zurich, 
Lucerne,  Solothurn,  St.  Gallen,  Thurgau,  and  Aargau.  They  under- 
took to  support  each  other's  liberties  with  arms,  and  to  remain 
united  until  the  constitution  had  been  revised.  To  resist  this  a 
counter  league,  the  Earner  Bund,  was  formed  by  the  five  conser- 
vative and  Roman  Catholic  cantons,  Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden, 
Wallis,  and  Neufchatel,  and  they  were  speedily  joined  by  Stadt 
Basel.  The  conservative  party  was  indiscreet  enough  to  act  on  the 
aggressive,  and  the  Schwyzers  attacked  Landschaft  Basel.  The 
attack  was  repulsed,  and  the  confederate  assembly  responded  by 
dissolving  the  Sarner  Bund  (August,  1834)  and  by  recognising  the 
division  of  Basel  into  two  cantons,  against  which  the  conservatives 
had  protested.  Thus  the  liberals  gained  a  decisive  victory,  which 
they  celebrated  by  founding  the  university  of  Zurich. 

§  29.  Italy  was  declared  by  Metternich  to  be  "  of  all  European 
countries,  the  one  which  had  the  greatest  tendency  to  revolution." 
The  secret  association  of  the  Carbonari  aimed  at  the  complete 
overthrow  of  political  and  social  relations.  The  more  moderate 
liberals  would  have  been  content  to  free  the  peninsula  from  the 
despotic  influence  of  Austria  and  to  establish  constitutional  checks 
upon  the  existing  governments.  The  Revolution  of  1830  ma<ie  a 
natural  impression  in  a  country  which  had  many  evils  to  complain 
of  and  which  had  so  lately  been  connected  with  France.  The  duke 
of  Modena,  Francis  IV.,  sought  to  make  use  of  the  liberal  move- 


A.D.  1830-1834.  REACTION  IN  ITALY.  671 

ment  to  extend  his  rule  over  northern  Italy.  But  at  the  last 
moment  he  was  terrified  by  threats  from  Vienna,  turned  against 
his  fellow-conspirators,  and  imprisoned  them  (Feb.  3,  1831).  The 
people,  however,  were  so  alienated  by  his  treachery,  that  he  fled 
with  his  prisoners  to  seek  safety  in  Austrian  territory.  A  provi- 
sional government  was  formed,  and  Modena  was  declared  a  free 
state.  Meanwhile  the  election  of  a  new  pope,  Gregory  XVI.,  gave 
occasion  for  a  rising  in  the  papal  states.  Bologna  took  the  lead  in 
throwing  off  its  allegiance  to  Rome,  and  in  a  few  weeks  its  example 
was  followed  by  the  whole  of  Romagna,  Umbria,  and  the  Marches. 
The  two  sons  of  Louis  Bonaparte,  the  late  king  of  Holland,  hastened 
to  join  the  insurgents,  but  the  elder  died  at  Forli  (17  March),  and 
thus  an  eventful  career  was  opened  to  the  younger  brother,  the 
future  Napoleon  HI.  Parma  revolted  against  Maria  Louisa,  who 
followed  the  example  of  the  duke  of  Modena  and  fled  to  Austria. 
The  success  of  the  movement,  however,  was  very  short-lived. 
Austrian  troops  marched  to  the  assistance  of  the  papacy,  the 
rebellion  was  put  down  by  force,  and  the  exiled  rulers  were 
restored.  Louis  Philippe,  on  whom  the  insurgents  had  relied, 
had  no  sympathy  with  a  movement  in  which  members  of  the 
Bonaparte  family  were  engaged.  But  a  temporary  revival  of  the 
insurrection  brought  the  Austrians  back  to  Romagna,  and  a  great 
outcry  was  raised  in  France  against  the  king.  To  satisfy  public 
opinion,  Louis  Philippe  sent  a  French  force  to  seize  Ancona 
(Feb.  22, 1832),  but  it  was  a  very  harmless  demonstration,  and  had 
been  explained  beforehand  to  the  papal  government.  In  Naples 
and  Sardinia  no  disturbances  took  place.  Ferdinand  II.  succeeded 
his  father,  Francis  I.,  on  the  Neapolitan  throne  in  1830,  and  satisfied 
the  people  by  introducing  a  more  moderate  system  of  government. 
Charles  Albert  became  king  of  Sardinia  on  the  death  of  Charles 
Felix  (27  April,  1831),  and  found  himself  in  a  difficult  position 
between  Austria,  which  had  good  reason  to  mistrust  him,  and  the 
liberal  party,  which  he  had  betrayed. 

§  30.  The  only  ether  country  in  which  the  July  Revolution 
produced  a  definite  result  was  Portugal.  In  182G  the  death  of 
John  VI.  had  given  rise  to  a  dispute  about  the  succession.  His 
eldest  son,  Pedro  I.,  was  Emperor  of  Brazil,  and  excluded  by  the 
Brazilian  constitution  from  succeeding  in  Portugal.  He  therefore 
transferred  his  rights  to  his  daughter,  Maria  da  Gloria,  but  she 
was  opposed  by  her  uncle  Dom  Miguel,  who  claimed  as  the  nearest 
male  heir.  The  arrival  of  English  troops  in  Lisbon  secured  the 
accession  of  Donna  Maria,  who  granted  a  constitution  which  had 
been  drawn  up  by  her  father.  But  Pedro,  in  the  hope  of  satisfying 
his  ambitious  brother,  negotiated   a  compromise  by  which  Dom 


672  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

Miguel  became  regent  in  1828,  after  taking  an  oath  to  observe  the 
constitution.  The  English  troops  were  now  recalled  by  Welling- 
ton, and  the  regent  seized  the  opportunity  to  break  his  engagement. 
He  usurped  the  crown,  annulled  the  constitution,  imprisoned  all 
opponents  whom  he  could  seize,  and  gave  way  to  the  most  insane 
excesses  of  arbitrary  power.  Donna  Maria,  who  was  on  her  way 
from  Brazil  to  her  kingdom,  only  got  as  far  as  England,  where  she 
was  received  with  royal  honours.  But  the  Tory  ministry  refused 
to  support  her  cause,  and  she  soon  returned  to  Brazil.  In  1830  the 
news  of  the  French  Revolution  gave  rise  to  disturbances  in  Rio 
Janeiro,  and  early  in  the  next  year  Pedro  was  compelled  to  abdi- 
cate in  favour  of  his  son  Pedro  II.  He  now  determined  to  espouse 
the  cause  of  his '.daughter*  sailed  to  Terceira,  and  landed  in  Oporto 
in  1832.  The  Whigs  were  now  in  power  in  England,  and  nume- 
rous volunteers  left  trris  country  to  support  the  constitutional  cause 
.in  Portugal.  For  a  year  the  usurper  held  his  own  against  attack. 
JBut  a  naval  victory  won  by  Napier,  who  commanded  Pedro's  fleet, 
led  to  the  conquest  of  Lisbon  in  1833,  and  Donna  Maria  was 
crowned  queen.  Dom  Miguel,  however,  still  held  out  in  the 
provinces,  and  European  intervention  was  called  in.  In  1834  the 
western  powers,  France,  England,  Spain  and  Portugal,  concluded 
a  Quadruple  Alliance,  which  was  Lord  Palmerston's  answer  to  the 
conference  of  Miinchcn^i'atz.  This  was  fatal  to  Miguel's  cause, 
and  he  agreed  by  the  treaty  of  Evoramente  (May,  1834)  to  quit 
the  peninsula.  Later  in  the  year  Pedro  I.  died,  and  his  daughter, 
now  secure  upon  the  throne,  was  married  to  the  duke  of  Lenchten- 
berg.  As  the  bridegroom  died  within  two  months  of  the  wedding, 
a  second  husband  was  found  for  her  in  Ferdinand  of  Coburg. 

V.  The  Reign  of  Louis  Philippe. 

- 

§  31.  The  accession  of  Louis  Philippe  gave  political  supremacy  in 
France  to  the  middle  classes,  who  had  not  made  the  Revolution  but 
had  prevented  it  from  going  too  far.  The  king  himself  loved  to  pose 
as  a  simple  citizen,  his  private  life  was  untainted  by  profligacy  or 
crime;  his  chief  personal  fault  was  avarice,  and  he  hoped  by 
abandoning  the  forms  of  the  old  court  to  disguise  his  real  hankering 
after  personal  rule.  He  was  surrounded  by  a  group  of  able  men 
who  had  studied  the  English  constitution,  and  thought  that  its 
introduction  would  prove  a  panacea  for  all  the  evils  of  France.  But 
the  constitution  which  they  reverenced  was  that  of  the  18th 
century.  Gruizot,  the  most  eminent  of  these  doctrinaire  statesmen, 
wished  to  play  the  part  of  a  French  Walpole.  His  sympathies 
were  really  reactionary;  he  would  have  "everything  for  the  people, 


a.d.  1831.      FRANCE  UNDER  LOUIS  PHILIPPE.  673 

Dothing  by  the  people."  The  chief  constitutional  changes  were  the 
abolition  of  hereditary  peerage  (Sept.  1831)  and  the  lowerins  of  the 
electoral  qualification  from  300  to  200  francs  of  direct  taxes  (March, 
1831).  The  great  mass  of  Frenchmen  remained  excluded  from 
political  privileges.  The  eminent  writer  on  philosophy,  M.  Ourrsin, 
when  solicited  for  bis  vote,  replied  with  scorn  :  "  Monsieur,  je  suis 
professeur  a  la  Faculty  des  Lettres,je  suis  membre  de  V Academic 
des  Sciences  Morales  tt  Folitiqucs,  je  suis  membre  de  VAcadimU 
Franeaise;  Je  suis  membre  du  Conseil  Royal  de  V Instruction 
Fublique,  je  suis  pair  de  France,  j'a4  4U  ministre,  je  puis  le 
redevenir,  mais  je  ne  suis  pas  electenr"  This  restricted  franchise 
irritated  the  French  love  of  ©quality,  the  most  permanent 
passion  that  had  been  created  by  the  great  Revolution,  and  it 
ensured  the  ultimate  fall  of  the  Orleanist  monarchy.  It  led 
naturally;  in  France  as  in  England,  to  a  system  of  management  and 
corruption.  Men  of  undoubted  personal  probity,  like  M.  Gkiizot, 
did  not  hesitate  to  stain  their  hands  with  the  purchase  of  vot < 

The  chief  danger  to  the  new  monarchy  was  the  discontent  of  the 
excluded  classes.  The  peasant  proprietors,  the  most  conservative 
element  of  the  French  population,  were  alienated  from  a  government 
which  refused  to  trust  them,  and  though  they  were  not  likely  to 
risk  their  property  in  a  new  Revolution,  they  would  do  nothing  to 
avert  it.  But  the  industrial  classes  in  the  large  towns  had  none  of 
the  orderly  instincts  and  interests  of  the  peasants.  They  were  not 
blow  to  discover  that  the  mere  change  of  masters  brought  them  no 
advantages.  The  taxes  were  increased  rat  her  than  lowered.  France 
was  at  this  time  passing  through  the  industrial  revolution  caused 
by  the  introduction  of  machinery.  A  change  which  had  caused  so 
much  crime  and  misery  in  England,  was  not  likely  to  pass  without 
disorder  in  France.  Louis  Philippe's  reign  is  the  history  of  a  long 
conflict  between  capital  and  labour,  in  which  all  the  interests  of  the 
governing  classes  were  on  the  side  of  the  former.  Hence  arose  those 
socialist  theories,  which  were  formulated  into  systems  by  St.  Simon 
and  Fourier,  but  which  were  even  more  dangerous  when  they  were 
entertained  by  ignorant  enthusiasts.  The  rise  of  socialism  to  be  a 
political  force  is  one  of  the  most  notable  facts  of  this  period. 

To  these  internal  difficulties  was  added  the  discontent  caused  by 
foreign  politics.  Louis  Philippe  was  compelled  to  purchase  the 
recognition  of  the  European  powers  by  sacrifices  which  hurt  the 
amour  propre  of  Frenchmen  who  remembered  the  glories  of  the 
Empire.  He  allowed  the  English  candidate  to  obtain  the  crown 
of  Belgium,  he  offered  no  serious  opposition  to  Austrian  interven- 
tion in  Italy,  and,  worst  of  all,  he  lured  the  Poles  to  their  fate 
by  holding  out  hopes  of  assistance  which  were  never  intended  to 
30* 


674  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

be  realised.  The  occupation  of  Ancona,  an  expedition  against  Dom 
Miguel,  and  the  conquest  of  Algiers,  were  but  a  poor  compen- 
sation for  the  fall  of  Warsaw.  It  was  round  foreign  politics  that 
party  and  personal  rivalries  were  chiefly  concentrated.  The 
king  strove  hard  to  maintain  the  popularity  that  was  essential  for 
his  position,  but  he  failed.  His  reign  of  eighteen  years  sufficed  to 
convince  the  French  that  the  Orleanist  monarchy  was  not,  as  they 
had  been  assured  in  1830,  "  the  best  of  republics." 

§  32.  Louis  Philippe's  first  ministry  was  composed  of  the  men 
who  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  "  days  of  July."  The  due 
de  Broglie  was  president,  and  among  his  colleagues  were  Dupont  de 
l'Eure,  Laffitte,  GeVard,  Mole,  Guizot,  S^bastiani,  and  Casimir  Pe'rier. 
Outside  the  ministry  the  most  powerful  man  was  Lafayette,  now 
the  idol  of  Paris,  who  had  resumed  his  old  post  as  commander  of 
the  national  guard.  The  first  difficulty  which  the  government  had 
to  confront  was ,  the  trial  of  the  Polignac  ministry.  The  Paris 
mob  clamoured  for  their  death,  and  threatened  a  rising  if  their 
thirst  for  blood  was  not  satisfied.  A  dispute  arose  between  the 
conservative  and  republican  elements  in  the  cabinet,  and  victory  was 
secured  to  the  latter  by  the  support  of  Lafayette,  whose  services  the 
king  could  not  yet  afford  to  dispense  with.  Broglie,  Guizot,  Mold, 
and  Casimir  Perier  resigned  their  portfolios,  and  Laffitte  became 
president  (Nov.  1830).  In  December  Charles  X.'s  ministers  were 
condemned  by  the  Chamber  of  Peers  to  imprisonment  for  life. 
Disorder  in  the  capital  was  put  down  by  the  national  guard,  and 
Lafayette,  who  had  thus  lost  his  popularity,  was  soon  afterwards 
dismissed  by  the  king,  who  seized  the  first  opportunity  to  rid 
himself  of  so  formidable  a  rival.  Dupont  de  l'Eure  now  resigned, 
and  in  March,  1831,  Laffitte  was  superseded  by  Casimir  Perier. 

Louis  Philippe  had  now  definitely  severed  himself  from  the 
republican  party,  and  had  thus  succeeded  in  conciliating  the  legiti- 
mist states  of  Europe.  But  his  reactionary  policy  was  by  no  means 
welcome  to  the  French  lower  classes.  Formidable  insurrections 
broke  out  in  Lyons  and  Grenoble,  and  military  force  had  to  be 
employed  under  the  direction  of  Marshal  Soult,  who  had  been 
appointed  minister  of  war.  In  1832  the  cholera  appeared  in  France, 
aLd  among  its  numerous  victims  was  Casimir  Perier  (16  March), 
in  whom  the  Orleanist  monarchy  lost  one  of  its  firmest  supports.  His 
place  was  taken  by  Montalivet,  whom  the  dying  minister  had 
recommended  to  the  king.  In  May  the  despairing  legitimists  at- 
tempted a  rising  in  La  Vende'e,  where  the  duchess  of  Berry  appeared 
in  person  to  encourage  the  supporters  of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  But 
the  movement  was  easily  suppressed,  and  the  duchess  was  compelled 
to  escape  in  disguise.     No  sooner  was  this  danger  at  an  end  than 


a.d.  1830-1833.     REIGN  OF  LOUIS  PHILIPPE.  675 

the  government  bad  to  confront  a  far  more  formidable  rising  in  the 
capital.  The  funeral  of  General  Lamarque  (5  June)  was  the  signal 
for  a  republican  demonstration  which  speedily  developed  into  open 
rebellion.  Barricades  were  raised,  the  troops  were  repulsed,  and 
for  a  moment  it  seemed  likely  that  the  monarchy  would  be  again 
overthrown.  But  the  court  showed  a  firm  front,  and  the  prompt 
measures  of  Marshal  Soult  soon  triumphed  over  the  disorderly  mob, 
which  had  no  leaders  and  no  definite  aims.  This  double  victory  in 
La  Vende'e  and  in  Paris,  to  which  must  be  added  the  death  of  Na- 
poleon's ouly  son,  the  duke  of  Reichstadt  (22  July,  1832),  pave 
great  additional  strength  to  the  throne  of  Louis  Philippe.  But  it 
was  felt  necessary  to  make  fresh  ministerial  changes.  Soult  became 
president  of  the  council,  and  the  doctrinaire  leaders,  Broglie  and 
Guizot,  received  the  portfolios  of  foreign  affairs  and  public  instruc- 
tion. With  them  came  into  office  a  man  who  was  destined  to  play 
a  notable  part  in  French  history — M.  Thiers.  Born  at  Marseilles  in 
1797,  educated  for  the  legal  profession  at  Aix,  Adolphe  Thiers  had 
come  to  Paris  in  1821  and  had  speedily  made  a  great  reputation  as 
a  journalist.  Short  and  ungraceful  in  figure,  excessively  near- 
sighted, with  awkward  gestures  and  an  unpleasing  voice,  he  rose  to 
eminence  by  sheer  intellect  and  energy.  He  had  taken  a  prominent 
part  in  the  events  of  1830,  he  had  been  the  first  to  offer  the  crown 
to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and  he  now  reaped  his  reward  in  becoming 
a  minister  of  France  at  the  age  of  8 

The  new  ministry  was  encouraged  by  an  unexpected  success.  The 
duchess  of  Berry,  who  had  hitherto  escaped  capture  by  a  series  of 
romantic  escapes,  was  betrayed  by  a  Jew  named  Deutz  (Nov.  6), 
and  imprisoned  at  Blaye.  To  the  delight  of  the  government  she 
was  found  to  be  pregnant,  and  a  declaration  was  extorted  from  her 
that  she  had  contracted  a  secret  marriage  in  Italy.  In  May,  1833, 
she  gave  birth  to  a  son,  and  announced  that  the  father  was  Count 
Lucchese-Palli,  a  gentleman  of  the  bed-chamber  at  the  court  of 
Naples.  This  affair,  which  produced  a  tremendous  sensation  at  the 
time,  humiliated  and  discouraged  the  legitimists,  while  it  contri- 
buted to  the  strength,  if  not  to  the  credit,  of  the  government. 

The  ministers  had  a  secure  majority  in  the  chambers,  and  they 
took  advantage  of  this  to  obtain  large  grants  of  money,  which  were 
employed  in  building  the  Arc  de  l'Etoile,  in  completing  the  Made- 
leine, and  in  commencing  the  vast  chain  of  fortifications  round 
Paris.  At  the  same  time  the  famous  corps  of  the  Zouaves  and  the 
Chasseurs  (TAfrique  were  formed  to  protect  and  extend  the  French 
colony  in  Algeria,  which  was  constantly  threatened  by  the  neigh- 
bouring tribes.  The  heavy  taxation  necessary  to  meet  this  enormous 
expenditure  caused  great  discontent  among  the  republicans,  who 


676  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

organised  themselves  in  formidable  secret  societies.  In  1834  a 
second  insurrection  broke  out  in  Lyons,  and  was  not  put  down 
without  considerable  bloodshed.  In  the  next  year  Fieschi,  a  native 
of  Corsica,  attempted  to  assassinate  the  king  with  an  "  infernal 
machine."  Louis  Philippe  escaped  uninjured,  but  his  son  and  forty 
other  persons  were  wounded,  while  Marshal  Mortier  and  thirteen 
others  were  killed  on  the  spot.  To  suppress  its  unprincipled 
assailants  the  government  carried  through  the  chambers  the  severe 
"laws  of  September"  (1835),  which  were  intended  to  expedite 
judicial  processes  in  political  trials  and  to  gag  the  press. 

§  33.  The  government  was  now  stronger  than  ever,  but  internal 
dissensions  became  more  conspicuous  as  external  dangers  were 
overcome.  For  a  long  time  the  rivalry  between  Guizot  and  Thiers 
had  been  growing  more  bitter,  and  it  became  impossible  for  them 
to  act  together.  Early  in  1836  the  ministry,  which  was  now  headed 
by  the  due  de  Broglie,  was  defeated  on  the  budget,  and  the 
opportunity  was  taken  to  reorganise  it.  Guizot  and  the  doctri- 
naires retired,  and  Thiers  became  president  of  the  Council  and 
minister  of  foreign  affairs.  Political  parties  in  France  were  at  this 
time  pretty  definitely  organised  in  four  great  divisions :  the  right, 
small  in  numbers,  but  headed  by  a  famous  orator,  M.  Berryer  ;  the 
right  centre,  consisting  of  the  doctrinaires  under  Guizot ;  the  left 
centre,  of  which  Thiers  was  the  mouthpiece  ;  and  the  extreme  left, 
headed  by  Odilon  Barrot.  The  three  last  parties  were  so  evenly 
balanced  that  domestic  legislation  was  almost  impossible,  and  the 
attention  of  the  government  was  wholly  concentrated  upon  foreign 
affairs.  In  these  Thiers  recognised  no  principle  except  the  interests 
of  France.  A  second  attempt  to  assassinate  the  king  called 
attention  to  Switzerland,  where  the  political  refugees  of  all  nations 
found  a  refuge  from  which  they  could  plot  in  safety  against  existing 
governments.  Backed  up  by  Metternich,  Thiers  demanded  the 
expulsion  of  the  refugees,  and  the  threat  of  a  blockade  compelled 
the  Swiss  to  give  way.  This  arbitrary  measure  gave  great  umbrage 
to  the  liberals,  and  to  regain  their  confidence  Thiers  proposed 
armed  intervention  on  behalf  of  the  constitutional  party  in  Spain. 
But  this  brought  him  into  collision  with  the  king,  whose  love  of 
peace  had  become  a  positive  passion,  and  after  an  existence  of 
barely  six  months  his  ministry  came  to  an  end  (Sept.,  1836). 
M.  Mole  now  became  premier,  and  the  leaders  of  the  doctrinaire 
party  again  came  into  office,  though  without  the  due  de  Broglie. 

§  34.  The  death  of  Charles  X.  (6  Oct.,  1836)  gave  occasion  for 
an  act  of  clemency.  The  imprisoned  ministers  were  set  at  liberty, 
though  Polignac  was  banished  from  France  for  twenty  years.  A 
few  weeks  afterwards  Louis  Napoleon  made   a  futile  attempt  to 


a.d.  1834-1840.       MINISTERIAL  CHANGES.  677 

bring  about  a  rising  among  the  troops  at  Strasburg.  No  punish- 
ment was  inflicted  upon  the  prince,  who  was  shipped  off  to  America 
and  soon  returned  to  Switzerland.  His  subordinates  were  acquitted. 
Early  in  1837  a  proposal  was  made  to  fettle  a  fixed  revenue  for 
three  of  the  king's  children,  the  dukes  of  Orleans  and  Nemours  and 
the  queen  of  the  Belgians.  This  was  quite  in  accordance  with  the 
usages  of  constitutional  monarchy,  but  the  king's  avarice  was  so 
un{)opular  that  the  chambers  refused  to  accept  the  proposal.  A 
new  ministry  was  now  formed  (15  April),  of  which  Mole*  remained 
the  president.  The  settlement  on  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  the 
queen  of  the  Belgians  was  carried  through  the  chambers,  but  the 
proposal  with  regard  to  the  duke  of  Nemours  was  dropped.  The 
ministry,  which  had  been  intended  as  one  of  conciliation,  found 
itself  confronted  in  1838  by  the  formidable  opposition  of  all  the 
disapiioiiited  aspirants  to  office.  A  coalition  was  formed  between 
the  left,  tho  left  centre,  and  the  right  centre,  and  though  much 
disgust  was  caused  by  the  unprincipled  sacrifice  of  conviction,  it 
was  strong  enough  to  overthrow  the  ministry  in  the  elections  of 
1839.  But  quarrels  broke  out  among  the  victors  about  the  division 
of  offices,  and  before  they  were  settled  affairs  were  completely 
altered  by  the  outbreak  of  a  socialist  rising.  This  wan  organised 
by  a  secret  society  called  les  Saisons,  headed  by  Bernard,  Barnes, 
and  other  professional  agitators.  The  Hotel  de  Ville  was  seized, 
and  barricades  were  erected  in  the  streets.  Military  force  soon  pat 
down  the  revolt,  and  the  king  seized  the  opportunity  to  form  a 
ministry  under  Soult  from  which  the  lenders  of  the  coalition  were 
excluded  (12  May).  But  this  arrangement  could  hardly  be  lasting. 
In  February,  1840,  the  chambers  again  refused  to  grant  a  settlement 
for  the  duke  of  Nemours,  and  the  ministry  retired.  After  an 
interval  of  intrigue  Thiers  became  premier  for  the  second  time 
(1  March),  and  Guizot  was  appointed  ambassador  to  London,  in 
order  to  give  a  striking  proof  of  the  alliance  with  England  and  of 
the  termination  of  internal  quarrels,  Thiers  determined  on  an  act  of 
homage  to  the  great  emperor,  whose  memory  his  own  books  had 
done  so  much  to  exalt.  It  was  arranged  that  the  body  of  Napoleon 
should  be  brought  from  St.  Helena  to  be  re-interred  with  pompous 
ceremonies  in  Paris.  But  events  speedily  occurred  to  rob  this 
demonstration  of  its  intended  significance.  England  and  France 
had  been  for  some  time  estranged  from  each  other  about  eastern 
affairs.  France,  remembering  the  part  it  had  once  played  in  Egypt, 
was  eager  to  support  Mehemet  Ali,  who  was  now  at  open  war  with 
the  Porte,  from  which  he  had  conquered  Syria.  England,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  by  no  means  willing  to  allow  its  old  rival  to  regain 
a  securo  footing  in  tho  east      Tn  1840  f  •  fB  .Tidy)  England,  Russia, 


678  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxv 

Austria  and  Prussia  concluded  the  treaty  of  London,  by  which  they 
agreed  to  compel  Mehemet  AH  to  withdraw  from  Syria.  This 
treaty  made  such  a  profound  impression  in  France  that  preparations 
were  at  once  made  for  war,  and  the  work  of  fortifying  Paris  was 
resumed  with  great  energy.  In  the  midst  of  this  excitement  a  new 
proof  was  given  of  the  irreconcileable  hostility  of  the  imperialists. 
On  the  6th  August  Louis  Napoleon  landed  at  Boulogne  and  again 
tried  to  excite  an  insurrection.  He  was  captured  for  the  second 
time,  and  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment  at  Ham,  whence 
he  escaped  in  1846  to  England.  In  October  another  of  the  nume- 
rous attempts  to  assassinate  Louis  Philippe,  by  a  man  named 
Darme's,  led  to  the  retirement  of  Thiers.  A  new  ministry  was 
formed  (29  Oct.),  nominally  headed  by  Soult,  but  really  under  the 
guidance  of  Guizot,  who  undertook  the  control  of  foreign  affairs. 

§  35.  This  ministry  remained  in  office  for  the  rest  of  the  reign, 
but,  though  it  lasted  so  much  longer,  it  was  not  more  fortunate 
than  its  transitory  predecessors.     Its  only  success  was  in  Algeria, 
where  the  French  had  for  many  years  carried  on  a  desultory   war 
with    the    heroic   Arab    chieftain,    Abd-el-Kader.     In    1844   the 
emperor  of  Morocco  was  drawn  into  the  war  and  a  great  expedition 
was  sent  out  under  Marshal  Bugeaud.     The  town  of  Mogador  was 
taken  by  storm  and  the  emperor  compelled  to  make  peace.     Finally, 
in  1847,  Abd-el-Kader  surrendered  on  condition  that  he  should  be 
sent    to    Egypt.     But   the    condition    was   disregarded    by    his 
treacherous  conquerors,  and  he  was  thrown  into  a  French  prison 
from  which  he  was   not  released  till  1853.     Meanwhile  affairs  in 
Europe  were  more  unpropitious.      The  dynasty  suffered  a  severe 
blow  in  1842  from  the  death  of  the  duke  of  Orleans  (13  July),  who 
left  two  infant  sons,  the  comte  de  Paris  and  the  due  de  Chartres. 
An   injudicious    law  assigned    the   regency  during    the   expected 
minority,    not   to   the  widowed  mother,  Helena  of  Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin,  but  to  the  unpopular  due  de   Nemours.     The  avowed 
policy  of  the  ministry  was  one  of  peace,  and  especially  of  alliance 
with  England.     To  maintain  this  alliance,  France  accepted  the  pro- 
visions of  the  treaty  of  London  with  regard  to  Mehemet  Ali,  and 
in  1843,  when  a  dispute  arose  about  the  arrest  of  Pritchard,  an 
English  consul,  by  a  French  captain  in  Tahiti,  the  ministers  agreed 
to  pay  a  pecuniary  compensation.     These  measures  may  have  been 
prudent,   or  even  necessary,  but  they  certainly  irritated    public 
opinion  in  France,  always  extremely  sensitive  to  the  least  appearance 
of  dictation  by  a  foreign  power.     At  the  same  time  discontent  was 
felt  at  the  obstinate  hostility  of  the  ministers  to  all  projects  of  reform, 
and  especially  to  any  change  in  the  electoral  system.     The  rule  of 
the  bourgeoisie  was  becoming  more  and  more  distasteful  to  the  lower 


a.d.  1823-1843.  SPAIN.  679 

classes,  but  Guizot  declined  to  entrust  political  privileges  to  men 
who  had  not  been  trained  to  their  exercise.  While  domestic  affairs 
were  so  threatening,  the  English  alliance,  for  which  such  sacrifices 
had  been  made,  received  a  severe  shock  from  the  conduct  of  the 
French  government  in  the  once  famous  affair  of  the  Spanish 
marriages.  Before  considering  this,  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  brief 
retrospect  of  affairs  in  Spain. 

§  36.  Ferdinand  VII.,  after  having  been  restored  to  power  by 
French  intervention  in  1823,  was  able  to  fiuish  his  reign  in  com- 
parative peace.  In  1829  he  married  a  fourth  wife,  Maria  Christina 
of  Naples,  a  sister  of  the  duchess  of  Berry.  Although  his  three 
previous  marriages  had  been  unfruitful,  the  kin^  still  hoped  for 
children,  and  issued  a  "  pragmatic  sanction"  abolishing  the  Salic  law 
in  Spain.  Against  this  act  a  formal  protest  was  made  by  the  king's 
brothers,  Don  Carlos  and  Francisco,  and  also  by  the  Bourbons  of 
France  and  Naples.  In  1830  the  queen  gave  birth  to  a  daughter, 
Isabella,  who  was  at  once  recognised  as  heiress  to  the  throne. 
During  a  severe  illness  the  king  was  induced  to  recall  the  pragmatic 
sanction,  but  on  his  recovery  he  was  persuaded  by  his  wife  to  re- 
issue it.  In  1833  Ferdinand  VII.  died,  Isabella  II.  was  proclaimed 
queen,  and  her  mother  undertook  the  government  as  regent.  Don 
Carlos  at  once  announced  his  intention  of  claiming  the  crown  by 
legal  right,  and  rallied  round  him  all  the  adherents  of  absolute  rule, 
and  especially  the  inhabitants  of  the  Basque  provinces.  Christina  was 
compelled  to  rely  upon  the  support  of  the  liberals,  and  to  conciliate 
them  her  minister,  Martinez  de  la  Rosa,  issued  a  Spanish  con- 
stitution, the  Estatuto  Heal,  which  established  two  chambers  chosen 
by  indirect  election.  The  Quadruple  Alliance  of  1834  assured  to  the 
Christine*  the  support  of  France  aud  Spain.  In  spite  of  this  the 
Carlists  maintained  the  upper  hand,  thanks  to  the  military  genius  of 
their  generals,  Zumalacarregui  and  Cabrera.  The  Estatuto  Heal, 
which  had  been  drawn  up  under  the  influence  of  Louis  Philippe, 
failed  to  satisfy  the  advanced  liberals,  and  the  Christines  split  up 
into  two  parties,  the  moderados  and  the  progrtsistas  or  exaltudos. 
In  1836  the  latter  party  compelled  Christina  to  re-establish  the  con- 
stitution of  1812.  This  cooled  the  ardour  of  Louis  Philippe  for  the 
liberal  cause  in  Spain,  and  thus  helped  to  bring  about  the  fall  of 
Thiers'  ministry  in  this  year.  Nevertheless,  the  regent  constantly 
gained  ground,  especially  after  the  death  of  Zumalacarregui  in  1835. 
in  1839  Espartero,  the  general  of  the  Christine*,  compelled  the 
Basque  provinces  to  acknowledge  Isabella.  Don  Carlos  renounced 
his  claims  in  favour  of  his  eldest  son,  also  named  Carlos,  went  to 
Italy,  and  died  in  retirement  at  Trieste  in  1855.  Christina  now  tried 
to  sever  herself  from  the  advanced  liberals,  and  to  rule  with  tho  help 


680  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxv. 

of  the  moderados,  who  were  under  the  patronage  of  Louis  Philippe. 
But  the progresistas  were  supported  by  England,  and  found  a  power- 
ful leader  in  the  victorious  general  Espartero.  In  1840  Christina 
had  to  retire  to  France,  and  Espartero  was  appointed  regent  by  the 
Cortes.  But  his  devotion  to  the  English  alliance  made  him  un- 
popular, the  other  officers  were  jealous  of  his  power,  and  in  1843  he 
was  forced  to  escape  to  England.  Isabella  was  now  declared  of  age, 
Christina  returned  to  Madrid,  and  the  moderados,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Narvaez,  the  rival  of  Espartero,  became  all-powerful  in 
Spain.  In  1844  reactionary  changes  were  made  in  the  constitution, 
which  curtailed  the  authority  of  the  Cortes  and  restored  many 
privileges  to  the  crown  and  the  church. 

French  influence  was  now  preponderant  in  Spain,  and  Louis 
Philippe  determined  to  seize  the  opportunity  of  gratifying  his 
dynastic  ambition.  The  great  question  of  the  day  was  to  find  a 
husband  for  the  young  queen.  The  interests  of  England  were 
directly  opposed  to  any  marriage  which  might  give  the  Spanish 
crown  to  a  French  prince ;  Louis  Philippe  did  not  venture  to  propose 
a  direct  alliance  with  Isabella,  but  he  determined  to  find  a  husband 
for  her  who  would  not  be  likely  to  have  children,  and  to  marry  her 
younger  sister,  Maria  Louisa,  to  his  own  son,  the  duke  of  Montpensier. 

This  scandalously  immoral  scheme  had  the  complete  approval  of 
Christina.  In  1845  Louis  Philippe  had  promised  Queen  Victoria 
in  a  personal  interview  at  Eu,  that  his  son's  marriage  should  not 
take  place  until  Isabella  had  given  birth  to  an  heir.  But  the  king's 
honour  was  weaker  than  his  ambition.  On  the  10th  of  October,  1846, 
the  Spanish  queen  was  married  to  her  cousin  Francis  of  Assis,  a 
husband  who  satisfied  the  required  conditions,  and  on  the  very  same 
day  the  duke  of  Montpensier  married  Maria  Louisa.  Public  opinion 
in  Europe  was  profoundly  scandalised  by  a  transaction  which  must 
always  remain  a  blot  upon  the  character  both  of  Louis  Philippe  and 
of  M.  Guizot.  England  was  bitterly  aggrieved,  and  although  no 
open  rupture  took  place,  the  English  government  was  completely 
alienated  from  the  Orleanist  dynasty,  which  thus  lost  its  firmest 
support  at  a  time  when  it  was  most  in  need  of  it.  And  the  intrigue 
had  not  even  the  scanty  justification  of  success.  Isabella  gave  birth 
to  a  daughter  in  1851,  whose  paternity  was  more  than  doubtful,  and 
before  that  time  Louis  Philippe  had  forfeited  the  French  throne. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
REVOLUTION  AND  REACTION. 

The  Revolution  of  1848  in  France. — §  1.  Discontent  in  France; 
the  political  banquets;  collision  with  the  troops;  abdication  of  Louis 
Philippe;  proclamation  of  the  Republic.  §  2.  General  recognition  of 
rial  gorernment ;  attack  on  the  socialists.  §  .'?.  The 
national  assembly;  suppression  of  the  socialist  rising ;  Louis  Napoleon. 
§  4.  The  June  riots  in  Parts ;  dictatorship  of  Cavaignac ;  restoration 
of  order.  II.  The  Revolution  in  Germany  and  Italy. — §5. 
Radical  movements  in  Switzerland;  war  of  the  Sonderbunrt;  new 
Swiss  constitution.  €  6.  Retrospect  of  German  history.  §  7.  The 
March  revolutions  m  Germany;  the  Vorpartameni.  §  8.  The 
rn  question;  Prussian  troops  in  the  duchies.  §  9. 
Italy  before  1848 ;  election  of  Pins  IX. ;  his  reforming  measures ; 
Austrian  occupation  of  Ferrara;  constitutions  granted,  in  the  Italian 
states.     §  10.  Revolt  of  Lombardy;   a  repul  ice;   Charles 

Albert  declares  war  against  Austria  ;  retreat  of  Radetzky  to  Terona; 
revolt  of  Sicily.  §  11.  The  northern  war  in  1848;  successes  of 
Charles  Albert :  battle  of  Custozza ;  Austrian  reconquest  of  Lombardy. 
§  12.  Events  in  Rome;  murder  of  Rossi ;  flight  of  Pius  IX.;  the 
Roman  Republic;  the  Republic  in  Florence.  $  13.  Movements  in 
Hungary  and  Bohemia  ;  rising  in  Vienna  ;  Ferdinand  goes  to  Innspruck  ; 
redaction  of  Prague  by  Wutfkebjrrlti ;  the  Slavs  and  Magyars  in 
Hungary ;  Ferdinand  returns  to  Vienna ;  open  war  with  Hungary ; 
third  rising  in  Vienna ;  Ferdinand  at  Olmutz ;  siege  and  capture  of 
Vienna;  abdication  of  Ferdinand.  §  14.  The  war  in  Hungary ;  suc- 
cesses of  the  insurgents;  Russian  intervention;  reduction  of  Hungary. 
§  15.  Charles  Albert  renews  the  war  in  Lombardy;  battle  of  Novara; 
accession  of  Victor  Emmanuel ;  Haynau  in  Brescia ;  conclusion  of 
peace.  §  16.  The  Austrians  in  Central  Italy  ;  the  French  in  Rome ; 
fall  of  the  Roman  Republic  ;  conquest  of  Venice ;  reduction  of  Naples 
and  Sicily.  §  17.  The  reaction  in  Berlin.  §  18.  The  German 
Parliament  at  Frankfort ;  party  divisions ;  the  archdnke  John  chosen 
as  administrator ;  Schleswig  and  Holstein  ;  the  truce  of  Malmo  ; 
defeat  of  the  democrats.  §  19.  The  "fundamental  rights";  the 
constitution  ;  the  "  Great  German  "  and  "  Little  German  n  parties ; 
offer  of  the  hereditary  empire  to  the  king  of  Prussia.  §  20. 
Frederick  William  IV.  refuses  the  empire;  his  motives;  the  May 
revolutions;  end  of  the  Parliament.  §  21.  Aims  of  Prussia;  the 
"league  of  the  three  kings";  the  Interim;  second  Parliament  of 
Erfurt.  §  22.  The  Union  and  the  Bundestag;  the  Kreuz  party  at 
Berlin  ;  rising  in  Hesse-Cassel ;  the  conference  of  Olmutz  ;  humilia- 
tion  of  Prussia ;    the   conference   of    Dresden ;    restoration    of   the 


682  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvl 

Bund.  §  23.  Settlement  of  the  Schleswig-Holstein  question.  III. 
The  Second  Republic  and  the  Second  Empire  in  France. — §  24. 
The  republican  constitution ;  Louis  Napoleon  is  elected  President. 
§  25.  Policy  of  Louis  Napoleon ;  reactionary  measures ;  growing 
hostility  between  the  President  and  the  Assembly.  §  26.  The  coup 
d'etat  o£  December  2, 1851 ;  revival  of  the  empire;  Napoleon  III.  §27. 
Condition  of  France ;  Napoleon's  marriage  ;  his  personal  character ; 
foreign  policy. 

I.  The  Revolution  in  France. 

§  1.  The  Orleanist  monarchy  had  long  lost  all  hold  upon  the  affec- 
tions or  the  respect  of  the  people.  The  middle  classes  still  clung  to 
it,  but  they  had  no  policy  and  no  organisation.  They  had  utilised 
their  period  of  power  to  amass  wealth  and  had  thought  of  nothing  else. 
They  showed  their  gratitude  by  giving  the  ministry  of  Guizot  a 
docile  majority  in  the  chambers.  Satisfied  with  the  material  luxury 
that  they  enjoyed,  they  doggedly  opposed  the  introduction  of  any 
change.  Louis  Philippe  had  not  gained  in  capacity  with  advancing 
years :  his  avarice  had  grown  upon  him,  and  he  had  lost  all  touch 
with  public  opinion.  Lord  Palmerston,  now  foreign  secretary  in 
England,  showed  his  indignation  about  the  Spanish  marriages  by 
encouraging  liberal  movements  in  Switzerland  and  Italy  which  could 
not  but  react  upon  France.  Outside  the  pays  legal  of  qualified 
electors  the  greatest  discontent  prevailed,  but  the  government  paid 
no  attention  to  it.  The  workmen  of  Paris  and  the  other  large  towns 
were  imbued  with  the  socialist  ideas  of  Louis  Blanc.  Gross 
instances  of  bribery  and  corruption  were  made  public,  but  the 
ministers  contented  themselves  with  obtaining  a  vote  of  amnesty 
from  their  hired  majority.  The  so-called  liberals,  with  M.  Thiers  at 
their  head,  wished  to  oust  their  rivals  from  office,  but  they  had  no 
real  desire  to  alter  a  system  under  which  they  had  risen  to  political 
power,  and  they  were  afraid  of  going  too  far  for  fear  of  alienating  the 
king.  Under  these  circumstances  the  only  hope  of  reform  lay  iu 
the  radical  party,  nominally  headed  by  Odilon  Barrot,  but  really 
guided  by  fiery  orators  like  Lamartine,  Ledru-Rollin,  and  Garnier- 
Pages.  Their  object  was  to  force  on  a  measure  of  electoral  reform 
which  should  give  power  to  the  excluded  classes,  and  strike  at  the 
root  of  the  prevailing  corruption.  Allied  with  them,  but  aiming  at 
different  and  more  extensive  objects,  were  the  socialists,  led  by 
Louis  Blanc,  Barbes,  Blanqui,  etc.  As  the  extreme  party  was  in  a 
hopeless  minority  in  the  chambers,  they  were  compelled  to  appeal 
to  the  outside  public.  In  1847  they  organised  a  regular  campaign  of 
political  banquets,  at  which  toasts  were  given  and  speeches  made  on 
behalf  of  reform.  Both  in  Paris  and  the  provinces  these  banquets 
were  numerously  and  enthusiastically  attended,  and  the  moderate 


a.d.  1847-1848.     REVOLUTION  IN  FRANCE.  683 

reformers  found  themselves  more  and  more  thrown  into  the  back- 
round  by  the  republicans. 

When  the  chambers  met  in  December,  1847,  a  great  sensation 
was  caused  by  the  royal  speech,  which  alluded  to  the  recent  agitation 
as  fomented  by  "  les  passions  ennemies  ou  aveugles."  This  was  a 
virtual  declaration  of  war,  and  the  opposition  hastened  to  accept  it 
as  such.  But  all  their  amendments  were  rejected  by  the  minis- 
terial majority,  and  it  became  more  evident  than  ever  that  the 
struggle  must  be  fought  out  outside  the  chambers.  A  grand  banquet 
was  organised  for  the  19th  of  February,  but  the  prefect  of  police  pro- 
hibited it.  The  date  was  then  altered  to  the  22nd,  and  the  reformers 
announced  their  intention  of  disregarding  the  prohibition.  A  com- 
promise was  arranged  by  which  the  question  of  legality  was  to  be 
settled  by  a  judicial  trial.  But  an  invitation  to  the  national  guard 
to  attend  without  their  arms  was  seized  upon  by  the  ministers  as  an 
infraction  of  the  law,  and  the  banquet  was  again  prohibited.  The 
troops  were  held  in  readiness  to  enforce  the  order,  and  the  reformers 
abandoned  their  intention.  The  government  thought  that  a  great 
victory  hud  been  gained  and  that  all  danger  was  over.  The  mob, 
however,  ignorant  that  the  banquet  was  abandoned,  assembled  in 
crowds  in  the  streets,  and  had  to  be  dispersed  by  the  troops.  But 
among  the  soldiers,  and  especially  among  the  national  guard,  dis- 
content was  rife,  and  loud  cries  were  raised  for  reform  and  the  fill 
of  the  ministers.  With  fatal  weakness,  Louis  Philippe  hastened  to 
conciliate  the  malcontents.  Guizot  resigned  on  the  23rd,  and 
M.  Mole*  was  entrusted  with  the  formation  of  a  ministry.  But  the 
disturbances  in  the  streets  continued,  and  were  encouraged  by  the 
lead,  rs  of  the  extreme  party,  who  had  far  greater  objects  in  view 
than  a  mere  change  in  ministers.  In  the  evening  of  the  23rd,  the 
mob  was  confronted  by  a  troop  of  soldiers  in  front  of  the  ministry  of 
foreign  affairs.  A  chance  shot  was  fired  by  some  unknown  person, 
and  the  soldiers  discharged  a  fatal  volley  into  the  midst  of  the 
crowd.  The  bodies  of  the  slain  were  paradtd  through  the  streets, 
indignant  crowds  commenced  to  raise  barricades,  and  the  revolution 
had  begun.  M.  Mole*  failed  to  form  a  ministry,  and  Louis  Philippe 
turned  in  despair  to  M.  Thiers.  The  latter  insisted  that  Odilon 
Barrot  should  be  allowed  to  join  him,  and  that  electoral  reform  should 
at  once  be  granted.  The  king  could  do  nothing  but  yield,  and  the 
new  ministers  at  once  issued  a  proclamation  announcing  their 
appointment  and  that  the  troops  had  received  orders  to  cease  firing. 
But  the  moment  for  reconciliation  was  passed,  the  proclamation  was 
disregarded,  and  M.  Thiers  disappeared.  The  troops  accepted  the 
order  as  final  and  began  to  fraternise  with  the  people.  Louis  Philippe 
left  the  Tuileries  to  review  the  national  guard,  but  was  greeted 


684  MODERN  ETJBOPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

with  shouts  of  Vive  la  reforme!  He  returned  with  the  conviction 
that  all  was  lost,  and  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  grandson,  the  count 
of  Paris.  In  defiance  of  the  recent  law,  it  was  announced  that  the 
duchess  of  Orleans  should  be  regent  instead  of  the  duke  of  Nemours. 
The  duchess  was  at  once  conducted  to  the  chamber  of  deputies,  but 
the  mob  stormed  the  doors  and  forbade  the  acceptance  of  the  regency. 
A  provisional  government  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Dupont  de 
i'Eure,  the  veteran  leader  of  the  opposition,  Lamartine,  Arago,  Ledru- 
Rollin,  Cremieux,  Gamier-Pages  and  Marie.  Louis  Philippe,- -after 
several  adventures,  succeeded  in  escaping  to  England,  where  he  took 
up  his  residence  at  Claremont,  and  died  there  after  two  years  of  retire- 
ment. Most  of  the  members  of  his  family  joined  him  in  England, 
except  the  duchess  of  Orleans,  who,  with  her  two  sons,  took  refuge 
with  her  mother  in  Germany. 

Immediately  after  their  appointment  the  members  of  the  provi- 
sional government  proceeded  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  which  they  found 
already  in  the  possession  of  the  socialist  leaders,  Louis  Blanc,  Mar- 
rast,  Flocon,  and  Albert  (a  working-man).  A  contest  was  judiciously 
avoided  by  admitting  these  men  to  the  government,  at  first  as 
secretaries,  but  afterwards  as  full  members.  In  the  evening  of  the 
24th  a  republic  was  proclaimed,  and  edicts  were  issued  dissolving 
the  chamber  of  deputies  and  prohibiting  any  meeting  of  the  peers, 
liarely  in  history  have  so  many  and  such  important  events  been 
crowded  into  the  space  of  one  day,  and  perhaps  no  movement  has 
ever  been  attended  with  such  unexpectedly  sudden  success.  The 
hostility  against  the  government  was  no  stronger  than  it  had  been 
for  the  last  few  years,  there  was  no  sufficient  motive  for  such  a  com- 
plete overthrow  of  existing  institutions,  and  nothing  but  the  blind 
weakness  of  the  king  and  his  advisers  could  have  given  such  a  victory 
to  their  opponents.  It  was  truly  a  revolution  du  mepris  as  Lamartine 
had  prophesied,  but  it  is  not  often  that  contempt  inspires  a  revolution. 

§  2.  The  provisional  government  was  speedily  recognised  on  all 
sides.  The  provinces  offered  no  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  capital. 
Generals  Bugeaud  and  Changarnier  offered  the  allegiance  of  the  army. 
Even  the  church  hastened  to  welcome  a  revolution  that  showed 
no  hostility  to  religion.  The  Archbishop  of  Paris,  M.Affre,  took 
the  lead  in  ordering  a  solemn  service  for  those  who  had  fallen  on  the 
23rd.  A  moderate  circular  was  issued  by  Lamartine,  who  assumed 
the  control  of  foreign  affairs,  to  re-assure  the  neighbouring  states  as 
to  the  peaceful  intentions  of  France.  England,  as  in  1830,  was  the 
first  to  acknowledge  the  new  republic,  and  most  of  the  continental 
countries  were  too  absorbed  in  their  own  affairs  to  think  of  inter- 
vention in  France.  But  in  spite  of  this  unanimous  recognition,  the 
government  had  one  very  serious  difficulty  to  deal  with  in  the 


a.d.  1848.  THE   FRENCH  REPUBLIC-  685 

demands  of  the  working-classes.  If  the  revolution  had  any  real 
principle,  it  was  a  victory  of  socialism.  The  socialists  had  obtained 
admission  to  the  government  itself,  and  though  Lamartine  and 
several  of  his  colleagues  realised  the  hopelessness  of  their  schemes,  it 
was  impossible  to  refuse  all  concessions  to  their  allies.  Accordingly, 
Louis  Blanc  and  Albert  were  appointed  president  and  vice-president  of 
a  commission  to  superintend  the  "  organisation  of  labour."  The  only 
expedient  which  the  commission  could  suggest  was  to  recognize 
the  duty  of  the  state  to  provide  work- fox  every  man  who  demanded 
it,  and  to  carry  this  out  by  the  erection  of  national  workshops. 
This  experiment,  which  had  signally  failed  during  the  first  Revo- 
lution, and  which  could  only  end  in  supporting  the  idle  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  industrious,  was  again  put  into  practice.  Within  a 
ght  more  than  40,000  men  had  assembled  at  the  workshops, 
and  their  numbers  continued  to  be  swelled  by  arrivala  from  the  pro- 
vinces. But  this  failed  to  satisfy  the  extreme  party,  and  their  leaders, 
(Jabet,  Blanqui,  and  Raspail  tried  to  drive  the  government  to  adopt 
communistic  measures.  On  the  16th  of  April  a  mob  of  artisans 
marched  to  the  Hotel  do  Yille,  but  they  found  the  national  guard 
drawn  up  before  the  building  and  were  received  with  cries  of  aba*  leg 
oommmnistesl  For  the  moment  the  party  of  order  had  triumphed. 
§  3.  The  national  assembly,  which  had  been  summoned  to  draw 
up  a  new  constitution,  met  on  the  27th  of  April.  All  artificial  re- 
strictions upon  the  franchise  were  swept  away,  every  man  of  21  years 
had  a  vote,  and  every  man  of  25  was  qualified  to  be  elected.  Die 
number  of  deputies  was  fixed  at  nine  hundred,  and  under  the  cir- 
cumstances the  elections  were  conducted  with  marvellous  order  and 
regularity.  The  provisional  government  resigned  its  powers  into 
the  hands  of  the  assembly,  which  at  once  formally  decreed  the 
Republic.  The  next  act  was  to  appoint  an  executive  commission  of 
five  members.  The  result  was  the  election  of  Arago  with  725  votes, 
Gamier-Pages  with  715,  Marie  with  70L\  Lamartine  with  643,  and 
Ledru-liollin  with  458.  The  socialists  were  altogether  excluded, 
and  were  driven  to  adopt  extreme  measures.  They  endeavoured  to 
c\<  iti  the  national  sympathy  for  Poland,  where  a  spasmodic  attempt 
had  been  made  to  recover  independence.  On  the  15th  of  May  a 
procession  marched  to  the  assembly  to  present  a  petition  on  behalf 
of  t lie  Poles.  No  preparations  had  been  made  for  resistance,  the 
mob  stormed  the  hall,  and  set  to  work  to  elect  a  new  government. 
The  slightest  weakness  might  have  involved  France  in  ruin.  But 
the  government  stood  firm,  the  national  guard  and  the  garde  mobile, 
a  body  that  had  been  formed  by  Lamartine  out  of  the  gamins  of  the 
Paris  streets,  rallied  round  them,  the  conspirators  lost  both  their* 
courage  and  their  senses,  and  order  was  restored   without  serious 


686  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

difficulty.  Most  of  the  leaders  were  captured  :  Barbes  and  Albert 
were  sentenced  to  transportation,  and  Blanqui  to  seven  years 
imprisonment ;  Louis  Blanc,  who  had  intrigued  against  the  govern- 
ment since  his  own  exclusion,  escaped  punishment  by  flight. 

Among  the  numerous  adhesions  to  the  Republic,  not  the  least  un- 
expected and  embarrassing  had  been  that  of  Louis  Napoleon,  who 
had  hastened  to  leave  England  for  Paris.  By  the  advice  of  the  pro- 
visional government  he  had  returned  to  London.  But  the  reaction- 
ary party  sought  to  use  his  name  for  their  own  purposes,  and  he 
was  elected  as  deputy  for  Paris  and  for  two  other  departments.  This 
gave  rise  to  a  serious  debate  in  the  assembly.  A  law  banishing  the 
Bonaparte  family  from  French  soil  had  never  been  repealed,  and 
Lamartine  proposed  that  it  should  be  put  in  force.  But  the  law 
was  practically  obsolete,  and  two  Bonapartes,  sons  of  Jerome  and 
Lucien,  were  actually  members  of  the  assembly.  The  difficulty 
was  solved  by  Louis  Napoleon  himself,  who  wrote  in  haughty  and 
ambiguous  language,  offering  to  serve  his  country  by  remaining  in 
exile,  and  ultimately  declined  the  offered  seat. 

§  4.  Meanwhile  the  public  workshops  had  become  an  obvious 
nuisance.  The  number  of  workmen  was  more  than  100,000,  and 
the  expense  of  maintaining  them  amounted  to  more  than  14  million 
francs.  Private  enterprise  was  almost  at  a  standstill.  The  govern- 
ment determined  upon  vigorous  measures  to  put  down  the  evil.  A 
decree  was  issued  on  the  22nd  of  June  which  ordered  all  unmarried 
workmen  from  the  ages  of  18  to  25  to  enter  the  army,  while  the 
rest  were  to  be  transferred  to  the  departments.  All  who  refused 
were  to  be  excluded  from  the  workshops.  This  decree  gave 
rise  to  a  terrible  conflict  in  Paris.  The  workmen  threw  up  enor- 
mous barricades,  defended  them  with  the  heroism  of  despair,  and  for 
four  days  more  than  held  their  own.  The  executive  committee  had 
to  resign  their  powers,  and  General  Cavaignac  was  appointed  dic- 
tator. The  archbishop  of  Paris,  M.  Affre,  was  slain  by  a  chance 
bullet  as  he  was  attempting  to  mediate  a  peace,  and  the  losses  among 
the  troops  were  very  great.  Ultimately,  superior  numbers  and  dis- 
cipline secured  the  victory,  the  last  barricade  in  the  Faubourg  St, 
Antoine  was  stormed  on  the  28th,  and  the  anarchists  were  com- 
pelled to  submit.  Cavaignac  resigned  his  dictatorship,  but  was 
appointed  president  of  the  council.  A  decree  was  now  promulgated 
abolishing  the  workshops  altogether,  and  was  silently  obeyed. 
Socialism  was  completely  defeated,  but  in  its  fall  it  dragged  down 
the  Republic.  The  fear  of  democratic  anarchy  became  the  dominant 
motive  of  all  who  had  anything  to  lose,  and  they  were  now  ready 
•to  welcome  any  form  of  government,  however  absolute,  which  would 
secure  the  rights  of  property. 


a.d.  1836-1848  SWITZERLAND.  687 

II.  The  Revolution  in  Germany  aj<d  Italy. 

§  5.  The  example  of  Paris  exerted  its  wonted  fascination  over  the 
continental  states.  The  year  1848  is  an  annus  mirabilis  in  Euro- 
pean history.  On  every  side  thrones  and  dynasties  seemed  tottering 
to  ruin,  and  each  day  brought  the  news  of  another  revolution.  Among 
the  first  countries  to  feel  the  revolutionary  impulse  was  Switzerland, 
always  keenly  sensitive  to  French  influence,  and  where  the  soil  had 
been  prepared  by  previous  events.  The  radical  party,  humiliated  by 
the  enforced  expulsion  of  the  political  refugees  in  1836,  had  turned 
its  attention  to  religious  questions,  and  made  a  determined  attack 
upon  the  church.  In  1839  the  famous  author  of  the  Life  of  Christ, 
Dr.  Strauss,  had  been  appointed  professor  at  the  university  of 
Zurich,  but  such  indignation  was  expressed  by  the  orthodox  inhab- 
itants that  the  appointment  had  to  be  cancelled,  and  the  liberals  lost 
the  control  of  the  government  of  Zurich  for  the  next  six  years.  In 
1841  a  more  important  contest  was  provoked  by  the  abolition  of 
the  monasteries  in  Aargau.  The  Roman  Catholic  majority  in 
Lucerne  answered  this  measure  by  admitting  the  Jesuits  and 
entrusting  to  them  the  management  of  education.  This  excited  the 
radicals  to  active  measures,  and  as  the  Tagsatzung,  or  assembly  of 
the  Bund,  refused  to  support  them,  free  bands  (Freischaaren)  were 
formed  to  coerce  their  opponents.  The  Roman  Catholic  cantons, 
Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Lucerne,  Zug,  Freiburg,  and  Wallis, 
formed  a  separate  league,  the  Sonderbund,  for  mutual  defence 
(1845).  The  great  powers  tried  to  bring  about  an  agreement, 
but  were  foiled  by  their  want  of  unanimity.  Austria  wished 
to  support  the  Sonderbund,  while  England  allied  itself  with  the 
radicals,  and  France  vacillated  between  the  two  sides.  In  1847  the 
war  broke  out  and  was  speedily  ended  in  the  complete  defeat  of  the 
Sonderbund,  which  was  dissolved  and  its  members  had  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  the  war.  The  Jesuits  were  expelled  and  escaped  to 
Italy.  The  radicals  were  encouraged  by  their  victory  to  revive 
their  old  plan  of  forming  an  orderly  and  compact  federation.  The 
French  revolution  gave  them  new  strength,  and  in  September,  1848, 
the  new  constitution  was  introduced.  The  supreme  power  was 
vested  in  two  assemblies,  the  national  council,  representing  the 
state  as  a  whole,  and  the  council  of  estates,  representing  the 
separate  cantons.  The  two  bodies  combined  to  appoint  a  federal 
council,  which  was  to  sit  in  Berne  and  to  wield  the  executive  power, 
and  also  a  federal  court  of  justice. 

§  6.  The  history  of  Germany  is  almost  a  complete  blank  between 
the  revolutionary  movements  of  1830  and  1848.  The  Bund,  the 
only  representative  of  German  unity,  was  a  hopelessly  inert  mass, 


688  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

which  did  nothing  but  oppose  a  passive  resistance  to  reform.  The 
subdivision  into  innumerable  petty  states  was  maintained  by  the 
overwhelming  influence  of  Russia,  which  was  always  exerted  to 
prevent  any  aggrandisement  of  Prussia  or  Austria.  These  two 
states,  which  absorbed  most  of  the  material  strength  of  Germany, 
regarded  each  other  with  a  jealousy  that  made  the  Czar  the  ne- 
cessary arbitrator  between  them.  In  Austria,  Francis  I.  had  been 
succeeded  in  1835  by  his  son  Ferdinand  I.,  but  the  change  of 
rulers  only  gave  greater  power  to  Mettcrnich,  who  continued  with 
cynical  obstinacy  to  maintain  an  antiquated  system  of  government 
which  was  ready  to  fall  at  the  first  touch.  In  1837,  the  death  of 
William  IV.  separated  England  from  Hanover,  and  the  latter  crown, 
from  which  females  were  excluded,  fell  to  Ernest  Augustus,  duke 
of  Cumberland.  The. first  act  of  the  new  king  was,  to  abolish  the 
constitution  of  1833,  and  to  dismiss  seven  Gottingen  professors  who 
protested  against  this  arbitrary  measure.  In  1840,  Frederick  William 
IV.  succeeded  his  father  in  Prussia,  but  he  did  little  to  alter  the 
system  that  had  prevailed  in  Berlin  since  1815.  The  last  relic  of 
Polish  independence .  was  done  away  with  in  1846,  when  the 
republic  of  Krakau,  on  the  pretext  of  An  insurrection,  was 
incorporated  with  Austria. 

§  7.  In  March,  1848,  the  revolutionary  wave  broke  over.  Germany 
with  such  force  that  resistance  was  hardly  dreamed  of.  Rulers 
hastened  to  secure  their  thrones  by. granting  all  the  demands  of 
their  subjects,  and  by  admitting  to  office  the  men  who  had  hitherto 
been  the  prominent  leaders  of  opposition.  The  constitution  of 
Baden  (3  March)  was  the  model  which  was  copied  in  the  other 
states.  Its  chief  points  were  the  freedom  of  the  press,  trial  by  jury, 
political  equality  of  all  creeds,  responsibility  of  ministers,  abolition 
of  feudal  obligations,  and  equal  taxation.  Everywhere  the  people 
agitated  for  these  or  similar  reforms,  and  everywhere  they  were 
granted.  No  day  passed  without  the  appearance  of  a  new 
constitution.  In  Darmstadt,  Nassau,  Hesse-Cassel,  Oldenburg, 
Brunswick,  the  four  Hanse  Towns,  Weimar,  and  Wurtemberg,  the 
outlines  of  the  story  are  so  similar  that  the  details  become 
insignificant.  Only  the  three  great  middle-states,  Saxony,  Bavaria, 
and  Hanover,  delayed  their  action  to  see  what  was  done  by  their  two 
powerful  neighbours. 

But  the  acquisition  of  constitutional  liberties  for  the  separate 
states  was  by  no  means  the  sole  object  of  the  liberal  party.  Their 
keenest  wish  was  to  reform  the  Bund,  and  to  give  substantial  unity 
to  Germany  as  a  compact  federation.  As  to  the  constitution  of 
this  federation  very  opposite  views  .prevaileel,  the  democrats  wishing 
to  establish  a  German  republic,  while  the  me>re  moderate  party  hoped 


a.d.  1835-1848.       AUSTRIA  AND  PRUSSIA.  689 

to  create  a  federal  empire  under  the  headship  of  Prussia.  It  was  in 
the  south-western  states,  where  internal  liberty  was  most  firmly 
rooted,  that  this  desire  for  unity  was  strongest.  On  March  8  a 
number  of  liberal  leaders  met  at  Heidelberg,  and  issued  a  formal 
invitation  to  the  German  states  to  send  deputies  to  a  Vorparlament, 
which  was  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  permanent  national  representa- 
tion. It  was  impossible  for  the  princes  to  allow  the  settlement  of 
so  great  a  question  to  pass  out  of  their  hands.  Accordingly,  Prussia 
and  Austria  agreed  to  hold  a  conference  of  princes  on  March  15,  to 
consider  the  proposed  reform  of  the  Bund.  But  before  that  date 
the  two  great  powers  had  felt  the  force  of  the  revolution. 

The  news  of  the  events  in  Paris  was  enough  in  itself  to  overturn 
the  ill-cemented  edifice  of  the  Austrian  state.  The  Hungarians, 
inspired  by  the  eloquence  of  Kossuth,  clamoured  for  an  Indepei  dent 
diet  and  diminished  taxes.  Similar  demands  were  made  in  Prague. 
The  i>opulace  of  Vienna,  usually  so  contented  and  pleasure-loving, 
demanded  the  dismissal  of  Jfft-tteniich.  Without  an  effort  at 
resistance  the  famous  diplomatist  fled  to  England,  and  the  Aus- 
trian government  was  left  to  the  direction  of  the  mob.  The  feeble 
Ferdinand  I.  granted  freedom  to  the  press,  allowed  the  formation 
of  a  citizen  guard,  and  promised  a  liberal  constitution. 

In  Prussia,  Frederick  William  IV.  offered  a  stubborn  resistance  to 
the  demands  for  constitutional  liberties  which  arrived  from  all  parte 
of  bis  kingdom,  aud  especially  from  the  Rhenish  Provinces.  But  the 
report  of  the  occurrences  in  Vienna  led  to  formidable  disturbances 
in  Berlin  and  made  concessions  unavoidable.  On  March  17  the 
king  promised  freedom  of  the  press,  the  summons  of  a  Landtag  on 
April  2,  the  "  transformation  of  the  German  Confederation  {Stolen- 
bund)  into  a  Federal  State  {Bundestag)"  and  the  incorporation  of 
East  and  West  Prussia  and  Posen  in  the  Bund.  Liberal  as  these 
assurances  were  they  failed  to  satisfy  the  people,  who  now  clamoured 
for  the  dismissal  of  the  soldiers  from  the  towu  and  the  formation  of 
a  citizen  guard.  On  March  18  the  mob  came  into  collision  with 
the  troops,  barricades  were  raised,  and  for  fourteen  hours  a  terrible 
battle  was  waged  in  the  streets  of  Berlin.  At  last  the  king  gave 
way,  ordered  the  troops  to  withdraw,  dismissed  his  ministry,  and 
granted  an  unconditional  amnesty  to  all  political  prisoners.  His 
brother,  William  Prince  of  Prussia,  who  was  regarded  as  a  leader  of 
the  reactionary  party,  departed  to  England.  From  this  moment 
Frederick  William  determined  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
liberal  movement,  and  thus  to  satisfy  the  party  which  desired  to  see 
Prussia  at  the  head  of  a  united  Germany.  He  assumed  the  German 
colours  and  issued  a  proclamation  in  which  he  undertook  as  a 
constitutional  kiug  to  be  the  "  leader  of  a  free  and  new-born  German 
31 


690  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvl 

nation  "  (21  March).  Two  days  later  he  had  to  attend  with  bare 
head  the  funeral  of  the  183  victims  of  the  18th  of  March.  But  the 
memory  of  that  day  stood  between  him  and  the  realisation  of  his 
new  aims,  and  Prussia  had  for  the  moment  lost  all  popularity  and 
respect  in  Germany. 

The  revolutions  in  Vienna  and  Berlin  decided  the  action  of  those 
states  which  had  hitherto  hesitated.  On  March  16,  the  king  of 
Saxony  appointed  a  liberal  ministry.  Lewis  of  Bavaria  had  to  dis- 
miss his  hated  mistress,  Lola  Montez  (the  Countess  Landsfeldt), 
and  on  March  20  he  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  sou  Maximilian  II., 
who  at  once  conceded  the  popular  demands.  Ernest  Augustus  of 
Hanover  was  compelled  to  grant  a  constitution  on  the  model  of 
that  of  Baden.  Thus,  by  the  end  of  March  the  liberals  had 
triumphed  in  every  state  of  Germany. 

The  Vorparlament,  composed  mainly  of  deputies  from  the  lesser 
states,  met  at  Frankfort  on  March  31,  and  speedily  completed  its 
work.  It  decreed  that  the  federal  government  should  consist  of  a 
single  head  with  two  chambers,  a  senate  and  a  house  of  popular 
representatives.  The  German  people  as  a  whole  was  to  enjoy  the 
same  liberties  which  had  been  secured  to  the  members  of  the 
individual  states.  The  details  of  the  constitution  were  to  be 
settled  by  a  national  assembly  to  be  elected  without  any  regard  to 
class  divisions,  wealth,  or  religion.  The  princes  were  to  be  excluded 
from  all  voice  in  the  matter.  Before  separating,  the  assembly 
nominated  a  committee  of  fifty  to  superintend  the  carrying  out 
of  these  decrees.  But  the  proceedings  at  Frankfort  altogether 
failed  to  satisfy  the  democratic  party,  which  had  conceived  the 
extravagant  plan  of  forming  a  German  republic.  Their  leaders 
determined  to  give  up  constitutional  action  and  resort  to  force. 
They  stirred  up  the  people  to  revolt,  and  organised  bands  of 
volunteers  to  terrify  the  established  government.  But  in  the  brief 
struggle  which  followed  the  republicans  were  defeated,  and  their 
commander,  Hecker,  displayed  neither  ability  nor  courage. 

§  8.  Beside  domestic  revolutions  and  reforms,  Germany  had  a 
difficult  question  to  deal  with  in  the  relations  of  the  duchies  of 
Schleswig  and  Holstein  with  Denmark.  Both  contained  a  large 
German  population,  and  Holstein  was  a  member  of  the  Bund. 
Both  were  hostile  to  Danish  rule,  and  were  especially  indignant 
at  the  attempts  to  destroy  their  independent  nationality  and  to 
incorporate  them  with  Denmark.  The  question  was  complicated 
by  the  prospect  of  a  disputed  succession.  Females  were  entitled 
to  succeed  in  Denmark,  but  were  excluded  from  the  duchies.  In 
1846  Christian  VIII.,  whose  only  son  was  unlikely  to  have  children, 
issued  a  decree,  the  offene  Briefc,  in  which  he  declared  the  whole 


a.d.  1848.  SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.  691 

Danish  state  to  be  indivisible  and  to  be  heritable  by  females  as 
well  as  males.  This  excluded  the  duke  of  Augustenburg,  the 
nearest  male  heir,  and  was  a  great  blow  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Schleswig  and  Holstein,  who  bad  hoped,  on  the  extinction  of  the 
Danish  male  line,  to  fall  under  the  separate  rule  of  a  German  prince. 
In  January,  1848,  Christian  VII I.  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Frederick  VII.,  who  at  once  issued  a  liberal  constitution  in  the 
hope  of  allaying  discontent.  But  his  German  subjects  refused  to 
sell  their  independence  at  any  price,  and  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment in  Germany  came  just  in  time  to  give  them  new  courage. 
The  assemblies  of  the  two  duchies  joined  themselves  together  (18 
March),  and  demanded  that  both  should  be  admitted  to  the  Bund 
and  have  a  joint  constitution,  on  the  German  model  On  the  24th 
a  provisional  government  was  formed,  with  the  duke  of  Augusten- 
burg at  its  head.  Frederick  VII.  treated  these  acts  as  rebellion, 
and  sent  an  army  into  the  duchies.  But  public  opinion  in  Germany 
was  warmly  excited  in  their  behalf,  and  the  Vorparlament  went 
out  of  its  way  to  decree  the  admission  of  Schleswig  to  the  Bund. 
The  king  of  Prussia,  eager  to  fall  in  with  the  current  of  opinion, 
sent  an  army  to  assist  the  duke  of  Augustenburg.  On  land  the 
Prussians,  under  Wrangel,  gained  several  successes,  but  the  want  of 
a  fleet  prevented  any  decisive  result  from  being  obtained,  and  the 
favour  shown  to  Denmark  by  Russia  and  England  induced  Frederick 
William  to  recall  his  troops  before  any  settlement  had  been  made. 

§  9.  No  part  of  Europe  was  so  quiet  and  at  the  same  time  so 
profoundly  discontented  as  Italy  in  the  first  years  of  the  fifth  decade 
of  the  century.  Austrian  rule  pressed  like  a  leaden  weight  upon 
the  provinces  of  Ix>mbardy  and  Venetia.  A  powerful  army,  under 
Marshal  Badetsky,  stood  ready  to  crush  the  slightest  symptom  of 
revolt.  The  press  was  subject  to  the  most  rigorous  censorship,  and 
so  searching  was  the  system  of  espionage  that  no  one  ventured  to 
breathe  a  word  of  complaint.  The  upper  classes  were  purposely  en- 
couraged to  lead  a  licentious  life,  that  they  might  lose  all  thought 
of  political  liberty.  In  the  other  provinces  Austrian  influence  was 
supreme,  and  was  employed  to  support  the  arbitrary  government 
of  the  princes.  In  Naples  and  Sicily  Ferdinand  II.  (1830-1859) 
crushed  his  subjects  under  a  despotism  of  terror.  In  the  Papal 
States  Gregory  XVI.  (1831-1846)  maintained  the  worst  of  all 
forms  of  government,  the  absolutism  of  the  clergy.  Leopold  II. 
of  Tuscany  was  personally  benevolent  and  well-intentioned,  but 
did  not  venture  to  depart  from  the  system  of  rule  prescribed  from 
Vienna.  The  lesser  rulers  of  Modena,  Parma,  and  Lucca  were  the 
powerless  vassals  of  Austria.  In  Piedmont  Charles  Albert  had 
never  ventured  to  return   to   the  liberal    principles  of  his  youth. 


692  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvl 

Economic  reforms  were  introduced,  but  no  steps  were  taken  towards 
constitute  nal  reform.  The  King  was  a  devout  Roman  Catholic, 
and  the  Austrian  government  began  to  regard  him  as  one  who  had 
fully  repented  of  his  past  follies.  The  only  disturbance  to  public 
tranquillity  arose  from  the  isolated  and  hopeless  revolts  excited  by 
Mazzini  and  his  society  of  "  Young  Italy,"  which  the  people  did 
not  venture  to  support,  and  which  only  served  to  keep  alive  the 
idea  of  independence  and  the  desire  of  revenge. 

This  lethargy  was  suddenly  interrupted  from  a  wholly  unexpected 
quarter.  In  June,  1846,  Gregory  XVI.  died,  and  the  choice  of  the 
conclave  fell  upon  one  of  the  youngest  cardinals,  Mastai  Ferrctti, 
who  took  the  name  of  Pius  IX.  The  new  pope  was  chosen  mainly 
on  account  of  his  feeble  -health,  but  he  was  destined  to  the  longest 
ar.d  one  of  the -most  eventful  pontificates  recorded  in  history. 
Ea  $er  to  obtain  popularity,  Pius  IX.  signalised  his  accession  by 
reforming  measures  which  made  a  profound  impression  in  Europe. 
He  issued  an  amnesty  for  all  political  offenders,  recalled  the 
exiles,  and  appointed  >a  council  to  aid  him  in  the  government. 
Italy  resounded  with  cries  of  Evviva  Pio  Nonol  and  the  pope 
became  for  a  brief  period  the  idol  of  his  countrymen.  Moderate 
liberals  had  long  been  aecustomed  to  regard  the  papacy  as  the 
one  genuinely  Italian  goveimmentv  in  the  peninsula,  and  they 
welcomed  the  prospect  of  reviving  national  unity  and  independence 
under  papal  guidance.  Meanwhile->the  news  from  Rome  was  re- 
ceived in  Vienna  with  mingled  dismay  and  indignation.  Metternich 
.declared  that  a  liberal  pope  was  the  one-  contingency  that  had  never 
■jbeen  anticipated.  By  the  treaty  of  Vienna,  Austria  was  allowed 
•to  keep  a  garrison  in  the  fortress  of  Ferrara,  and,  as  a  counter- 
demonstration,  the  troops  now  occupied  the  city  as  well.  Pius  IX. 
bitterly  protested  against  this  act  as  an  infraction  of  his  sovereign 
rights,  and  went  so  far  as  to  prepare  for  armed  resistance,  amidst 
the  enthusiastic  plaudits  of  his  subjects. 

The  example  of  the  pope  naturally  exercised  great  influence  in 
the  other  Italian  states.  Leopold  of  Tuscany  hastened  to  conciliate 
the  people  with  administrative  reforms.  Charles  Louis  of  Lucca  was 
compelled  to  make  similar  concessions,  but  he  showed  his  personal 
antipathy  by  selling  his  duchy  to  the  grand-duke  of  Tuscany  and 
retiring  from  public  life.  Intense  popular  indignation  was  aroused 
by  the  settlement  of  the  succession  in  Parma  on  the  death  of  Maria 
Louisa  (December,  1847).  The  Congress  of  Vienna  had  arranged  that 
if  she  died  childless,  Parma  should  be  given  to  the  duke  of  Lucca, 
whose  duchy  was  to  be  transferred  to  Tuscany,  while  the  latter  was 
to  cede  certain  districts  to  the  duke  of  Modena.  This  elaborate 
arrangement,  based  altogether  upon  dynastic  interests,  without  any 


k.i>.  1846-1848.  EISINGS  I»  ITALY.  693 

regard  to  the  wishes  ofc  the  peoples  concerned,  was  now  carried  out 
Riots  ensued,  and  Francis.  V.  of  Modena  invited  the  Austrianseio 
occupy  his  duchy.  In  Southern  Italy  the  movement  was  the  more 
violent  in  proportion  to  the  evils  it  had  to  combat.  Sicily  threw  off 
the  Neapolitan  yoke,  and  a  provisional  government  was  established 
in  Palermo,  under  Ruggiero  Settimo  (Jan.  24,  1848).  A  rising  in 
Naples  compelled  Ferdinand  II.  to  dismiss  his  ministers  and  to  grant 
a  liberal  constitution  (10th  Feb.).  The  scruples  of  Charles  Albert 
were  removed  when  he  found  himself  on  the  same  side  as  the 
poj»e,  and  early  in  1848  he  drew  up  a  constitution  for  Piedmont,  the 
Statuto  Fundamental*,  which  was  issued  on  March  4.  In  Tuscany 
rijii  intativc  institutions  were  granted  on  February  17,  and  the 
revolution  in  Paris  induced  Pius  IX.  to  take  the  final  step,  to  which 
his  previous  measures  had  obviously  tended.  A  ministry  was  formed 
umii  r  Cardinal  Antouelli,  in  which  for  the  first  time  the  lay  clement 
preponderated,  and  a  constitution  was  promulgated  on  March  14. 
This  established  two  chambers — one  composed  of  nominees  of  the 
ihe  other  of  popular  representatives ;  but  the  final  decision  on 
all  matters  was  still  reserved  to  the  college  of  cardinals. 

§  10.  When  the  news  arrived  of  the  Viennese  rising  of  March  13 
and  the  flight  of  Metternich,  the  flame  of  revolt  at  once  broke  out 
northern  provinces.  The  lead  was  taken  by  Milan,  where 
the  citizens  erected  barricades,  and  for  four  days  carried  on  a 
desperate  contest  against  the  Austrian  troops.  Radetsky,  might 
have  destroyed  the  city  by  a  bombardment,  but  he  was  afraid  lest 
a  sudden  advance  of  the  Sardinian  army  might  cut  off  his  com- 
munications with  Austria.  On  the  evening  of  the  22nd  he  quitted 
Milan  and  retreated  Awards  the  famous  QMadri lateral  formed  by 
the  fortresses  of  Peschiera,  Mantua,  Legnago,  and  Verona.  Ili* 
retreat  was  the  signal  for  a  general  rising.  The  duke  of  Parma  lUd 
without  striking  a  blow.  One  after  another  Monza,  Como,  Berganw, 
Brescia  and  Cremona  threw  off  the  rule  of. Austria.  Venice  was 
tamely  resigned  by  Counts  Palffy  and  Zichy,  and  the  citizens 
restored  the  Republic  under  the  presidency  of  Daniele  Manin* 
Francis  V.  of  Modena  was  driven  from  his  duchy.  Meanwhile 
Charles  Albert  had  taken  a  decisive  step.  He  declared  wai; 
against  Austria,  crosaedfthe  Ticino  with  his  army  (March  25), 
avdrpooceeded  to  pursue  the  retreating  Austrians.  Radetsky  now 
up  his  quarters  at  Verona  and  stood  upon  the  defensive* 
Popular -eatrfustefim  compelled  the  remaining  Governments'  id  ?lv 
peninsula  to  espouse  the -national    <     .*.       !:  ind-duke  of 

Tuscany  ordered,  his  troops  to  march  to  the  frontier.  Pius  IX., 
torn  by  his  conflicting  interests  as  an  Italian  prince  and  as  head 
of  the    Roman   Catholic   Church,   found   it  impossible  to. resist 


69  i  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

the  general  impulse,  and  the  Roman  army  was  despatched  to 
the  Po.  Even  Ferdinand  II.  did  not  yet  venture  to  obey  his 
natural  inclinations.  The  Neapolitan  army  set  out  under  Pepe', 
the  fleet  was  sent  to  Ancona,  and  Charles  Albert  was  assured  that 
Naples  would  co-operate  actively  in  the  war  for  Italian  indepen- 
dence. But  it  was  afterwards  discovered  that  both  the  army  and 
the  fleet  had  received  secret  instructions  to  do  nothing  until  the 
course  of  events  had  enabled  the  king  to  decide  finally  on  his  course 
of  action.  Ferdinand's  insincerity  was  soon  made  manifest.  In 
defiance  of  his  solemn  oath  to  observe  the  constitution,  he  dis- 
solved the  chamber  of  deputies  before  it  had  time  to  meet,  formed 
a  reactionary  ministry,  recalled  his  army,  and  decreed  a  complete 
change  of  the  franchise.  In  consequence  of  these  measures  the 
Sicilians  declared  that  the  Bourbons  had  forfeited  the  crown,  and 
prepared  to  offer  the  crown  to  the  duke  of  Genoa,  the  second  son  of 
Charles  Albert. 

§  11.  The  Sardinian  king  had  continued  for  some  time  to  retain 
his  advantage  in  the  Lombard  war.  Radetsky  refused  to  be  drawn 
from  his  position  at  Verona  until  the  arrival  of  reinforcements 
should  enable  him  to  take  the  aggressive.  The  result  was  that  the 
Sardinian  troops  were  able  to  overrun  the  country  as  far  as  the 
Adige,  and  a  momentary  repulse  at  Santa  Lucia  (6th  May)  was 
more  than  compensated  by  a  distinguished  success  at  Goito  (30th 
May)  and  by  the  capture  of  Peschiera.  Popular  votes  decreed 
the  annexation  of  Lombardy,  Modena,  and  Parma  to  Sardinia. 
That  these  bright  prospects  were  soon  overclouded  was  probably 
due  to  the  error  of  Charles  Albert  himself.  If  he  had  at  once 
advanced  against  Radetsky  at  the  end  of  March,  he  might  have 
finished  the  war  at  one  blow.  But  he  was  afraid  of  the  nationalists, 
who  might  utilise  his  victories  to  his  own  disadvantage ;  he  was 
not  cordially  supported  by  the  other  rulers  of  the  peninsula ;  and 
he  trusted  that  English  mediation  and  the  rising  in  Hungary  would 
compel  Austria  to  cede  Lombardy  to  him  without  further  warfare. 
His  hesitation  secured  the  success  of  Radetsky,  whose  retreat, 
instead  of  being  a  sign  of  weakness,  was  a  masterly  stroke  of  policy. 
Strengthened  by  reinforcements  under  Welden,  he  suddenly  left 
Verona,  captured  Vicenza,  Treviso  and  Padua,  and  thus  secured  a 
second  and  safer  line  of  communication  with  Austria.  Turning 
against  the  Piedmontese,  he  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  upon  them 
at  Custozza  (25th  July).  Charles  Albert  retreated  to  Milan,  closely 
pursued  and  harassed  by  the  victorious  army.  Milan  capitulated 
without  striking  a  blow,  and  the  last  chance  of  retaining  any 
hold  upon  Lombardy  was  gone.  On  August  8  Charles  Albert 
signed    an    armistice,   by   which    he    surrendered   Peschiera  and 


a.d.  1848.  ITALY  AND  AUSTRIA.  695 

all  positions  outside  Lombardy,  and  engaged  to  withdraw  the 
ships  and  troops  that  had  been  sent  to  the  assistance  of  Venice. 
Lombardy  was  once  more  an  Austrian  province,  and  Radetsky 
prepared  to  complete  his  work  by  laying  siege  to  Venice. 

§  12.  Pius  IX.  had  already  deserted  the  Italian  cause  when  he 
discovered  that  it  involved  him  in  open  war  with  Austria.  From 
this  time  he  began  to  think  more  of  his  duties  as  head  of  the  church 
and  less  of  temporal  interests.  The  result  was  that  he  soon  lost  the 
popularity  which  his  liberal  measures  had  given  him.  His  reform- 
ing ministry  naturally  resigned  when  the  pope  would  no  longer 
assent  to  their  measures.  Count  Rossi,  who  became  head  of  a  new 
ministry,  alienated  both  the  liberal  and  the  reactionary  parties,  and 
was  assassinated  on  November  15.  The  pope  was  so  horrified  by 
this  act  that  he  quitted  Rome  in  disguise  (Nov.  24)  and  took  up  his 
residence  at  Gaeta,  under  the  protection  of  the  King  of  Naples.  The 
greatest  excitement  prevailed  when  the  news  of  his  departure  was 
made  known.  The  Roman  parliament,  which  had  met  on  the  day 
of  Rossi's  death,  appointed  an  executive  committee  of  three  persons, 
and  ordered  the  election  of  a  constituent  assembly.  The  pope  con- 
tented himself  with  issuing  one  brief  after  another  to  declare  the 
nullity  of  all  that  was  done  in  his  absence,  but  did  nothing  to 
strengthen  the  bands  of  the  moderate  party,  who  were  still  inclined 
to  trust  him.  The  constituent  assembly,  in  which  both  Garibaldi 
and  Mazzini  had  seats,  decided  that  the  pope  had  forfeited  the  tem- 
poral government  of  the  State,  that  he  should  be  guaranteed  the 
independent  exercise  of  his  spiritual  power,  and  that  a  puro  de- 
mocracy should  be  created  under  the  name  of  the  Roman  Republic. 
In  Tuscany  Leopold  II.  followed  the  popes  example  when  he  found 
that  matters  were  going  too  far,  and  escaped  first  to  San  Stefano 
and  then  to  Gaeta.  As  he  refused  to  return,  a  Republic  was  pro- 
claimed in  Florence  under  the  presidency  of  Guerrazzi. 

§  13.  During  the  months  which  witnessed  the  overthrow  and  re- 
storation of  the  Austrian  power  in  Italy,  the  home  government  was 
undergoing  a  great  crisis.  Kolowrat,  who  took  Metternich's  place, 
was  unequal  to  the  task  of  maintaining  order,  and  the  government 
was  carried  on  under  the  dictation  of  the  students  and  the  mob. 
The  disturbances  in  the  capital  were  stirred  up  by  Kossuth,  who 
aimed  at  freeing  Hungary  altogether  from  Hapsburg  rule.  The 
Emperor  had  already  granted  the  Hungarians  an  independent 
ministry,  in  which  Kossuth  undertook  the  control  of  finance.  But 
the  revolutionary  party  demanded  a  constitution  on  the  model  of 
that  of  Baden,  and  the  Diet  was  terrified  by  an  insurrection  into 
passing  a  decree  for  its  establishment.  In  Bohemia  the  Slavonic 
party  also  agitated  for  the  formation  of  an  independent  govern- 


696  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvl 

ment  and  the  exclusion  of  German  elements.  But  the  Slavs 
had  no  sympathy  with  the  Masyars,  and  were  willing  to  support 
the  Hapsburgs  if  they  would  grant  their  demands.  They  were 
especially  anxious  to  prevent  the  federal  union  of  the  German 
provinces  of  Austria  with  the  rest  of  Germany.  Kossuth  deter- 
mined to  effect  his  own  aims  and  to  frustrate  those  of  Bohemia 
by  terrifying  the  imperial  government.  A  new  constitution  had 
been  issued,  which  established  the  ordinary  two  chambers.  On 
May  15  the  populace  of  Vienna  rose  in  revolt  and  demanded  the 
abolition  of  the  aristocratic  chamber  and  the  summons  of  a  national 
assembly  to  reform  the  constitution.  Resistance  was  impossible, 
and  Ferdinand,  by  the  advice  of  the  reactionary  party,  escaped  with 
his  family  from  Vienna  to  Innspriick.  This  was  a  very  well-judged 
measure,  because  it  freed  the  emperor  from  the  influence  of  both 
the  Hungarians  and  the  Bohemians,  while  he  could  rely  upon  the 
support  of  the  Tyrolese,  always  the  most  loyal  subjects  of  tho  house 
of  Hapsburg. 

In  Vienna  the  wildest  excitement  prevailed  for  a  time.  The  mob 
raised  barricades  in  the  streets,  and  civil  war  was  only  avoided  by 
ordering  the  troops  to  leave  the  city.  In  Bohemia  the  Emperor's 
departure  to  Innspriick  was  regarded  as  a  serious  blow,  because  it 
had  been  hoped  that  he  would  take  up  his  residence  in  Prague  and 
entrust  the  defence  of  the  crown  to  his  Slav  subjects.  His  weak- 
ness and  humiliation  however  still  offered  a  favourable  prospect  of 
realising  their  designs.  On  June  2  a  great  Slavonic  Congress  was 
opened,  under  the  presidency  of  Palacky,  the  historian.  Three  days 
later  it  was  formally  decreed  that  the  Slavs  would  remain  loyal  sub- 
jects of  the  Hapsburgs  on  condition  that  the  Austrian  monarchy 
was  organised  as  a  federation.  At  the  same  time  a  provisional 
government  was  formed  in  Prague,  and  the  Emperor  was  called  upon 
to  order  Windischgratz,  the  commander  of  the  garrison,  to  withdraw 
his  troops.  But  before  this  could  be  answered,  hostilities  broke  out. 
Alter  an  indecisive  conflict  in  the  streets,  in  which  the  wife  of  Win- 
dischgratz was  killed,  the  garrison  retired  outside  the  walls,  but 
only  to  bombard  the  city  from  the  surrounding  hills.  This  decided 
the  struggle.  The  opposition  leaders  made  their  escape,  and  Prague 
surrendered  unconditionally  (June  18).  This  was  only  a  small 
success  in  itself,  but,  coupled  with  Radetsky's  victory  in  Italy,  it 
had  a  gr  at  moral  effect  in  restoring  the  courage  and  prestige  of  the 
Austrian  Government.  At  the  same  time  the  movement  in  Hun- 
gary was  seriously  hampered  by  the  action  of  the  Slavonic  portion 
of  the  population.  The  Slavs  were  always  bitterly  hostile  to  the 
Magyars,  and  the  project  of  establishing  an  independent  state  of 
Hungary  threatened  them  with  political  annihilation.     Their  only 


a.d.  1848.  AUSTBIA  AND  HUNGARY.  697 

hope  lay  in  the  maintenance  of   German  rule,  and  they  rose  in 
wild  revolt  against, the  dominant  party  of  Kossuth.     The  Ma 
had  also  to  carry  on   war  against  the  Croats  under  their  Ban 
Jellachich,  who  was  secretly  instigated  by  the  imperial  court 

Meanwhile  the  constituent  assembly,  which  Ferdinand  had 
authorised  before  his  departure,  met  on  July  22.  Race  differences 
among  its  members  made  it  difficult  for  them  to  come,  to  any 
agreement,  and  they  were  soon  absorbed  in  the  thorny  question  of 
the  relations  of  lords  and  serfs.  But  the  presence  of  the  assembly 
seemed  to  exercise  a  tranquillising  effect  upon  Vienna,  and  the 
more  favourable  aspect  of  affairs  emboldened  the  emperor  to  return 
to  his  capital  (August  12).  In  the  hope  of  ending  the  Hungarian 
war  he  nominated  Count  Lamberg  commander  of  the  troops  in  that 
kingdom,  but  the  unfortunate  general  was  murdered  on  the  bridge 
of  boats  at  Pesth.  All  hopes  of  reconciliation  were  now  at  an  end, 
and  open  war  was  declared  against  the  Hungarians.  But  this  act 
also  terminated  the  tranquillity  at  Vienna,  which  was  in  great 
measure  due  to  the  influence  of  Kossuth.  On  October  6  a  third 
revolt  commenced,  and  proved  far  more  formidable  than  either  of 
its  predecessors.  Its  immediate  object  was  to  prevent  the  march  of 
the  troops  who  had  been  ordered  to  proceed  to  Hungary.  The 
mob  murdered  Latour,  the  war  minister,  stormed  the  arsenals, 
and  compelled  the  constituent  assembly  to  demand  from  the 
Emperor  the  cessation  of  hostilities  against  the  Hungarians.  Fer- 
dinand again  fled,  this  time  to  Olmiitz,  in  Moravia.  The  garrison 
under  Auersperg  occupied  a  defensive  position  in  the  Belvedere 
gardens,  and  the  city  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  insurgents.  But 
their  triumph  was  very  short-lived.  Jellachich  with  his  Croats 
marched  from  the  Raab  against  Vienna,  and  Windischgratz,  the 
victor  of  Prague,  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  all  Austrian 
troops  outside  Italy.  By  October  23  the  city  was  closely  invested 
on  all  sides.  But  the  besieged,  confident  in  the  approaching  aid 
from  Hungary,  refused  to  yield,  and  for  several  days  carried  on  a 
desperate  struggle  against  superior  forces.  Ou  the  30th  the  Hun- 
garian troops  were  seen  in  the  distance,  but  they  were  repulsed 
after  a  short  engagement  on  the  Schwechat.  This  sealed  the  fate 
of  Vienna,  which  surrendered  on  the  next  day.  The  rebels  received 
the  prompt  punishment  of  military  justice.  The  Austrian  monarchy 
was  saved.  On  November  24  a  new  ministry  was  formed,  under 
Felix  Schwarzenberg,  the  resolute  head  of  the  reactionary  party. 
On  December  2  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  abdicated  in  favour  of  his 
Dephew,  Francis  Joseph,  on  the  ground  that  "  younger  powers  were 
needed  to  carry  out  the  reforms  that  had  been  commenced."  The 
change  of  rulers  was  really  the  signal  of  approaching  reaction. 
31* 


MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

The  constituent  assembly,  which  had  been  transferred  from  Vienna 
to  Kremsier,  was  dissolved  (March  7,  1849),  and  a  new  constitution 
was  granted  "  by  the  grace  of  the  emperor." 

§  14.  The  new  emperor,  Francis  Joseph,  recognised  that  his  first 
task  was  the  reduction  of  Hungary,  and  entrusted  Windischgratz 
with  the  completion  of  the  work  which  had  been  so  successfully 
commenced  at  Prague  and  Vienna.  The  Hungarians  refused  to 
accept  the  abdication  of  Ferdinand,  and  the  government  was  still 
carried  on  in  his  name.  Kossuth  was  compelled  to  adopt  this 
course  to  conciliate  the  army  and  its  leader,  Gorgey,  who  were 
determined  not  to  act  as  rebels,  and  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
republican  aspirations  of  the  great  orator.  Windischgratz  began 
the  campaign  on  December  15,  and  met  with  no  real  opposition  to 
his  early  movements.  Kossuth's  plan  was  to  give  up  western 
Hungary  to  the  invaders,  in  order  to  entice  them  into  the  marshy 
districts  of  the  interior  during  the  winter  season.  The  committee 
of  national  defence,  of  which  Kossuth  was  president,  abandoned 
Pesth,  and  the  city  was  occupied  by  the  Austrians  (Jan.  5,  1849). 
From  this  moment  the  cause  of  the  insurgents  triumphed.  Bern, 
a  Polish  exile,  who  had  commanded  in  the  recent  defence  of  Vienna 
and  had  escaped  from  the  conquerors,  was  sent  to  act  against  the 
Saxon  population  of  Transylvania,  which  refused  to  accept  the  rule  of 
the  Magyars  and  maintained  the  cause  of  the  imperial  government. 
By  the  end  of  February  he  succeeded  in  reducing  the  whole  pro- 
vince. Windischgratz  now  advanced  from  Pesth  into  the  interior.  At 
Kapolna  (Feb.  26-7)  a  two  days'  battle  took  place,  in  which  neither 
side  could  claim  a  decisive  victory,  but  the  Hungarians  retired  to 
the  river  Theiss.  There  a  number  of  battles  were  fought  to  defend 
the  passage  of  the  river,  and  everywhere  the  Austrians  were  repulsed. 
Gorgey  was  now  able  to  take  the  aggressive,  and  carried  all  before 
him.  Windischgratz  was  recalled,  but  his  successor,  Weldcn,  found 
it  necessary  to  evacuate  Pesth.  The  Hungarians  returned  to  the 
capital  in  triumph,  and  stormed  Buda  (Ofen),  on  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  Danube,  after  a  heroic  defence  on  the  part  of  the  garrison 
(21  May).  The  Austrian  army  retreated  to  Pressburg,  in  the 
extreme  west  of  the  kingdom.  The  triumph  of  the  insurgents  was 
celebrated  by  the  declaration  of  Hungarian  indepenbence  (14  April), 
and  the  creation  of  a  provisional  government,  with  Kossuth  at  its 
head.  This  bold  step  destroyed  the  last  chance  of  a  compromise, 
but  at  the  same  time  it  alienated  Gorgey,  who  henceforth  acted  in 
complete  independence. 

The  Austrian  government  began  to  despair  of  reducing  Hungary 
by  its  own  efforts,  and  turned  for  assistance  to  Russia,  the  patron  of 
all  states  contending  against  revolution.     On  May  21,  the  very  day 


A-n.  1849.  REDUCTION   OF   HUNGARY  691) 

on  which  Buda  surrendered,  Francis  Joseph  met  the  Czar  in  a 
personal  interview  at  Warsaw.  Nicolas  was  afraid  lest  the  success 
of  the  Hungarians  might  provoke  a  rising  in  Poland,  which  was 
the  more  likely  as  many  Poles  were  serving  in  the  Hungarian 
army,  and  willingly  accorded  the  aid  that  was  demanded.  In 
June  Paskiewitsch  entered  Hungary  with  130,000  men,  and  the 
command  of  the  Austrians  was  entrusted  to  Haynau,  already 
notorious  for  the  severity  with  which  he  had  treated  the  defeated 
Italians  of  Lombardy.  The  eloquence  of  Kossuth  induced  the 
Hungarians  to  carry  on  a  desperate  guerilla  warfare  against  the 
invaders.  But  the  contest  was  too  unequal,  and  the  differences 
between  the  military  and  the  civil  leaders  weakened  the  national 
cause.  At  Temesvar  one  division  of  the  Hungarian  army,  under 
Ltombinski,  was  crushed  by  Haynau  (9  August).  Kossuth  now 
nod  his  office  and  proceeded  to  Transylvania.  Gorgey  was 
appointed  dictator,  but  he  had  already  opened  negotiations  with 
the  Russians,  and  on  August  13  he  surrendered  with  his  whole 
army  to  general  Rudiger  at  Vilagos.  This  practically  ended  the 
war.  Kossuth  and  Bern  fled  to  Turkey,  where  the  Porte  refused 
to  give  them  up.  Gorgey  was  able  to  secure  his  personal  safety, 
but  the  other  leaders  received  scant  mercy  from  Haynau  and  his 
military  tribunals.  Hungary  had  to  pay  dearly  for  its  rebellion. 
It  lost  all  independence  and  all  constitutional  freedom,  and  sank 
for  a  short  time  into  a  vassal  province  of  Austria. 

§  15.  Meanwhile  the  temporary  success  of  the  Hungarians  in  the 
early  part  of  1849  had  involved  Austria  in  a  second  Italian  war. 
All  the  attempts  of  England  and  France  to  negotiate  a  final  peace 
between  Austria  and  Sardinia  had  failed.  The  government  at 
Vienna  refused  to  entertain  any  proposal  except  the  complete 
restoration  of  Austrian  rule  and  of  the  governments  allied  with 
Austria.  For  Charles  Albert  to  accept  these  terms,  except  under 
the  pressure  of  complete  defeat,  would  deprive  the  Sardinian 
monarchy  for  ever  of  the  respect  and  trust  of  Italy.  On  March  9 
the  king  took  the  bold  step  of  putting  an  end  to  the  armistice, 
which  had  been  prolonged  since  August,  1848.  It  was  hoped  that 
the  Austrian  arms  would  be  sufficiently  employed  in  the  Hungarian 
war  and  in  the  siege  of  Venice.  But  Radetsky  was  confident  of 
success,  and  hastened  to  engage  in  a  contest  which  he  hoped  would 
finally  settle  affairs  in  Italy.  Instead  of  waiting  to  be  attacked  he 
invaded  Piedmont,  and  in  the  battle  of  Novara  inflicted  a  crushing 
defeat  upon  the  Sardinians,  who  were  commanded  by  the  Polish 
general  Chrzanowski  (23  March).  So  disastrous  was  the  battle,  and 
so  exorbitant  the  terms  proposed  by  Radetsky,  that  on  the  same 
evening  Charles  Albert  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  eldest  son,  Victor 


700  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

Emmanuel  II.,  and  quitted  Italy  for  Oporto,  where  he  died  on 
July  28.  The  new  king  was  married  to  the  daughter  of  an  Austrian 
archduke,  and  had  not  inspired  the  same  invincible  distrust  as  his 
father.  Radetsky  now  offered  an  immediate  armistice,  on  condition 
that  Victor  Emmanuel  should  pledge  himself  to  conclude  a  peace  as 
soon  as  possible,  to  reduce  his  army  to  a  peace  footing,  and  to  hand 
over  the  fortress  of  Alessandria  to  Austrian  occupation  as  a  hostage 
for  his  good  faith.  These  terms,  though  far  milder  than  had  been 
offered  to  Charles  Albert,  were  resented  as  dishonourable  in  Turin, 
and  the  young  king  had  to  enter  his  capital  by  night  to  avoid  the 
risk  of  being  insulted  by  his  new  subjects.  Few  men  could  have  an- 
ticipated that  a  ruler  whose  reign  began  under  such  gloomy  auspices 
would  become  before  its  close  the  recognised  king  of  a  free  and 
united  Italy.  A  revolt  in  Lombardy,  which  had  broken  out  directly 
hostilities  commenced,  was  put  down  by  the  Austrians  with  prompt 
severity.  Brescia,  the  only  place  which  made  a  conspicuous  re- 
sistance, was  stormed  by  Haynau,  whose  conduct  on  this  occasion 
earned  him  the  name  of  the  "  Hyama  of  Brescia,"  and  a  reputa- 
tion for  cruelty  which  was  enhanced  by  his  subsequent  deeds  in 
Hungary.  The  final  treaty  between  Austria  and  Sardinia  (August  6) 
restored  matters  to  their  condition  before  the  war,  the  defeated 
countiy  having  to  pay  an  idemnity  of  seventy-five  million  francs. 

§  16.  After  their  success  in  the  north  the  Austrians  proceeded  to 
complete  thtir  work  by  putting  down  the  revolution  in  the  other 
provinces  of  Italy.  Entering  Tuscany,  they  occupied  Florence,  put 
down  the  Republic,  and  restored  the  authority  of  the  grand  duke. 
Leopold  now  returned  from  Gaeta,  revoked  the  constitution  which 
he  had  granted  in  the  previous  year,  and  restored  the  old  system 
of  absolute  rule.  Parma,  Bologna,  and  Ancona  were  successively 
occupied  by  the  Austrians,  who  would  undoubtedly  have  advanced 
upon  Rome  if  they  had  not  been  anticipated  by  the  French.  Gene- 
ral Oudinot,  with  8000  men,  landed  at  Civita  Vecchia  on  April  5, 
and  at  once  marched  against  the  city.  The  republican  leaders 
determined  on  a  desperate  resistance,  and  after  seven  hours'  fighting 
the  assailants  were  driven  back  from  the  walls  (30  April).  J3ut 
Oudinot  received  reinforcements,  which  enabled  him  to  invest  the 
city  with  35,000  men,  and,  after  resisting  for  a  month,  Rome  was 
taken  on  July  3.  Garibaldi,  who  had  been  the  inspiring  leader  of 
the  defence,  escaped  with  his  devoted  followers  to  the  mountains. 
Oudinot  put  an  end  to  the  Roman  Republic  by  establishing  a  govern- 
ment in  the  pope's  name,  but  Pius  IX.  refused  to  trust  himself  to 
his  foreign  allies,  and  continued  to  reside  at  Gaeta.  Venice  was  now 
completely  isolated,  but  continued  to  make  a  heroic  resistance  until 
August  26,  when  it  was  compelled,  partly  by  the  bombardment 


a.d.  1848-1849.        REACTION  IN  PRUSSIA.  701 

and  partly  by  famine,  to  capitulate.  Manin,  the  hero  of  the  short- 
lived period  of  liberty,  was  allowed  to  retire  into  exile. 

Meanwhile  the  reaction  in  Naples  and  Sicily  had  been  completed 
without  foreign  assistance.  Ferdinand  II.,  after  recalling  his  troops 
from  the  war  in  Lombardy,  had  employed  them  in  reducing  the 
Sicilians  to  obedience.  Messina  was  taken  by  storm  (7  Sept.,  1848), 
and  the  cruelties  practised  by  the  victors  were  so  atrocious  that 
Ferdinand  received  the  nickname  of  King  Bomba.  The  Neapolitan 
Parliament  was  continually  prorogued,  and  was  finally  dissolved 
without  ever  having  been  allowed  to  meet  The  Austrian  victory 
of  No  vara  encouraged  the  king  to  renew  his  attack  upon  Sicily.  In 
April,  1849,  Palermo  was  captured,  and  by  the  end  of  May  the 
authority  of  the  Neapolitan  king  was  completely  restored. 

§  17.  The  suppression  of  disorder  at  Vienna  after  the  capture  of 
the  city  by  Windischgriitz  led  to  a  similar  reaction  in  Prussia.  A 
constituent  assembly  had  been  sitting  in  Berlin  ever  since  May  22, 
1848,  in  which  the  democratic  party  sought  to  carry  through  its 
aims  with  the  support  of  the  mob.  In  June  the  arsenal  was  sacked, 
and  the  assembly,  instead  of  condemning  the  disturbances,  took 
advantage  of  them  to  abolish  the  constitution  granted  by  the  king 
and  to  issue  a  more  democratic  one  of  their  own.  In  August  and 
September  the  populace  was  guilty  of  fresh  outrages,  which  the 
government  was  unable  to  check.  But  the  news  from  Vienna 
emboldened  the  king,  Frederick  William  IV.,  to  take  decisive  mea- 
sures. Count  .Brandenburg,  a  natural  son  of  Frederick  William  II., 
was  authorised  to  fonn  a  ministry,  of  which  ManteufTel,  minister 
of  the  interior,  was  the  guiding  spirit  (4  Nov.).  Four  days  later 
the  constituent  assembly  was  transferred  from  Berlin  to  the  town  of 
Brandenburg.  When  the  democrats  refused  to  obey,  a  considerable 
body  of  troops  under  Wrangel  entered  the  capital  and  enforced  com- 
pliance. Berlin  was  declared  in  a  state  of  siege,  all  the  inhabi- 
tants were  disarmed,  and  the  political  clubs  were  dissolved.  When 
the  assembly  resumed  their  meeting  in  Brandenburg  (Nov.  27), 
the  left  protested  against  the  recent  action  of  the  government, 
and  quitted  the  hall  in  a  body.  On  December  5  the  king  decreed 
the  dissolution  of  the  assembly,  and  issued  a  new  constitution 
which  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  ministers.  This  established 
two  chambers,  chosen  by  indirect  election.  The  first  election  was 
ordered  to  take  place  in  February,  1849. 

§  18.  While  the  states  of  Europe  were  convulsed  with  the  storm 
of  revolution,  a  grand  national  assembly  at  Frankfort  was 
endeavouring  to  devise  a  constitution  which  should  form  Germany 
into  a  great  and  united  state.  This  assembly,  which  may  be  called 
the  German  Parliament,  to  distinguish  it  from   the  Reichstag  or 


702  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvl 

Bundestag,  had  been  summoned  by  the  Vorparlament,  and  was 
opened  in  the  church  of  St.  Paul  on  May  18,  1848.  It  contained 
at  first  300  members,  but  their  number  was  afterwards  increased 
to  500.  The  Parliament  failed  to  carry  out  its  resolutions,  but 
nevertheless  it  was  a  notable  experiment,  and  a  worthy  exponent  of 
the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  noblest  minds  of  Germany.  The 
great  obstacle  to  its  success  was  that  it  had  nothing  but  moral  force 
to  rely  upon ;  that  it  trusted  to  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  to 
triumph  over  the  jealous  interests  of  the  princes  and  the  deeply- 
rooted  tendencies  to  disunion.  From  the  first  the  assembly  was 
divided  into  three  fairly  distinct  parties.  On  the  right  the  con- 
servatives, headed  by  von  Radowitz  and  Vincke,  wished  to  nego- 
tiate an  agreement  between  the  Parliament  and  the  independent 
princes  and  governments  of  the  separate  states.  On  the  left  the 
democrats,  led  by  Robert  Blum  of  Leipzig,  aimed  at  the  establish- 
ment of  a  federal  republic,  and  made  up  for  their  numerical 
weakness  by  stirring  up  the  passions  of  the  lower  classes.  The 
centre  was  the  largest  party,  and  comprised  many  of  the  most 
eminent  men  in  Germany.  Among  its  leaders  were  Gagern, 
Dahlmann,  Gervinus,  Arndt,  Beseler,  and  Jacob  Grimm.  These 
men  were  the  partisans  of  constitutional  monarchy.  They  were 
imbued  with  the  most  ardent  love  of  their  country,  but  their 
want  of  practical  experience  in  public  business  exposed  them  to  the 
charge  of  being  doctrinaires. 

The  choice  of  the  president,  Gagern,  gave  evidence  that  the 
centre  was  likely  to  have  the  decisive  voice.  The  first  business  was 
to  establish  an  executive  government  to  take  the  place  of  the  effete 
and  useless  Bundestag.  After  a  long  discussion  it  was  decided  to 
choose  a  provisional  administrator  from  among  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  ruling  families.  The  choice  fell  upon  the  archduke 
John,  who  had  shown  popular  sympathies,  and  who,  as  a  Hapsburg, 
was  likely  to  be  acceptable  to  the  princes.  The  election  was  in- 
tended to  be  a  temporary  compromise.  The  party  of  Gagern  and 
Dahlmann  was  fully  determined  to  entrust  the  headship  of  a  new 
constitutional  empire  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  the  weakness  of 
Austria  at  this  time  made  such  a  measure  more  than  usually 
feasible.  But  at  the  moment  Frederick  William  IV.  was  extremely 
unpopular  in  Germany,  and  it  was  necessary  to  gain  time  in  order 
that  this  feeling  might  die  away.  On  July  11  the  administrator 
made  his  formal  entry  into  Frankfort,  and  the  Bundestag  resigned 
its  functions  into  his  hands.  He  proceeded  to  nominate  a  ministry 
which  should  be  responsible  for  all  acts  of  the  executive.  From 
the  first  the  weakness  of  the  central  government  was  obvious  to  all 
eyes.     The  Parliament  ordered  that  all  German  troops  should  take 


a.d.  1848.  THE  GERMAN  PARLIAMENT.  703 

an  oath  of  fealty  to  the  administrator.  But  the  princes  were  by  no 
means  inclined  to  sacrifice  one  iota  of  their  military  independence, 
and  in  the  larger  states  the  order  was  simply  disregarded.  It  was 
manifest  that  the  central  government  existed  only  by  the  tolerance 
of  the  states,  and  that  if  they  refused  to  obey  there  was  no  force 
which  could  compel  their  obedience. 

Before  proceeding  to  draw  up  the  new  constitution,  the  Parlia- 
ment set  itself  to  formulate  "  the  fundamental  rights  of  the  German 
people."  This  was  a  grotesque  error  of  tactics.  The  discussion  of 
first  principles  naturally  led  to  an  endless  discussion,  and  during 
the  delay  the  princes  were  recovering  strength.  The  first  impulse 
of  the  revolutionary  movement  might  have  been  strong  enough  to 
force  a  federal  constitution  upon  Germany,  but  the  Parliament 
foolishly  allowed  this  impulse  to  spend  itself  anil  a  reaction  to  set 
in  before  they  entered  upon  their  real  task.  And  the  discussion  of 
the  fundamental  rights  was  not  carried  on  without  frequent  inter- 
ruptions. Every  movement  in  Berlin  or  Vienna,  every  detail  of 
foreign  politics,  the  great  question  of  the  non-German  nationalities 
in  Poland,  Bohemia,  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  all  gave  rise  to  lengthy 
debates  in  the  Parliament,  though  it  was  unable  to  exercise  a 
practical  influence  on  any  one  of  them.  Among  the  matters  that 
excited  the  keenest  interest  in  Frankfort  was  the  war  in  Schleswig- 
Holstetn,  from  which  the  Prussian  troops  had  been  withdrawn. 
The  Parliament  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  duchies  and  of 
"  the  honour  of  Germany."  It  decreed  the  formation  of  a  federal 
army  and  fleet  in  order  to  carry  on  the  war,  even  without  the 
co-operation  of  Prussia.  But  meanwhile  Frederick  William  IV. 
had  opened  negotiations  with  Denmark,  which  led  to  the  conclusion 
of  a  truce  at  Malmo  (26  August).  By  this  it  was  agreed  that 
Schleswig  and  Holstein  should  be  subject  to  a  common  government 
of  which  half  the  members  should  be  nominated  by  Prussia  and 
half  by  Denmark;  that  all  acts  of  the  provisional  government 
should  bo  declared  null,  and  that  the  Schleswig  troops  should  be 
separated  from  those  of  Holstein.  The  Parliament  denounced  this 
truce  as  dishonourable,  but  was  ultimately  compelled  to  confirm  it. 
This  proof  of  weakness  gave  an  opportunity  for  the  democratic 
party  to  show  its  discontent  with  the  action  of  the  majority,  and 
especially  with  the  appointment  of  the  administrator.  Riots  broke 
out  at  Frankfort,  and  two  deputies,  Lichnowsky  and  Auerswald, 
were  brutally  murdered  (18  September).  But  the  Government 
showed  unexpected  energy.  The  disorders  were  suppressed  by  the 
troops,  and  most  of  the  democratic  leaders  quitted  Frankfort. 

§  19.  By  the  end  of  1848  the  Parliament  had  drawn  up  the 
**  fundamental  rights,"  and  published  them  as  a  Christmas  present 


704  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

to  the  nation.  They  were  based  on  the  prevailing  liberal  theories, 
and  included  legal  equality  for  all  men  without  regard  to  class 
privileges,  the  abolition  of  all  feudal  dues  and  burdens  on  the 
peasants,  the  freedom  of  the  press,  religious  equality,  trial  by  jury, 
the  abolition  of  capital  punishment,  &c.  The  lesser  states  accepted 
them,  the  greater  states  took  no  notice,  and  they  were  soon  for- 
gotten. The  assembly  now  turned  to  the  great  question  of  the 
constitution.  By  far  the  most  important  problem  was  the  relation 
of  Austria  to  a  German  federation.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year 
Austria,  then  in  the  thick  of  her  difficulties,  had  been  disregarded, 
but  matters  had  been  completely  altered  in  October  by  the  reduc- 
tion of  Vienna  to  obedience.  The  restoration  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  with  a  Hapsburg  head  was  impossible,  because  Prussia 
would  never  submit  to  it.  Equally  impossible  in  the  eyes  of  the 
assembly  was  a  return  to  the  old  organisation  of  the  Bundy  which 
had  completely  proved  its  inefficiency.  In  these  circumstances  the 
Parliament  had  three  alternatives  to  choose  between.  (1)  Austria 
might  be  split  up,  and  its  German  provinces  might  be  united  with 
the  German  federation.  (2)  The  Austrian  empire  might  be  left  as 
it  stood,  and  be  excluded  from  Germany  altogether.  (3)  Even 
though  this  latter  plan  were  carried  out,  some  bond  might  be  found 
to  unite  the  Austrian  empire  with  the  German  federation.  This 
last  was  the  plan  adopted  by  Gagern  and  his  immediate  followers, 
who  proposed  to  form  two  federations — a  smaller,  which  should 
exclude,  and  a  larger,  which  should  include,  Austria.  But  this 
proposal  alienated  a  number  of  sincere  patriots,  who  could  not 
endure  the  formation  of  a  united  Germany  to  which  any  Germans 
were  refused  admission.  On  this  question  parties  were  completely 
readjusted  in  the  Parliament.  On  the  one  side  stood  the  "Great 
Germans,"  who  would  not  hear  of  the  exclusion  of  Austria ;  on  the 
other  the  "Little  Germans,"  who  saw  no  chance  of  forming  a 
permanent  union  of  Germany  except  under  the  headship  of  Prussia, 
and  who  realised  that  the  admission  of  Austria  would  be  fatal  to 
their  scheme.  The  "  Great  Germans  "  consisted  not  only  of  Aus- 
trian deputies,  but  of  those  from  Bavaria  and  most  of  the  South 
German  states,  which  were  hostile  to  Prussia  on  religious  and 
political  grounds.  They  had  also  the  support  of  the  democrats  on 
the  left,  who  did  all  in  their  power  to  frustrate  the  scheme  of 
establishing  a  German  monarchy.  Gagern  was  at  this  time 
appointed  minister  by  the  Archduke  John,  and  his  place  as  president 
was  taken  by  Simson,  a  deputy  from  Konigsberg. 

Parties  being  so  evenly  divided  on  a  question  of  vital  importance, 
the  work  of  framing  the  constitution  proceeded  slowly.  It  was 
decided  that  the  executive  government  should  have  the  conduct  of 


a.d.  1849.  THE  GERMAN  PARLIAMENT.  705 

foreign  relations,  the^supreme  control  of  the  army,  and  the  right 
of  deciding  peace  or  war.  ..The,  legislature  was  to  consist  of  £iro 
houses  :  a  federal  chamber  (Stale  iJtaus),  based  on  the  independence 
of  the  states ;  and  a  popular  chamber  (  Volkshaus\  based  upon  the 
unity  of  the  people.  -The  most  obstinate  discussions  naturally  arose 
about  the  form  which  the  executive  government  should  take.  The 
extreme  right  proposed  a  simple  return  to  the  old  Bundestag,  the 
extreme  left  proposed  to  establish  an  elective  presidency  to  which 
any  adult  German  might  aspire.  Between  these  two  schemes 
every  conceivable  variety  of  government  was  brought  forward  for 
discussion.  Some  wanted  a  "  directory  w  of  princes,  with  Austria 
or  I  'russia  as  alternate  presidents ;  others  a  triple  executive,  in  which 
Bavaria  should  be  associated  with  the  two  great  powers.  Austria 
demanded  that  there  should  be  a  directory  of  seven  princes,  with 
nine  votes,  Austria  and  Prussia  having  two  votes  each.  Gradually 
the  advantages  of  a  single  head  were  realised,  but  even  then  further 
difficulties  arose.  Should  he  be  elective  or  hereditary  ?  should  he 
bear  the  imperial  or  soiue  other  title?  should  the  office  pass  in 
rotation  among  the  great  families  ?  The  party  of  Gagern  stood  firm 
to  their  original  programme,  the  appointment  of  a  single  hereditary 
emperor,  and  they  carried. the  day.  This  pointed  unmistakably 
to  the  election  of  the  Prussian  king,  and  the  exclusion  of  Austria. 
The  "  Great  German n  party  was. so  indignant  at  this  that  they 
alii  <1  themselves  with  the  left  to  introduce  democratic  provisions 
into  the  constitution,  in  the  hope  of  thus  ensuring  its  failure.  In 
consequence  of  this  alliance  manhood  suffrage  was  fixed  for  the 
popular  chamber,  and  the  veto  of  the  emperor  was  made  suspen- 
sive instead  of  absolute.  The  constitutional  party  realised  that 
these  articles  threatened  their  scheme  with  shipwreck,  but  they 
could  obtain  no  other  terms.  The  constitution  was  carried  as  a  whole 
in  the  second  reading,  and  on  April  3,  1849,  a  deputation  appeared 
in  Berlin  to  offer  the  hereditary  empire  to  the  king  of  Prussia. 

§  20.  The  offer  was  sufficiently  tempting,  but  Frederick  William 
IV.,  made  up  his  mind  at  the  last  moment  to  refuse  it,  and  it  must 
be  confessed  that  he  had  ample  reason  for  doing  so.  The  demo- 
cratic clauses  which  the  left  had  tacked  on  to  the  constitution  were 
distasteful  to  a  prince  who  had  had  to  contend  with  the  populace 
in  his  own  capital,  and  the  crown  could  not  be  accepted  without 
the  constitution.  The  whole  work  of  the  Parliament  had  originated 
with  the  revolution,  and  the  king  would  receive  no  gift  from  such 
a  source.  His  acceptance  would  probably  have  involved  him  in  a 
war  with  Austria,  in  which  he  would  have  to  face  the  hostility  of 
all  the  Roman  Catholic  states  of  southern  Germany.  The  decree 
of  the  Parliament  had  only  been  carried  by  a  very  small  majority, 


706  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxti. 

and  the  prospect  of  coercing  unwilling  subjects  was  not  attractive. 
Moreover,  flattering  as  the  proposal  was,  there  were  many  Prussians 
who  were  hostile  to  it,  and  who  feared  that  the  u  rise  of  Prussia 
into  Germany,"  as  it  was  termed,  would  involve  the  sinking  of 
Prussian  nationality  and  independence.  And,  finally,  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  the  influence  of  the  Czar,  who  regarded  himself 
as  the  special  protector  of  the  Confederation  of  1815,  had  not  a 
little  to  do  with  Frederick  William's  decision. 

The  refusal  of  Prussia  gave  a  great  advantage  to  the  democratic 
party  at  Frankfort,  and  this  was  increased  by  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Austrian  deputies  (14  April).  The  administrator  had  at  first 
determined  to  resign  his  office  on  the  election  of  an  emperor,  but 
advice  from  Vienna  decided  him  to  retain  it  until  a  federation 
had  been  established  which  included  Austria.  The  assembly  was 
resolute  in  its  adherence  to  the  constitution,  and  appointed  a 
committee  of  thirty  to  superintend  the  measures  for  carrying  it 
out.  Twenty-eight  of  the  lesser  states  had  already  announced  their 
adhesion,  but  the  kings  of  Bavaria,  Saxony,  Hanover  and  Wurtem- 
berg  held  aloof.  It  was  decided  to  force  the  hand  of  these  princes 
by  bringing  pressure  to  bear  upon  them  from  their  own  subjects. 
But  the  kings  met  this  by  promptly  dismissing  their  estates.  In 
Prussia  the  lower  chamber  petitioned  the  king  to  accept  the  proposals 
from  Frankfort,  and  was  dissolved  on  April  27.  But  the  Parliament 
refused  to  be  daunted,  and  decreed  on  May  4  that  all  governments 
should  be  called  upon  to  accept  the  constitution ;  that  if  the  king  of 
Prussia  refused  the  headship  of  the  empire  it  should  be  conferred 
provisionally  upon  the  next  most  powerful  prince  ;  that  the  first 
diet,  elected  in  the  manner  provided  for,  should  meet  on  August  22. 

To  enforce  these  decrees  the  now  dominant  left  determined  to 
employ  the  revolutionary  methods  which  had  been  so  potent  in  the 
previous  year.  A  riot  in  Dresden  compelled  the  king  to  fly  to 
Konigstein,  and  a  provisional  government  was  erected.  But  the 
troops,  with  Prussian  assistance,  speedily  got  the  better  of  the  mob, 
and'  an  attempted  rising  in  Leipzig  was  also  suppressed.  More 
important  were  the  revolutions  in  Baden  and  the  Palatinate,  but 
here  also  Prussia  intervened  with  decisive  effect.  The  Parliament 
was  now  completely  discredited.  The  Prussian  and  Saxon  deputies 
were  withdrawn,  and  Gagern,  finding  himself  in  a  hopeless  minority, 
resigned  office  with  his  colleagues.  The  democrats,  thus  left  to 
their  own  devices,  passed  futile  protests  against  the  action  of 
Prussia,  and  took  the  revolutionary  movement  under  their  feeble 
protection.  Thinking  Frankfort  insecure,  they  transferred  their 
session  to  Stuttgart  (G  June);  but  when  they  endeavoured  to 
excite  a  movement  among  the  mob,  the  government  of  Wurtem- 


a.d.  1849-1850.      AUSTRIA  AND   PRUSSIA.  707 

berg  closed  the  hall  against  them,  and  the  first  German  Parliament 
came  to  an  end  on  June  18,  1849.  It  had  failed  lamentably  to 
carry  through  the  work  it  had  undertaken  ;  but  it  had  played  a 
conspicuous  part  in  its  earlier  days,  and  it  had  given  an  impulse  to 
German  unity  which  was  destined  to  take  effect  in  later  times. 

§  21.  As  Austria  was  at  this  time  occupied  with  the  wars  in 
Hungary  and  Italy,  the  restoration  of  order  in  Germany  fell  to 
Prussia,  which  thus  obtained  a  commanding  position.  Frederick 
William  IV.  had  not  refused  the  offer  of  the  empire  from  any 
personal  unwillingness  or  want  of  ambition ;  on  the  contrary,  he 
was  eager  to  become  the  head  of  Germany,  if  he  could  do  so  with 
the  consent  of  the  other  governments,  instead  of  being  forced  upon 
them  by  a  revolutionary  Assembly.  On  May  17, 1849,  he  opened 
a  conference  of  princes  at  Berlin,  before  which  he  laid  his  plan  of  a 
confederation  exclusive  of  Austria.  Prussia  was  to  be  president  of 
a  college  of  princes  with  six  votes,  and  a  federal  parliament  was  to 
be  formed  of  two  chambers.  Bavaria  withdrew  from  the  meeting, 
but  Hanover  and  Saxony  remained,  and  thus  was  formed  the 
"league  of  the  three  kings*'  (Dreikonigsbund).  The  party  of 
Gagern  and  Dahlmann  held  a  meeting  at  Gotha  (the  Nachparla- 
ment)  to  express  their  approval  of  the  Prussian  plan. 

But  Austria  now  succeeded  in  putting  down  the  opposition  in 
Italy  and  Hungary,  and  prepared  to  vindicate  its  position  in 
Germany.  Bavaria  and  Wurtemberg  offered  their  mediation,  and 
the  Interim  was  arranged  as  a  compromise  between  the  two  rival 
powers.  This  formed  a  commission,  appointed  by  Austria  and 
Prussia,  into  whose  bauds  the  administrator  was  to  resign  his 
functions,  and  which  should  act  as  a  provisional  government  in 
Germauy  until  May  1,  1850.  The  Prussian  king  met  the  emperor 
of  Austria  at  Toplitz  (7  Sept.),  and  accepted  this  agreement  But 
the  rivalry  of  the  two  states  continued  uutil  a  permanent  settle- 
ment could  be  arranged.  The  "league  of  the  three  kings n  was 
broken  up  by  the.  secession  of  Hanover  and  Saxony,  but  Prussia 
adhered  to  its  plan  of  forming  a  "Union"  apart  from  Austria. 
The  issue  of  a  new  Prussian  constitution  (6  Feb.  1850)  conciliated 
the  liberal  party  in  Germany,  while  Austria  relied  upon  the 
arbitrary  tendencies  of  the  princes.  On  March  20  the  second 
German  Parliament  met  at  Erfurt,  but  it  had  none  of  the  prestige 
or  independence  of  its  predecessor  at  Frankfort.  It  was  completely 
subservient  to  Prussian  influence,  and  sat  only  to  confirm  the 
projected  "  Union,"  which  was  now  joined  by  Hesse-Cassel,  Olden- 
burg, Baden,  Weimar,  and  other  lesser  states. 

§  22.  But  Austria  refused  to  fall  without  a  struggle  from  the 
leading  position  it  had  so  long  held  in  Germany,  and  could  rely 


708  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

upon  the  unhesitating  support  of  the  four  kingdoms  and  of  Russia, 
which  now  began  to  exercise  a  great  influence  in  German  affairs. 
The  ministry  of  Schwarzenberg  took  the  bold  step  of  summoning 
the  old  Bundestag  to  Frankfort,  and  the  summons  was  obeyed  by 
all  the  states  which  had  not  joined  the  "  Union."  Germany  was 
thus  divided  into  two  hostile  camps,  and  only  a  slight  impulse  was 
needed  to  bring  about  a  civil  war.  This  impulse  was  given  by 
eyents  in  Hessfir-Gassel,  where  the  reactionary  government  of  the 
minister  Hansen  pflug  provoked  a  rebellion.  The  elector  fled  and 
appealed*  to  the  Bundestag,  which  promptly  armed  in  his  defence. 
But  Hesse-Cassel  was  a  member  of  the  "  Union,"  and  Prussia 
prepared  troops  to  resist  any  external  intervention.  For  the 
moment  a  conflict  seemed  inevitable.  But.  in  Prussia  a  strong 
party  had  arisen  under  the  leadership  of  Gerlach,  RetzrJw,  and 
Bismarck-Schonhausen,  which  disapproved  of  all  the  recent  acts 
of  the  government,  and  wished  to  prevent  the  absorption  of  Prussia 
into  Germany.  Its  organ,  the  Kreuz  Zeitung,  advocated  a  complete 
rupture  with  the  Revolution,  and  an  alliance  of  Prussia  with  the 
absolute  powers  of  Austria  and  Russia.  The  influence  of  this 
party,  and  the  intervention  of  Russia,  prevented  Frederick  William 
IV.  from  embarking  in  a  war,  the  issue  of  which  was  more  than 
doubtful.  A  conference  at  Olmiitz  ended  in  the  conclusion  of  a  con- 
vention (29  Nov.),  by  which  Prussia  gave  up  the  *  Union,"  with- 
drew its  protection  from  the  movement  in  Hesse,  and  agreed  to 
join  a  conference,  at  Dresden  for  the  settlement  of  German  affairs. 
Count  Brandenburg,  who  was  ill,  succumbed  to  the  bitter  humilia- 
tion, and  Manteuffel,  who  became  head  of  the  ministry,  allied 
himself  closely  with  the  Kreuz  party.  The  rebellion  in  Hesse  was 
put  down  by  the  troops  of  the  Bund,  the  authority  of  the  elector 
was  restored,  and  Hassenpflug  resumed  the  arbitrary  rule  which  had 
provoked  the  outbreak. 

The  conference  of  Dresden  was  opened  under  the  presidency  of 
Schwarzenberg  on  December  23.  From  the  first  it  was  evident 
that  the  influence  of  Russia  would  be  decisive.  The  motives  of  the 
Czar's  policy  were  very  simple.  He  wished  to  maintain  the 
rivalry  of  Austria  and  Prussia,  and,  by  supporting  the  lesser  states, 
to  prevent,  either  of  them  from  obtaining  increased  power.  He 
demanded,  therefore,  the  simple  restoration  of  the  old  state  of 
things  before  1848.  This  was  the  net  result  of  the  conference, 
which  was  closed  on  May  15,  1850.  *  On  trie  same  day  a  Prussian 
plenipotentiary  joined  the  Bundestag  at  Frankfort.  Thus  the  great 
movement  ended  in  complete  failure.  Francis  Joseph  revoked 
the  Austrian  constitution  (1  Jan.,  1852).  Frederick  William  IV., 
however,  in  spite  of  the  influence  of  the  Kreuz  party,  retained  the 


a.d.  1850-1852.  SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.  709 

constitution  of  1850,  and  thus  Prussia  stood  ready  to  assume  the 
headship  of  Germany  under  more  favourable  circumstances. 

§  23.  The  intricate  question  of  Schleswig-Holstein  was  still  un- 
settled. In  March,  1849,  the  Danish  government  declared  the  truce 
of  Malmo  (see  p.  703)  at  an  end  and  renewed  the  war.  The  German 
Bund  sent  45,000  troops  to  the  assistance  of  the  duchies,  and  the 
Daues  were  defeated  in  several  engagements.  But  a  decisive  Danish 
victory  at  Fredericia  (6  July)  compelled  the  acceptance  of  a  truce 
by  which  Schleswig  and  Holstein  were  separated.  The  latter  duchy, 
as  a  member  of  the  Bund,  was  to  remain  under  the  rule  of  the 
administrator,  but  Schleswig  was  to  receive  a  Danish  government; 
and  the  German  troops  were  to  be  withdrawn.  A  year  later  thu 
arrangement  was  confirmed  by  a  definitive  treaty  between  Den* 
mark  and  Prussia  (2  July,  1850).  The  duchies,  however,  refused 
to  accept  the  treaty  and  continued  the  war  on  their  own  account. 
But  they  were  defeated  in  one  battle  after  another,  and  foreign 
intervention  stepped  in  to  put  an  end  to  the  contest  At  the 
conference  of  Olmiitz  Austria  and  Prussia  agreed  to  take  joint 
measures  to  restore  peace  in  Schleswig  and  Holstein.  Their  troops 
marched  into  the  duchies  and  compelled  the  cessation  of  hostili- 
ties. Ultimately  the  treaty  of  London  (8  May,  1852),  signed  by 
England,  Russia,  Austria,  France,  Prussia,  and  Sweden,  guaranteed 
the  integrity  of  the  Danish  monarchy,  the  succession  to  which  was 
promised  to  Christian  of  Gliicksburg  and  his  male  issue.  The  rights 
of  the  German  Confederation  m  Holstein  were  left  undisturbed, 
and  the  duke  of  Augustenburg,  whose  legal  claim  to  the  duchies 
was  arbitrarily  disregarded,  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  a 
pecuniary  compensation.  Frederick  of  Denmark  granted  his  subjects 
a  new  constitution  (Oct.  1865)  and  allowed  Schleswig  and  Holstein 
to  retain  separate  provincial  estates.  But  he  failed  to  conciliate  the 
affection  of  bis  German  subjects,  and  their  discontent  survived  to  be 
the  source  of  future  com  plication. 

III.  The  Second  Republic  and1  the  Second  Empire  in  Fbance. 

§  24.  After  the  suppression  of  the  socialist  rising  of  June,  1848, 
Cavaignac  had  carried  on  the  government  of  France  with  almost 
perfect  tranquillity.  The  assembly  proceeded  with  its  work  of 
drawing  up  a  constitution  for  the  Republic.  The  legislative  power 
was  entrusted  to  a  single  chamber  of  750  members  chosen  by 
manhood  suffrage.  All  parties  agreed  to  place  the  executive  power 
in  the  hands  of  a  President,  the  royalists  because  the  office  resembled 
a  monarchy,  the  republicans  in  imitation  of  the  constitution  of 
America.    The  chief  discussion  arose  on  the  question  whether  the 


710  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

President  should  be  chosen  by  the  assembly  or  by  the  nation,  but 
ultimately  it  was  decided  that  he  should  be  elected  by  universal 
suffrage  for  four  years.  The  subordination  of  the  President  to  the 
assembly  was  strongly  asserted,  but  no  means  were  suggested  for 
enforcing  it.  It  was  a  hazardous  experiment  to  create  two  powers 
both  having  an  independent  origin,  without  any  provision  to  avert  a 
dead-lock  between  them.  But  for  the  moment  future  dangers  were 
forgotten  and  men's  minds  were  absorbed  in  the  approaching  election, 
which  was  fixed  for  December  10.  The  republican  candidate  was 
Cavaignac,  who  had  given  conclusive  proofs  of  his  honesty  and  of  his 
ability  to  rule.  But  he  had  alienated  the  socialists  by  his  conduct 
in  the  June  rising ;  he  was  regarded  with  jealousy  by  many  of  his 
fellow-officers ;  and  his  very  devotion  to  the  Republic  told  against 
him  among  those  who  cared  less  for  democratic  equality  than  for 
the  protection  of  their  property.  His  most  formidable  rival  was 
Louis  Napoleon,  who  had  been  elected  in  September  by  five  de- 
partments. This  time  no  opposition  was  made  to  his  return  to 
France,  and  he  took  his  seat  as  deputy  for  the  department  of  the 
Seine.  Little  was  known  of  him  but  the  futile  conspiracies  of 
Strasburg  and  Boulogne,  but  his  name  was  a  charm  to  conjure  with. 
Thanks  to  Thiers  and  other  writers,  the  memory  of  the  first 
Napoleon  had  come  to  be  almost  worshipped  in  Prance.  The 
peasants  and  soldiers  believed  that  the  rule  of  another  Napoleon 
would  secure  their  prosperity  and  their  glory.  The  Orleanists  also 
supported  him,  in  the  belief  that  they  could  use  him  as  their 
instrument  to  effect  the  restoration  of  the  July  monarchy,  but  events 
proved  that  their  confidence  in  his  incapacity  was  ill-founded. 
Among  the  other  candidates  were  Ledru-Rollin,  Raspail,  the  cham- 
pion of  the  advanced  socialists,  and  Lamartine,  whose  popularity  had 
declined  as  rapidly  as  it  had  arisen.  From  the  first  commencement 
of  the  voting,  the  result  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  The  recorded 
votes  numbered  nearly  seven  millions  and  a  half.  Of  these 
Louis  Napoleon  received  5,434,226,  and  Cavaignac  only  1,443,107. 
Ledru-Rollin  came  next  with  370,119,  and  the  other  candidates 
received  hardly  any  support.  On  December  20  the  President  took 
the  prescribed  oath  to  observe  the  constitution,  and  entered  upon 
his  official  residence  in  the  palace  of  the  Elysee. 

§  25.  From  the  first  Louis  Napoleon  made  it  his  aim  to  abolish 
the  republic  and  to  revive  the  empire.  In  complete  contrast  to 
Louis  Philippe,  who  had  relied  upon  the  middle  class,  he  sought 
support  from  the  peasants,  the  army,  and  the  priests.  The  expedi- 
tion to  Rome  under  Oudinot  was  intended  as  a  bribe  to  the  soldiers 
and  the  church.  The  constituent  assembly,  having  completed  its 
work,  was  dissolved,  and  a  new  legislative  assembly  met  in  Paris 


a.d.  1848-1851.     THE  FRENCH  REPUBLIC.  7ll 

on  May  28, 1849.  The  elections  gave  evidence  that  the  republicans 
had  lost  the  confidence  of  the  people.  Neither  Lamartine,  Dupont 
de  rEure,  Gamier  Pages,  Flocon,  nor  Marie  obtained  seats.  The 
opposition  consisted  of  about  120  extreme  democrats  under  the 
lead  of  Ledru-Rollin,  and  they  revived  the  old  revolutionary  title 
of  the  "  Mountain."  The  failure  of  Oudinot's  first  attack  on  Rome 
gave  occasion  for  a  rising  in  Paris  in  June.  But  the  troops  under 
Changarnier  speedily  put  down  disorder,  and  the  movement  of 
reaction  was  strengthened.  Ledru-Rollin  fled  to  London.  Several 
of  the  republican  journals  were  suppressed,  and  a  new  law  was  in- 
troduced to  shackle  the  press.  In  October  the  President  dismissed 
his  ministers,  who  were  too  constitutional  for  his  tastes,  and  filled 
their  places  with  more  obscure  but  more  docile  instruments. 

To  a  certain  extent  the  President  and  the  majority  of  the 
assembly  pursued  common  objects.  Both  were  hostile  to  the 
republic,  but  while  the  latter  wished  to  restore  a  constitutional 
monarchy,  Louis  Napoleon  scarcely  troubled  to  conceal  his  despotic 
inclinations.  As  long  as  they  could  work  together,  the  progress  of 
reaction  was  rapid.  The  parti  de  Tordrt,  headed  by  Thiers,  Broglie, 
Mole,  and  Montalembert,  determined  to  avert  the  dangers  threa- 
tened by  universal  suffrage.  After  a  stormy  debate,  in  which  Thiers 
excited  the  fury  of  the  "  Mountain  n  by  speaking  of  "  la  vile  multi- 
tude" they  carried  their  proposal  restricting  the  suffrage  to  citi- 
zens domiciled  for  three  consecutive  years  in  the  same  commune 
(May  30,  1850).  To  simplify  press  prosecutions,  it  was  decreed 
that  all  articles  should  be  signed  by  the  writers.  A  number  of 
eminent  professors  were  removed  from  the  university  on  account 
of  their  republican  opinions. 

As  the  period  of  his  presidency  was  running  out,  and  the 
constitution  prohibited  his  re-election,  it  became  necessary  for  Louis 
Napoleon  to  take  active  measures  to  secure  his  power.  He  was 
always  discussing  schemes  with  his  associates,  but  could  never 
make  up  his  mind  as  to  the  exact  moment  for  executing  them. 
As  his  designs  became  more  and  more  apparent,  the  assembly 
began  to  show  distrust  and  hostility.  In  January,  1851,  General 
Changarnier  was  dismissed  from  the  command  of  the  Paris  garrison 
and  the  national  guard,  apparently  because  his  regiments  had  not 
raised  the  cry  of  Vive  VEmpereur  /  at  the  recent  reviews.  The 
assembly  declared  its  confidence  in  the  general  and  its  want  of 
confidence  in  the  ministry.  This  compelled  the  retirement  of  the 
ministers,  but  their  successors  were  equally  docile  to  the  president, 
and  equally  unacceptable  to  the  legislature.  Petitions,  got  up  by 
Napoleon's  agents,  poured  in  from  the  provinces  to  demand  a 
revision  of  the  constitution,  but  the  requisite  majority  of  votes  in 


712  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvi. 

the  assembly  could  not  be  obtained,  and  the  project  was  dropped. 
Napoleon  now  determined  to  throw  himself  upon  the  support  of 
the  people.  The  assembly  had  made  itself  very  unpopular  by  the 
law  of  May  30,  1850,  which  had  reduced  the  number  of  electors  by 
three  millions.  The  ministers  proposed  the  repeal  of  the  law,  but 
the  majority  refused  to  give  up  their  measure.  Thus  the  President 
posed  as  the  champion  of  democratic  liberties  against  an  oligarchi- 
cal and  reactionary  assembly.  At  last  Louis  Napoleon  considered 
that  his  time  had  come,  and  fixed  December  2,  the  anniversary  of 
Austerlitz,  as  the  date  for  the  long-meditated  coup  d'etat. 

§  26.  The  necessary  preparations  had  been  carefully  made  by 
Napoleon's  agents,  M.  de  Morny,  Generals  St.  Arnaud  and  Magnan, 
and  M.  de  Maupas,  the  prefect  of  police.  On  the  night  of  the  first, 
while  suspicions  were  lulled  by  a  grand  party  at  the  Elysee,  the 
troops  were  distributed,  and  the  necessary  placards  and  proclama- 
tions were  printed  at  the  government  press.  The  first  blow  was 
struck  by  the  imprisonment  of  the  most  dangerous  opponents. 
Generals  Cavaignac,  Changarnier,  Lamoriciere,  Bedeau,  together 
with  Thiers,  Victor  Hugo,  and  .Eugene  Sue,  were  simultaneously 
seized  in  the  middle  of  the  nigh^t  and  dispersed  to  different  prisons. 
In  the  morning  proclamations  appeared  in  all  the  streets  announc- 
ing that  the  National  Assembly  was  dissolved,  that  a  new  election 
was  to  take  place  on  Deoember  14*  that  universal  suffrage  was 
restored,  and  that  Paris  aad  the  department  of  the  Seine  were  in 
a  state  of  siege.  A  new  ministry -was  announced,  in  which  Momy 
was  minister  of  the  interior ;  St.  Arnaud,  of  war;  M.  Rouher,  of 
justice,  and  M.  Fould,  of  finance.  In  an  "  appeal  to  the  people  " 
Louis  Napoleon  proposed  that  the  executive  head  of  the  government 
should  be  chosen  for  ten  years,  and  that  a  Council  of  State,  a  Senate, 
and  a  Legislative  Assembly  should  be  created  on  the  model  of  his 
uncle's  constitution  of  the  18th  Brumaire.  Meanwhile,  about  250 
deputies  met  in  the  Palais  -Bourbon,  and  were  preparing  a  protest 
against  the  action  of  the  president,  when  the  hall  was  surrounded 
by  troops,  and  they  found  themselves  prisoners.  By  this  act  the 
opposition  was  deprived  of  any  common  centre  of  union.  Isolated 
revolts  took  place  on  the  next  two  days,  and  the  usual  barricades 
were  erected,  but  the  troops  gained  an  easy  victory,  though  not 
without  considerable  bloodshed.  By  the  evening  of  the  4th  the 
success  of  the  coup  d'etat  was  secured.  The  plebiscite  was  commenced 
on  December  20,  and  resulted  in  an  enormous  majority  in  favour 
of  the  new  constitution.  The  number  of  recorded  votes  was 
7,439,216  to  646,757.  The  result  of  this  vote  was  that  Napoleon 
became  President  for  ten  years,  and  the  chief  constitutional  checks 
upon  his  power  were  removed. 


a.d.  1851-1852.  THE  SECOND  EMPIRE.  713 

Like  all  restored  princes,  Louis  Napoleon  was  an  imitator.  On 
December  2  he  had  closely  copied  the  18th  Brumaire ;  his  constitution, 
which  was  formally  issued  on  January  15,  returned  to  the  system  of 
the  first  Napoleon ;  the  uncle  had  been  Consul,  the  nephew  was 
President.  To  complete  the  external  parallel,  it  was  only  necessary 
to  get  rid  of  the  republican  title  by  reviving  the  empire,  and  it  was 
certain  that  this  would  not  long  be  delayed.  The  gilt  eagles  were  re- 
stored to  the  standards ;  Napoleon's  name  was  substituted  for  that 
of  the  Republic  in  the  public  prayers ;  the  national  guard  was  re- 
constituted ;  the  President  took  up  his  residence  in  the  Tuileries.  In 
the  autumn  Louis  Napoleon  made  a  grand  tour  through  the  prov  inces 
and  was  everywhere  received  with  shouts  of  Vive  VEmpereur  I  The 
same  cry  was  raised  by  the  troops  on  his  return  to  the  capital.  The 
senate  was  directed  to  discuss  the  matter,  and  it  was  decided  once 
more  to  have  recourse  to  a  plebiscite.  The  proposal  was  that  Louis 
Nai*>U'on  should  bo  chosen  hereditary  emperor  of  the  French,  with 
the  right  of  settling  the  succession  among  the  members  of  his 
family.  It  was  carried  without  discussion  by  7,824,129,  to  263,145. 
So  far  universal  suffrage  had  shown  itself  sufficiently  favourable  to 
despotism.  On  December  2, 1852,  the  new  Emperor  was  proclaimed 
as  Napoleon  III. 

§  27.  The  empire  was  accepted  in  Europe  without  hostility,  but 
without  enthusiasm.  The  governments  which  had  just  reo< 
limn  the  shock  of  1848  welcomed  it  as  a  defeat  of  the  revolution. 
The  Czar,  the  patron  of  legitimacy,  was  as  usual  the  last  to  acknow- 
ledge the  new  government  of  France.  In  France  itself  the  coup 
d'etat  had  annihilated  all  opposition.  The  educated  classes  were 
hostile  to  despotism,  but  they  were  overawed  by  a  system  of 
espionage  that  made  the  utterance  of  heedless  words  a  crime.  A 
grc -at  revival  of  material  prosperity  followed  the  restoration  of  order, 
and  the  ardent  pursuit  of  money-making  proved  an  excellent  salve 
for  political  disconteut.  The  constitution  of  January,  1852,  was 
renewal  with  a  few  modifications,  which  increased  the  power  of 
the  tiajHTor,  and  further  humiliated  the  corps  Uyislatif.  To  fuse 
tin-  I  wo  branches  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  the  Comte  de  Charabord 
(Henry  V.)  adopted  the  Comte  de  Paris;  but  the  royalists  continued 
to  be  harmless,  and  the  people  resented  the  treatment  of  the  French 
crown  as  the  property  of  a  family.  The  government  adopted  the 
economical  fallacy  that  unproductive  expenditure  is  beneficial  to 
the  labourers.  Great  part  of  Paris  was  pulled  down  to  make  room 
for  more  magnificent  building*.  The  Rue  de  Rivoli  was  extended 
almost  to  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine,  and  tkus  was  demolished  the 
labyrinth  of  lanes  which  formerly  surrounded  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
and  made  it  always  liable  to  a  surprise.     The  court  was  revived  on 


714  MODEKN  EUKOPE.  Chap,  xxvl 

the  most  magnificent  scale,  and  the  expenditure  on  pomp  and 
festivities  was  enormously  increased  after  the  emperor's  marriage. 
The  first  duty  of  the  founder  of  a  new  dynasty  was  to  marry. 
Napoleon  began  by  looking  round  for  a  princess ;  but  he  found  the 
established  dynasties  so  cool  in  response  to  his  overtures  that  he 
determined  to  conciliate  democratic  prejudices  by  an  alliance  with  a 
subject.  His  choice  fell  upon  Donna  Eugenia  di  Montijo,  the  widow 
of  a  Spanish  general  who  had  fought  under  Napoleon  I.,  and  the 
marriage  was  solemnised  in  January,  1853.  The  empress  Eugenie 
became  the  model  for  fashionable  ladies,  and  her  example  did  much 
to  encourage  that  lavish  extravagance  which  distinguished  and  at 
last  discredited  the  second  empire. 

France  was  once  more  subject  to  the  absolute  rule  of  an  indi- 
vidual, and  the  character  of  that  individual  was  one  of  the"  riddles 
of  the  age.  Napoleon's  personal  courage  was  indisputable,  but  it 
was  combined  with  invincible  procrastination.  No  advice  could 
turn  him  from  his  purpose,  but  no  one  could  predict  the  moment 
when  he  would  carry  it  out.  He  could  not  endure  opposition,  and 
he  surrounded  himself  with  clerks  rather  than  with  ministers. 
Men  like  Gruizot  and  Thiers  refused  to  serve  him,  and  he  could 
never  have  tolerated  their  superiority.  His  early  training  had 
been  that  of  a  conspirator,  and  a  conspirator  he  remained  when  he 
had  attained  the  throne.  There  is  little  doubt  that  in  bis  youth  he 
had  been  mixed  up  in  the  plots  of  secret  societies,  and  the  associa- 
tions then  formed  never  ceased  to  hamper  him.  He  was  always 
afraid  that  any  treachery  to  his  old  allies  would  lead  to  his  assassi- 
nation, and  this  fear  had  much  to  do  with  directing  his  policy 
towards  Italy.  He  was  a  socialist  in  possession  of  absolute  power, 
but  he  had  to  conciliate  the  established  dynasties,  which  hated 
and  dreaded  socialism.  Hence  the  apparent  vacillation  of  his 
policy  and  the  secrecy  which  always  shrouded  his  designs.  He 
was  naturally  indolent  and  averse  to  business ;  he  would  trust  no 
one  to  do  his  work  for  him,  and  thus  his  administration  was  always 
defective.  His  ability  was  considerable,  but  it  was  the  ability  of 
an  imitator.  He  had  none  of  the  original  genius  of  his  great  uncle, 
and  none  of  his  power  of  choosing  the  best  instruments.  Nothing 
but  the  excessive  dread  of  a  new  revolution  could  have  kept  him  in 
power  so  long.  The  domestic  history  of  France  is  almost  a  blank 
in  his  reign.  To  divert  men's  minds  from  the  degradation  and 
corruption  of  his  rule,  he  adopted  a  vigorous  foreign  policy  and 
became  the  firebrand  of  Europe.  The  French  had  been  so  accus- 
tomed to  excitement  for  the  last  few  years  that  they  could  not  live 
without  it.  Napoleon  fully  comprehended  this,  and  bribed  his  sub- 
jects with  magnificent  fetes  at  home,  and  aggressive  wars  abroad. 


a.d.  1852-1854.  NAPOLEON  III.  715 

It  was  generally  expected  at  first  that  he  would  take  the  earliest 
opportunity  to  quarrel  with  England  and  to  avenge  the  defeat  of 
Waterloo.  But  an  English  war  would  have  ruined  the  material 
prosperity  of  France,  and  a  dispute  about  the  Holy  Places  in 
Palestine  offered  the  more  congenial  prospect  of  a  contest  with  the 
northern  despot  who  had  been  so  contemptuously  tardy  in  acknow- 
ledging the  empire.  When  the  Crimean  war  was  over,  the 
emperor  turned  his  attention  to  Italy.  It  was  this  determination 
to  distract  the  attention  of  the  French  that  involved  him  in  the 
war  with  Prussia  which  ultimately  ruined  his  dynasty.  The 
history  of  France  under  Napoleon  III.,  as  under  Napoleon  I.,  is  the 
history  of  every  country  in  Europe  except  France. 


716  MODERN  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
THE  UNION  OF  ITALY  AND  GERMANY. 

§  1.  The  reaction  in  Italy  ;  Victor  Emmanuel  maintains  the  constitution  ; 
reforms  in  Piedmont ;  ministry  of  Cavour ;  Sardinian  troops  in  the 
Crimea;  the  Congress  of  Paris.  §  2.  Orsini's  attentat;  relations  of 
France  with  England  and  Italy ;  the  interview  at  Plombieres ; 
secret  treaty  with  France.  §  3.  Austria  provokes  the  war  ;  campaign 
of  1859;  battles  of  Magenta  and  Solferino;  overthrow  of  the  rulers 
of  Tuscany,  Parma,  Modena,  and  Bologna;  peace  of  Villafranca; 
Napoleon  III.'s  motives.  §  4.  Victor  Emmanuel  accepts  Lombardy ; 
the  central  provinces ;  their  union  with  Sardinia ;  cession  of  Savoy 
and  Nice.  §  5.  Garibaldi  in  Sicily  and  Naples ;  Victor  Emmanuel  at 
war  with  the  papacy ;  campaign  of  Castel  Fidardo  ;  annexation  of 
Umbria,  the  Marches,  Naples  and  Sicily;  the  Italian  Parliament; 
death  of  Cavour.  §  6.  Italy  after  Cavour's  death ;  Aspromonte ;  the 
September  convention  with  France  ;  transference  of  the  capital  from 
Turin  to  Florence.  §  7.  Austria  and  Prussia  from  1852  to  1863. 
§  8.  The  Schleswig  -  Holstein  question  ;  Denmark  and  the  Bund  ; 
intervention  of  Austria  and  Prussia;  conquest  of  Schleswig;  the 
Loudon  conference ;  the  treaty  of  Vienna  ;  the  convention  of  Gastein. 
§9.  Hostile  preparations;  the  Seven  Weeks'  war;  preliminaries  of 
Nikolsburg ;  treaty  of  Prague ;  territorial  acquisitions  of  Prussia. 
§  10.  The  North  German  Confederation;  treaties  between  Prussia 
and  the  south  German  states ;  new  constitution  for  Austro-Hungary. 
§11.  The  war  in  Italy;  battle  of  Custozza  ;  annexation  of  Venetia ; 
evacuation  of  Rome  by  the  French  ;  defeat  of  Garibaldi  at  Mentana  ; 
the  French  occupation  of  Rome  is  resumed.  §  12.  Attitude  of  Napo 
leon  III. ;  the  Mexican  expedition  ;  the  affair  of  Luxemburg ;  hostility 
to  Prussia.  §  13.  Revolution  in  Spain ;  expulsion  of  Isabella ;  the 
Hohenzollern  candidature ;  French  demands ;  France  declares  war 
against  Prussia.  §14.  The  campaign  from  Saarbruck  to  Sedan; 
Napoleon  a  prisoner;  revolution  in  Paris;  the  Third  Republic. 
§15.  The  siege  of  Paris;  war  in  the  provinces  ;  armistice  of  Versailles  ; 
the  national  assembly  at  Bordeaux  ;  the  treaty  of  Frankfort ;  France 
after  the  w>:r.  §  16.  The  German  Empire.  §  17.  Annexation  of 
Rome  to  Italy;  second  transfer  of  the  capital;  death  of  Victor 
Emmanuel.  §  18.  Amadeus  of  Aosta  elected  king  of  Spain ;  his 
resignation ;  the  Spanish  Republic ;  accession  of  Alfonso  XII. 

§  1.  The  triumph  of  the  reaction  had  been  more  complete  in  Italy 
than  in  any  other  country.  Even  a  moderate  ruler  like  Leopold 
of  Tuscany  gave  himself  up  to  the  current.  Pius  IX.,  who 
returned  to  Rome  on  April  14,  1850,  abandoned  all  the  reforms 


A.i).  1850-1855.      VICTOR  EMMANUEL  II.  71? 

of  his  earlier  years,  and  refused  to  listen  to  the  advice  of  France, 
although  French  troops  still  garrisoned  the  city  and  maintained 
his  power.  The  worst  ruler  of  all  was  Ferdinand  II.  of  Naples 
and  Sicily,  whose  cruelties  exasperated  his  subjects  and  dis- 
gusted every  right-thinking  man  in  Europe.  In  every  court  the 
influence  of  Austria  was  exerted  to  repress  all  aspirations  towards 
freedom  or  union.  The  only  country  in  which  constitutional 
liberties  were  preserved  was  Piedmont.  Victor  Emmanuel  had  set 
himself  from  the  first  to  achieve  the  object  of  his  father  and  to  free 
Italy  from  foreign  rule.  To  do  this  he  must  inspire  the  Italians 
with  confidence  by  making  Piedmont  the  model  of  a  constitutional 
monarchy.  It  was  in  vain  that  Radetsky  offered  him  the  assistance 
of  "  forty  thousand  bayonets"  to  establish  despotism.  His  attach- 
ment to  the  Statute  was  due  to  policy  rather  than  to  principle,  but 
the  honesty  with  which  he  held  to  his  plighted  word  stood  out  in 
conspicuous  contrast  to  the  conduct  of  other  princes,  and  earned 
for  him  the  glorious  title  of  °  il  rt  galantuomo." 

While  the  other  Italian  states  were  groaning  under  the  abuses 
of  absolute  rule,  Piedmont  entered  upon  the  path  of  administrative 
reforms.  The  Siccardi  laws,  which  were  carried  in  1850,  abolished 
the/oro  eecletiastico,  i.e.  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  church  in 
matters  concerning  the  church  and  in  cases  of  heresy,  sacrilege  and 
blasphemy.  This  measure  provoked  the  violent  hostility  of  the  pope, 
but  Victor  Emmanuel,  although  the  son  of  Charles  Albert  and  him- 
self endowed  with  a  superstitious  temperament,  braved  the  storm 
with  a  courage  which  conclusively  proved  his  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  civil  liberty.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  a  place  in  the 
ministry  was  given  to  count  Camillo  Cavour,  who  was  destined  to 
do  more  than  any  other  man  for  the  cause  of  Italy.  The  key- 
stone of  Cavour's  policy  was  a  conviction  that  the  freedom  of  Italy 
could  only  be  achieved  with  external  assistance.  He  made  it  his 
object  to  obtain  for  Piedmont  the  respect  and  the  friendship  of 
the  European  powers,  and  he  sternly  repressed  the  revolutionary 
projects  of  Mazzini  and  his  associates,  which  alienated  all  upholders 
of  orderly  government.  In  1852,  Cavour  became  prime  minister, 
and  l>efore  long  an  opportunity  offered  itself  for  carrying  out  his 
designs.  When  the  Crimean  war  broke  out,  Sardinia  offered  its 
ailiance  to  England  and  France.  This  step  provoked  the  most 
active  opposition.  Its  advantages  were  distant  and  doubtful,  while 
it  was  easy  to  prove  that  Sardinia  had  no  interests  involved  in  the 
struggle,  and  no  motive  for  incurring  the  hostility  of  Russia.  But 
the  support  of  the  kinj?  enabled  Cavour  to  carry  his  point,  the 
treaty  of  Turin  was  signed  (Jan.  10,  1855),  and  a  Sardinian 
detachment  of  18,000  men  was  sent  to  the  Crimea.     No  promise  of 


718  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chai>.  xxvn. 

assistance  was  made  by  the  allies,  but  a  great  step  had  been  taken 
towards  enlisting  the  sympathies  of  France  and  England  in  an 
eventual  contest  of  Italy  against  Austria.  The  Sardinian  troops, 
which  were  commanded  by  La  Marmora,  did  not  play  any  great 
part  in  the  war.  Their  only  success  was  gained  in  the  compara- 
tively unimportant  battle  of  the  Tschernaya.  But  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  Sardinia  had  risen  greatly  in  the  public  opinion  both  of 
Italy  and  of  Europe.  At  the  Congress  of  Paris  Cavour  appeared 
on  an  equal  footing  with  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  great  powers, 
and  adroitly  seized  the  opportunity  to  represent  the  evils  which 
Italy  suffered  from  foreign  occupation. 

§  2.  From  this  time  Sardinia  was  practically  recognised  by  all 
Italians  as  the  representative  and  leader  of  the  national  cause.  A 
subscription  was  raised  in  the  chief  towns  of  the  peninsula  to  assist 
in  the  fortification  of  Alessandria.  Austria  was  bitterly  exasperated, 
and  the  Austrian  minister  was  recalled  from  Turin.  It  was  evident 
that  the  struggle  could  not  be  long  delayed.  Sardinia  could  not 
hope  to  contend  single-handed  with  Austria,  and  relied  for  assistance 
upon  the  sympathies  of  Napoleon  III.  So  far  no  tangible  results 
had  been  obtained  from  the  French  alliance,  and  at  this  crisis  an 
event  occurred  which  almost  broke  it  off  altogether.  On  Jan.  14, 
1858,  Orsini,  a  member  of  the  secret  society  of  the  Carbonari, 
attempted  to  assassinate  the  French  emperor  by  throwing  bombs 
under  his  carriage  as  he  was  going  to  the  opera.  The  emperor  him- 
self escaped  unhurt,  but  nearly  150  of  the  bystanders  were  either 
killed  or  wounded  by  the  explosion.  A  very  stringent  "  law  of 
public  safety  "  was  adopted  in  France,  which  placed  the  persons  and 
property  of  all  suspected  persons  at  the  mercy  of  the  government. 
But  the  most  important  result  of  the  attentat  was  the  sudden 
change  of  relations  with  England  and  Piedmont.  Both  countries 
were  denounced  as  harbouring  and  protecting  assassins.  With 
England  the  quarrel  became  a  serious  one.  The  Moniteur  published 
addresses  from  the  French  colonels  to  the  emperor,  which  contained 
the  most  offensive  references  to  England,  and  excited  a  storm  of 
indignation  in  this  country;  the  volunteer  force  was  organised, 
Palmerston's  ministry  had  to  resign,  and  the  government  of  Lord 
Derby  showed  a  manifest  inclination  to  support  Austria  against 
French  designs  in  Italy. 

The  relations  between  France  and  Italy  were  naturally  affected 
by  the  attentat.  Orsini  was  an  Italian  and  belonged  to  an  Italian 
society.  The  reactionary  and  clerical  parties  in  France  tried  to 
utilise  the  occasion  to  detach  Napoleon  III.  from  his  connection  with 
Italy.  Walewski,  the  French  foreign  minister,  called  upon  the 
government  of  Turin  to  introduce  modifications  into  the  laws,  in 


A.D.  1855-1859.      NAPOLEON  III.   IN  ITALY.  719 

order  to  protect  foreign  rulers  against  the  plots  of  assassins,  and  to 
satisfy  public  opinion  iu  France.  But  Victor  Emmanuel  refused 
to  alter  the  constitution  at  the  dictation  of  a  foreign  power.  The 
only  concession  he  would  make  was  the  passiDg  of  a  law  prohibiting 
the  publication  in  Sardinia  of  articles  which  tended  to  provoke  re- 
bellion again  <t  friendly  governments.  In  the  end  the  act  of  Orsini 
rather  helped  than  thwarted  the  aspirations  of  Italy.  The  motive 
for  the  plot  was  that  Napoleon  had  broken  his  solemn  pledges  to  the 
Italian  patriots.  He  could  not  disarm  the  assassin  more  effectually 
than  by  giving  some  signal  proof  that  he  was  still  devoted  to  the 
cause  which  he  had  adopted  in  his  youth.  In  July  he  had  an  inter- 
view at  Plombieres  with  Cavour  at  which  it  was  secretly  arranged 
that  France  would  support  Sardinia  in  case  of  a  war  with  Austria. 
This  was  followed  by  the  conclusion  of  a  secret  treaty,  which  con- 
firmed the  arrangement  of  Plombieres,  and  agreed  that  Lombardy 
and  Venetia  should  be  annexed  to  Sardinia  to  form  a  Kingdom  of 
Northern  Italy.  In  return  for  these  concessions,  Victor  Emmanuel 
pledged  himself  to  cede  Savoy  and  Nice  to  France. 

§  3.  The  neutral  powers  did  all  they  could  to  avert  the 
approaching  war,  and  proposed  that  the  grievances  of  Italy  should 
be  submitted  to  a  Congress.  Cavour  had  to  exert  all  his  diplomatic 
abilities  to  prevent  a  compromise,  and  at  the  same  time  to  di 
any  api»rent  desire  for  war.  The  assistance  of  France  could  not  be 
looked  for  unless  Austria  could  be  represented  as  the  aggressor. 
Fortunately,  the  government  at  Vienna  stepped  in  to  assist  its 
enemies.  Austria  refused  to  allow  that  Sardinia  should  be  repre- 
sented at  a  Congress  to  settle  the  affairs  of  Italy,  and  finally  sent 
an  ultimatum  to  Turin  demanding  disarmament  within  three  days 
under  penalty  of  immediate  war.  This  was  exactly  what  Cavour 
was  waiting  for.  He  refused  the  demand,  and  the  Austrian  army, 
200,000  strong,  at  once  crossed  the  Ticino  (May  27)  and  occupied 
Novara  and  Vercelli.  Had  they  marched  straight  upon  Turin,  tin  y 
could  have  seized  the  city  long  before  the  arrival  of  aid  from  France. 
But  the  Austrian  commanders  showed  signal  incompetence  through- 
out the  campaign,  and  the  opportunity  was  lost.  Napoleon  III.  lost 
no  time  in  fulfilling  his  obligations  to  his  ally,  and  assumed  the 
command  of  the  French  army  in  person.  On  May  13  he  landed  at 
Genoa  and  was  there  joined  by  Victor  Emmanuel  The  Sardinian 
troops  were  to  act  as  the  auxiliaries  of  the  French,  and  a  body  of 
volunteers,  the  famous  "  hunters  of  the  Alps,"  was  organised  under 
the  command  of  Garibaldi  to  harass  the  Austrians  in  the  broken 
country  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps.  The  campaign  was  short  and  de- 
cisive. No  conspicuous  generalship  was  shown  on  either  side,  but 
the  superior  fighting  power  of  the  French  gave  them  the  victory. 


720  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvn. 

The  battle  of  Magenta  (June  4),  at  which  MacMahon  won  the  mar- 
shal's baton,  gave  Milan  to  the  allies,  and  forced  the  Austrians  to 
retire  upon  the  Quadrilateral.  Francis  Joseph  now  assumed  the 
command  at  Verona,  and  at  Solferino  (June  24)  the  three  sovereigns 
all  appeared  upon  the  field.  It  was  a  soldiers'  battle,  and  after 
ten  hours'  obstinate  fighting,  in  which  both  sides  suffered  enormous 
losses,  the  Austrians  were  again  completely  defeated. 

The  rapid  success  of  the  allies  had  roused  the  utmost  enthusiasm 
in  Italy.  Leopold  II.  of  Tuscany  fled  to  the  Austrian  camp,  and  a 
provisional  government  was  erected  in  Florence.  Parma,  Modena, 
and  Bologna  were  deserted  by  their  rulers.  From  all  these  states 
envoys  appeared  to  offer  the  sovereignty  to  Victor  Emmanuel.  The 
question  of  annexation  was  deferred  until  after  the  conclusion  of 
peace,  but  in  the  meanwhile  the  king  sent  commissioners  to  under- 
take a  provisional  regency  in  his  name. 

At  this  moment,  when  the  freedom  of  northern  and  central  Italy 
seemed  assured,  and  the  allies  were  preparing  for  the  conquest  of 
Venetia,  the  news  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the  Italian  patriots 
that  Napoleon  III.  had  granted  an  armistice  to  the  Austrians  and 
had  concluded  the  preliminaries  of  a  peace  at  Villafranca  (July  12). 
By  this  arrangement  Lombard  y  was  to  be  ceded  to  Sardinia ; 
Austria  was  to  retain  Venetia  and  the  Quadrilateral ;  the  old  rulers 
were  to  be  restored  in  Tuscany,  Modena,  Parma,  and  the  Roman 
Legations,  and  Italy  was  to  be  organised  as  a  federation  under  the 
honorary  presidency  of  the  pope.  The  final  settlement  was  to  be 
agreed  upon  in  a  conference  at  Zurich  of  plenipotentaries  from 
Austria,  France,  and  Sardinia.  Napoleon's  motives  for  thus 
breaking  his  promises  were  eagerly  debated  at  the  time,  but  are 
now  tolerably  clear.  He  was  carrying  on  the  war  not  only  for  Italy 
but  also  for  France.  French  public  opinion,  which  he  could  not 
afford  to  disregard,  was  ready  to  welcome  any  weakening  of  Austria, 
but  looked  with  fear  and  suspicion  upon  the  erection  of  a  strong 
and  united  state  in  Italy.  It  was  obvious  that  the  victories  of  the 
allies  would  give  to  Sardinia,  not  only  Lombardy  and  Venetia,  but 
the  whole  of  central  Italy,  and  this  was  more  than  Napoleon  had 
contemplated  at  Plombieres.  Moreover,  the  annexation  of  the 
Legations  would  bring  him  into  collision  with  the  papacy,  and  the 
empire  was  not  strong  enough  to  dispense  with  the  support  of  the 
priests.  Personal  motives  had  also  great  weight  with  him.  He 
had  done  enough  for  fame,  but  he  was  conscious  that  his  victories 
were  not  due  to  his  own  generalship,  and  that  an  attack  on  the 
Quadrilateral  would  be  difficult  and  probably  dangerous. 

§  4.  Victor  Emmanuel  was  bitterly  disappointed  by  the  sud- 
den blow  to  his  hopes.    Cavour  urged  him  to  repudiate  the  treaty,  to 


a.d.  1859-1860.  CAVOUR.  721 

refuse  the  cession  of  Lombardy,  and  to  throw  the  whole  responsibility 
of  the  measure  upon  Napoleon  III.  But  the  king  was  too  prudent 
to  take  this  advice,  and  Cavour  resigned,  his  place  being  taken  by 
Rattazzi.  Victor  Emmanuel  accepted  the  treaty  of  Villafranca 
"  pour  ce  qui  me  concerned  and  obtained  a  promise  from  the  emperor 
that  he  would  not  tolerate  any  forcible  restoration  of  the  rulers  of 
Tuscany,  Parma,  Modena,  and  the  Legations.  It  was  certain  that 
the  people  would  not  do  it  of  their  own  accord,  especially  while 
they  were  assured  of  the  sympathy  and  moral  support  of  Piedmont. 
The  Sardinian  commissioners  were  recalled,  but  their  place  was 
taken  by  provisional  governments.  Parma  and  Modena  were  united 
into  a  single  state  under  the  name  of  Emilia.  In  complete 
disregard  of  the  treaty  of  Villafranca,  which  was  confirmed  by  the 
conference  of  Zurich,  representative  assemblies  were  summoned, 
and  voted  for  the  annexation  of  their  respective  provinces  to  the 
Sardinian  monarchy.  Victor  Emmanuel  received  their  envoys 
graciously,  and  promised  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  obtain  the 
approval  of  Europe  for  their  wishes.  It  was  suggested  that  a 
European  congress  should  meet  to  discuss  the  question.  The  pro- 
posal came  to  nothing,  but  it  served  to  reconcile  Victor  Emmanuel 
and  Cavour.  The  latter  was  the  only  man  who  could  be  trusted  to 
represent  the  Italian  cause  among  the  diplomatists  of  Europe.  In 
January,  1860,  Rattazzi  resigned  and  Cavour  was  entrusted  with 
the  formation  of  a  new  ministry.  Great  exertions  were  made  to 
induce  the  pope  to  listen  to  the  demands  of  his  subjects.  But 
Pius  IX.  would  not  hear  of  any  diminution  of  his  temporal  power, 
ami  it  was  evident  that  Victor  Emmanuel  must  again  risk  a  quarrel 
with  the  papacy.  To  conciliate,  the  French  emperor,  Cavour  deter- 
mined that  the  wishes  of  the  central  provinces  should  be  expressed 
by  a  plebiscite.  The  result  was  a  foregone  conclusion,  and  in 
March,  1860,  Tuscany,  Emilia,  and  Romagna  were  formally  an- 
nexed to  Sardinia.  In  the  next  month  a  parliament  met  in  which 
the  new  provinces  were  represented,  and  the  annexation  was  enthu- 
siastically confirmed.  The  deposed  princes  issued  futile  protests, 
and  the  pope  resorted  to  his  last  weapon  of  excommunication. 

Napoleon  III.  discovered  that  it  was  easier  to  excite  a  storm  than 
to  allay  it.  In  France  the  recent  expedition  was  attacked  as  a 
quixotic  enterprise  in  which  French  interests  had  been  sacrificed 
to  the  aggrandisement  of  Sardinia.  To  satisfy  his  subjects,  the 
emj)eror  now  demanded  the  cession  of  Savoy  and  Nice,  which  had 
hitherto  been  dropped  because  its  condition,  the  annexation  of 
Venetia  with  Lombardy,  had  not  been  fulfilled.  It  was  hard  for 
Victor  Emmanuel  to  give  up  the  country  which  had  been  the  cradle 
of  his  race,  but  political  interests  were  imperative.  By  Cavour'a 
32* 


722  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvii. 

advice  he  consented  to  the  sacrifice  on  condition  that  the  approval 
should  be  obtained  both  of  the  Savoyards  and  of  the  Italian  parlia- 
ment. In  the  latter  a  violent  debate  took  place  :  Garibaldi  had  been 
born  in  Nice,  and  expressed  bitter  resentment  at  its  annexation  by 
a  foreign  ruler.  But  the  majority  of  Italians  cared  little  for  Savoy, 
which  really  stood  outside  the  peninsula,  and  had  no  sympathy  with 
the  national  cause.  The  annexation  was  approved  by  229  votes  to 
233.  Thus  the  last  step  was  taken  in  the  long  process  by  which 
the  house  of  Savoy  was  transformed  into  a  purely  Italian  dynasty. 

§  2.  The  monarchy  of  Victor  Emmanuel  now  included  the  whole 
of  Italy  with  the  exception  of  three  provinces,  Yenetia,  the  remain- 
ing Papal  States,  and  the  Two  Sicilies.  In  the  latter  kingdom  the 
brutal  Ferdinand  II.  (Bomba)  had  been  succeeded  in  1859  by  his 
son,  Francis  II.  Overtures  had  been  made  to  the  new  king  from 
Turin,  proposing  the  formation  of  a  constitutional  monarchy  in 
southern  Italy  which  should  co-operate  with  Sardinia  in  supporting 
the  national  cause  against  the  foreigner.  But  Francis  II.  refused 
to  alter  the  system  of  government  bequeathed  by  his  father,  and 
clung  obstinately  to  the  Austrian  alliance.  Under  these  circum- 
stances a  contest  between  the  north  and  south  was  inevitable.  But 
Victor  Emmanuel  could  not  venture  on  another  war  for  his  own 
aggrandisement  without  alienating  Europe  and  risking  a  quarrel 
with  France.  A  solution  of  the  difficulty  was  offered  by  an  in- 
dependent adventurer,  whose  zeal  for  the  cause  of  Italy  was  not 
affected  by  any  regard  for  the  scruples  of  kings  and  princes. 
Garibaldi,  indignant  at  the  unpatriotic  sacrifice  of  Nice,  was  eager 
to  find  a  new  field  of  action,  and  determined  to  offer  himself  as  a 
champion  to  the  oppressed  subjects  of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  Collect- 
ing a  "  thousand  "  volunteers  at  Genoa,  he  sailed  to  Sicily  and 
landed  near  Marsala  (May  14,  1860).  Within  two  months  the  whole 
island  had  been  secured  by  the  reduction  of  Palermo  (June  6)  and 
Messina  (June  25).  Garibaldi  became  an  almost  mythical  hero, 
and  his  fame  began  to  overshadow  that  of  Victor  Emmanuel  and 
Cavour.  Francis  II.  now  hastened  to  announce  his  intention  of 
granting  a  constitution  and  allying  himself  with  Sardinia.  But  it 
was  too  late  to  win  the  confidence  of  a  people  that  had  so  often 
suffered  from  the  perfidy  of  their  rulers.  Garibaldi  crossed  over 
to  the  mainland,  met  with  absolutely  no  resistance,  and  entered 
Naples  in  triumph  (Sept.  7).  Francis  II.  retired  with  20,000  troops 
to  Gaeta,  while  another  part  of  his  army  occupied  Capua. 

Meanwhile  Pius  IX.  had  commenced  a  crusade  for  the  recovery 
of  the  Legations,  and  entrusted  the  command  of  his  army  to  the 
French  general  Lamoriciere.  The  government  of  Turin  demanded 
the  disarmament  of  this  force,  and  on  the  pope's  refusal  an  army 


a.d.  1860-1861.        GARIBALDI  IN  NAPLES.  723 

under  Cialdini  entered  Umbria.  At  Castel  Fidardo  the  papal  army, 
a  disorganised  rabble  of  different  nationalities,  was  utterly  routed 
(Sept.  14).  Lamoriciere  bad  to  surrender  in  Ancona  and  was  sent 
back  to  France.  Austria,  Russia,  Prussia  and  France,  expressed 
their  disapproval  of  the  invasion  of  papal  territory  by  recalling  their 
ambassadors  from  Turin.  But  Victor  Emmanuel,  having  made  up 
his  mind  to  brave  the  perils  of  excommunication,  was  not  much 
impressed  with  this  diplomatic  protest.  He  followed  his  army  to 
Ancona  and  proceeded  thence  into  Naples.  An  attack  upon  Rome 
or  the  surrounding  Patrimony  of  St.  Peter  would  have  brought 
the  Sardinians  into  collision  with  the  French  garrison,  and  would 
certainly  have  roused  the  hostility  of  Napoleon  III. 

The  rapid  success  of  Garibaldi  involved  an  unexpected  danger  for 
Sardinia.  He  had  not  been  in  any  formal  connection  with  the 
court  of  Turin,  and  had  in  fact  conquered  Naples  against  its  will. 
Instead  of  annexing  his  conquest  to  Victor  Emmanuel's  kingdom, 
he  assumed  the  title  of  Dictator,  and  went  so  far  as  to  demand  the 
dismissal  of  Cavour.  Mazzini  urged  him  to  form  a  Republic  of 
Naples,  and  such  an  act  must  have  retarded,  if  it  did  not  prevent, 
the  union  of  Italy.  But  Cavour  acted  with  politic  decision. 
Representing  to  the  French  Emperor  that  his  action  was  necessary 
to  thwart  the  revolutionary  party,  he  assembled  the  parliament 
and  obtained  from  it  a  decree  authorising  the  annexation  of  the 
conquered  papal  provinces  and  the  Two  Sicilies.  Garibaldi  found 
it  necessary  to  play  a  more  humble  part  than  had  been  suggested 
to  him.  He  was  still  engaged  in  besieging  Capua,  when  the 
arrival  of  the  Sardinian  army  compelled  the  capitulation  of  the 
fortress.  He  laid  down  his  temporary  dictatorship,  acknowledged 
the  authority  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  and  retired  covered  with  glory 
to  his  island  home  at  Caprera.  The  siege  of  Gaeta  was  now 
commenced  in  form  by  Cialdini.  For  some  time  the  presence  of 
the  French  fleet  prevented  any  attack  by  sea,  but  at  last,  on 
February  16,  1861,  Francis  II.  had  to  surrender,  and  sought  refuge 
in  Rome.  A  real  Italian  kingdom  had  now  been  formed  by  the 
addition  of  Umbria,  the  Marches  and  the  Two  Sicilies.  Nearly 
23,000,000  subjects  acknowledged  the  rule  of  Victor  Emmanuel 
There  were  difficulties  and  dangers  to  be  confronted  in  the  future. 
National  unity  could  not  be  created  all  at  once.  The  population 
of  the  south  had  had  no  training  to  fit  them  for  the  enjoyment 
of  constitutional  liberties,  and  some  time  must  elapse  before  Naples 
could  stand  on  the  same  political  level  as  Piedmont  or  Tuscany. 
The  Austrians  still  held  Venetia,  and  would  seize  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  recover  their  lost  supremacy.  Rome,  with  its  papal 
government  and   its   French  garrison,  was  not  yet  Italian,  and 


724  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvil 

provincial  jealousies  must  continue  as  long  as  any  but  the  Eternal 
City  was  regarded  as  the  capital.  But  all  these  considerations  were 
forgotten  on  February,  18,  1861,  when  the  first  Italian  parliament, 
containing  representatives  from  all  the  provinces  except  Vene- 
tia  and  the  Patrimony,  met  in  the  Palazzo  Carignano  at  Turin. 
Vociferous  cheers  greeted  the  arrival  of  "Victor  Emmanuel  TI., 
by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  will  of  the  nation  King  of  Italy." 
This  ceremony  was  followed  within  a  few  weeks  by  the  death  of 
the  man  who  had  contributed  more  than  any  other  to  bring  about 
this  grand  result.  Cavour  must  always  rank  as  one  of  the  ablest 
diplomatists  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  he  was  more  than  a 
diplomatist,  he  was  a  statesman.  His  keen  percept;on  that  Italy 
could  not  be  set  free  without  foreign  assistance ;  the  adroit  use 
which  he  made  of  Najxdeon  III. ;  the  way  in  which  he  evaded 
the  treaty  of  Villafranca ;  and,  above  all,  the  masterly  manner 
in  which  he  ousted  Garibaldi  from  Naples,  were  all  diplomatic 
triumphs  of  the  highest  order.  But  his  internal  reforms;  his 
measures  for  the  advancement  of  trade  and  education ;  his  adherence 
to  liberal  principles  in  the  face  of  a  revolutionary  party;  his 
appreciation  of  the  difficulties  of  uniting  southern  with  northern 
Italy,  are  no  less  conclusive  proofs  of  his  constructive  statesmanship. 
It  was  hard  for  him  to  die  before  his  work  was  completed  by  the 
acquisition  of  Venice  and  Rome,  but  he  may  be  credited  with 
having  anticipated  the  way  in  which  this  completion  was  to  be 
brought  about.  He  foresaw  the  rise  of  Prussia,  and  sought  to 
enlist  the  sympathies  of  that  power  with  the  Italian  cause.  He 
was  anxious  to  settle  the  Roman  question  peaceably  so  as  to  avoid 
offending  the  Roman  Catholic  powers.  The  temporal  power  had 
undoubted  advantages,  but  at  the  same  time  it  imposed  serious 
checks  upon  the  action  of  the  church.  Cavour  offered  the  removal 
of  these  checks  in  exchange  for  the  sacrifice  of  temporal  sovereignty. 
His  favourite  expression,  "  Libera  Chiesa  in  Libero  Stato  "  (a  free 
Church  in  a  free  State),  has  been  rightly  chosen  as  the  inscription 
on  his  tomb. 

§  6.  Cavour  left  no  minister  to  take  his  place,  and  the  con- 
tinuance of  his  policy  fell  to  Victor  Emmanuel  himself.  Carefully 
abstaining  from  opening  the  question  either  of  Rome  or  Venice,  he 
sought  to  utilise  the  interval  of  peace  to  break  down  the  barriers 
between  the  different  provinces  of  Italy,  and  to  extend  to  all  alike 
the  benefits  of  material  prosperity.  But  his  subjects  could  not 
imitate  the  prudence  and  statesmanship  of  their  ruler.  Garibaldi 
believed  that  his  volunteers  could  drive  the  French  from  Rome  as 
easily  as  they  had  overthrown  the  Bourbons  in  Naples  and  Sicily, 
and  that  the  government  would  again  stand  quietly  by  while  it 


a.d.  1861-1864.  ASPROMONTE.  725 

was  done.  He  raised  his  standard  at  Reggio  and  announced  his 
intention  of  marching  upon  Rome.  But  it  was  impossible  for 
Victor  Emmanuel  to  allow  a  war  to  be  carried  on  from  his  own 
territories  against  a  friendly  power.  At  Aspromonte  Garibaldi 
found  himself  confronted  by  the  Italian  army  under  Cialdini,  and 
after  a  short  struggle  his  troops  were  routed  and  himself  a  prisoner, 
(August  29,  1862).  The  king  could  not  have  acted  otherwise,  but 
a  storm  of  indignation  greeted  this  apparent  ingratitude  towards 
the  hero  who  had  given  him  a  crown.  But  Victor  Knmiaimel  was 
undismayed,  and  continued  negotiations  with  France  for  the  evacu- 
ation of  Rome.  In  September,  1864,  a  convention  was  at  last 
concluded  with  Napoleon  III.,  who  agreed  to  a  gradual  withdrawal 
of  the  French  garrison,  on  condition  that  the  Italian  government 
should  undertake  the  defence  of  the  Papal  States  against  all 
external  attack.  The  convention  was  bitterly  attacked  at  the 
time  as  being  a  renunciation  of  Rome  as  the  capital  of  Italy.  In 
reality  it  was  a  virtual  cession  of  Rome  to  Italy  on  condition  that 
a  sufficient  interval  should  elapee  to  show  that  its  annexation  was 
not  the  result  of  the  departure  of  the  French.  As  a  further 
guarantee  of  this,  Napoleon  demanded  that  the  capital  should  be 
transferred  from  Turin  to  some  other  city.  For  this  purpose 
Florence  was  chosen,  and  the  court  was  removed  to  its  new  residence 
in  1865.  The  history  of  the  further  advance  of  Italian  unity  is 
bound  up  with  affairs  in  Germany,  to  which  attention  must  now 
be  directed. 

§  7.  A  confused  and  depressing  period  of  German  history  followed 
the  failure  of  the  movement  towards  union  which  had  been  inau- 
gurated by  the  Frankfort  Parliament  Austria  had  humiliated 
Prussia  at  Olmiitz,  and  had  gained  a  conspicuous  victory  in  the 
restoration  of  the  Bundestag.  But  the  two  great  states  con- 
tinued their  rivalry,  and  Germany  was  divided  into  parties 
adhering  to  one  or  the  other.  The  National  Verein  adopted  the 
views  of  the  "  Little  German  M  party  at  Frankfort,  advocated  the 
exclusion  of  Austria  from  Germany,  and  demanded  the  establish- 
ment of  the  proposed  constitution  of  1849.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Reform  Verein  aimed  at  the  creation  of  a  united  state  in 
which  both  Austria  and  Prussia  should  find  a  place.  If  either 
state  had  made  itself  the  champion  of  constitutional  liberties,  it 
might  have  played  the  part  which  Piedmont  played  in  Italy.  But 
the  reaction  in  Berlin  was  quite  as  strong  as  in  Vienna.  Frederick 
William  IV.  lost  his  faculties  in  1857,  and  the  regency  was 
entrusted  to  his  brother,  prince  William,  who  in  1861  became 
king  as  William  I.  The  Kreuz  party  continued  to  direct  the 
policy  of  Prus«ia,  and  to  repress  every  movement  that  savoured  of 


726  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvh. 

revolutionary  principles.  The  result  of  this  attitude  on  the  part 
of  Prussia  was  that  the  rivalry  with  Austria  was  a  purely  selfish 
quarrel,  and  that  there  was  no  constitutional  principle  to  contend 
for  as  in  Italy.  In  fact  the  system  of  repression  came  to  an  end  in 
Austria,  where  it  had  originated,  while  it  was  still  in  full  vigour 
in  the  northern  kingdom.  The  Austrian  government  was  involved 
in  such  disastrous  financial  difiiculties — difficulties  which  were 
immensely  increased  by  its  Italian  wars — that  reform  became  an  im- 
perative necessity.  In  1861  the  emperor  Francis  Joseph  issued 
a  new  constitution  establishing  an  Upper  House  of  imperial  nomi- 
nees, and  a  Lower  House  of  deputies  from  the  provincial  diets. 
The  proposal  was  not  cordially  accepted  by  the  chief  non-German 
provinces,  Hungary,  Venetia,  aud  Bohemia.  They  declined  to 
acknowledge  any  single  constitution  for  the  whole  empire,  and 
demanded  the  recognition  of  their  separate  liberties.  As  they 
refused  to  send  deputies  to  the  Diet,  the  scheme  broke  down.  But 
it  served  to  conciliate  for  a  moment  the  liberal  party  in  Germany, 
and  Austria  took  advantage  of  this  to  strike  a  blow  at  its  rival. 
In  1863  the  German  princes  were  invited  to  a  meeting  at  Frank- 
fort, where  it  was  proposed  to  reorganise  the  Bund  by  creating  a 
directory  of  five  princes  with  the  Austrian  emperor  as  hereditary 
president.  But  Prussia,  whose  position  in  the  Zollverein  was  a 
source  of  great  influence  in  Germany,  refused  to  attend  the  meeting, 
and  succeeding  in  defeating  the  proposed  scheme.  At  this  juncture 
the  relations  of  the  two  great  states  were  altogether  modified  by 
events  in  Schleswig-Holstein. 

§  8.  The  treaty  of  London  (1852)  had  guaranteed  the  unity  of 
the  Danish  monarchy,  and  promised  the  succession  to  Christian  of 
Gliicksburg,  but  it  had  failed  to  satisfy  the  national  aspirations  of 
the  duchies.  The  Bund,  which  had  never  accepted  the  London 
treaty,  was  involved  in  constant  disputes  with  Denmark  about  the 
details  of  the  constitution  which  Frederick  VII.  issued  in  1855.  A 
strong  Danish  party  in  Copenhagen  exerted  its  influence  over  the 
king  to  prevent  any  concessions  being  made  to  Germany,  and  at 
last  in  1863  the  Bund  determined  to  send  an  "  army  of  execution  " 
into  the  duchies.  But  Denmark  was  encouraged  to  resist  by  the 
marriage  of  Christian  of  Glucksburg's  daughter,  Alexandra,  with 
the  Prince  of  Wales  (March  10, 1863),  which  seemed  likely  to  secure 
the  support  of  England.  At  this  critical  moment  Frederick  VII. 
died,  and  Christian  of  Gliicksburg  ascended  the  throne  as  Chris- 
tian IX.  But  Frederick  of  Augustenburg  seized  the  opportunity 
to  revive  the  claim  to  the  duchies  which  his  father  had  been  com- 
pelled to  renounce  after  the  treaty  of  London.  He  could  rely  upon 
the  sympathy  of  the  Bund,  and  the  enthusiastic  support  of  the 


a.d.  1861-1864.         SCHLESWIG-HOLSrEIN.  727 

Holsteiners.  In  December  the  army  of  the  Bund  entered  Holstein 
and  occupied  the  duchy  without  any  opposition  from  the  Danes. 
The  duke  of  Augustenburg  was  proclaimed  king  as  Frederick  V  i  1 1., 
though  he  left  the  administration  to  the  commissioners  of  the  Bund, 
But  matters  were  unexpectedly  complicated  by  the  intervention  of 
Austria  and  Prussia.  The  two  powers  had  been  partners  to  the 
treaty  of  London,  and  could  not  therefore  adopt  the  same  attitude 
as  the  Bundt  but  they  were  determined  to  have  a  decisive  voice 
in  the  settlement  of  a  question  which  was  so  vitally  important  to 
Germany.  The  Prussian  ministry  had  been  headed  since  1862  by 
Bismarck,  who  exercised  a  sort  of  fascination  ever  the  Austrian 
minister  Kechberg.  Germany  was  astounded  to  see  the  two  rival 
states  acting  in  apparently  complete  concord.  Reg  irdless  of  the  pro- 
tests of  England,  the  combined  armies  marched  through  Holstein 
to  Schleswig,  which  they  determined  to  occupy  as  a  hostage  until 
Christian  IX.  should  agree  to  a  satisfactory  settlement.  The 
Danes  had  not  defended  Holstein,  which  was  legally  a  member  of 
the  Bund,  but  they  were  resolved  to  hold  out  in  Schleswig,  which 
had  no  such  connection  with  Germany,  and  which  contained  a  large 
Danish  population.  But  the  superiority  of  the  invading  forces  was 
too  overwhelming.  The  Danes  had  to  retire  from  their  boasted 
fortification,  the  Dannewirke  (Feb.  6),  their  obstinate  derence  of 
Dlippel  proved  unavailing,  and  Fredericia  surrendered  (April  28). 
An  armistice  was  now  concluded  while  negotiations  were  carried  <  n 
in  a  conference  at  London,  presided  over  by  L'>rd  John  Russell. 
The  Bund  demanded  the  complete  severance%of  the  duchies  from 
Denmark  under  the  duke  of  Augustenburg.  Austria  and  Prussia, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  willing  to  allow  the  "personal  uni  >n  ■ 
under  the  Danish  crown  to  continue  on  condition  that  the  duchies 
should  receive  a  separate  constitution.  England,  which  had 
hitherto  adhered  firmly  to  the  treaty  of  London,  at  last  admitted 
that  concessions  must  be  made  to  Germany,  and  proposed  a  division 
of  Schleswig  into  a  Danish  and  a  German  half.  This  was  accepted 
in  principle,  but  no  agreement  could  be  come  to  about  the  dividing 
line,  and  the  negotiations  were  broken  off.  The  Austro- Prussian 
army  renewed  the  war  and  occupied  the  whole  peninsula  of  Jutland. 
Christian  IX.,  unable  to  resist  any  longer,  and  bitterly  disappoint*  d 
at  the  failure  of  English  support,  concluded  the  treaty  of  Vienna 
(Oct.  30,  1864).  No  stipulation  was  made  as  to  the  future  fate 
of  the  duchies,  which  were  simply  ceded  to  Austria  and  Prussia, 
and  the  king  pledged  himself  to  accept  any  arrangement  that  might 
commend  itself  to  the  two  powers.  The  troops  of  the  Bund  evacuated 
Holstein  in  December,  and  the  duke  of  Augustenburg  discovered 
that  his  chances  of  the  succession  were  as  remote  as  ever. 


728  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvn. 

It  was  evident  that  the  relations  of  Olmiitz  had  been  reversed, 
and  that  in  the  recent  transactions  Prussia  had  led  and  Austria  had 
followed.  Bismarck  was  determined  to  maintain  this  position  and 
to  utilise  the  ceded  duchies  in  the  interests  of  Prussia.  Ever  since 
his  accession  to  power  he  had  set  himself  to  increase  the  military- 
resources  of  his  country,  and  had  not  hesitated  to  avow  his  con- 
viction that  "  blood  and  iron  "  would  prove  more  effective  instru- 
ments in  the  settlement  of  German  difficulties  than  the  speeches 
and  votes  which  had  failed  so  lamentably  in  1849.  He  was  en- 
couraged in  his  aggressive  attitude  by  the  domestic  troubles  of 
Austria.  Hungary  and  Venetia  were  on  the  verge  of  revolt,  and  all 
the  non-German  provinces  were  discontented.  To  conciliate  them 
the  government  suspended  the  constitution  of  1861  and  restored 
the  old  system  of  provincial  diets.  But  this  measure  alienated  the 
German  population  of  Austria  proper,  and  failed  to  satisfy  the 
Slavs,  Magyars,  and  Italians.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was 
difficult  for  Austria  to  oppose  a  resolute  opposition  to  the  designs 
of  Prussia.  The  lesser  German  states  tried  in  vain  to  obtain  a 
voice  in  the  final  settlement  of  the  duchies.  Some  supported  the 
duke  of  Augustenburg,  others  proposed  that  the  choice  of  a  ruler 
should  be  submitted  to  the  free  choice  of  the  inhabitants.  Bismarck 
received  all  these  suggestions  with  contemptuous  silence,  and  con- 
tinued to  treat  the  matter  as  a  private  affair  of  the  two  great  powers. 
At  Gastein  a  convention  was  made  (August  14,  1865),  by  which 
Austria  undertook  to  administer  Holstein,  and  Prussia  Schleswig, 
while  the  small  duchy  of  Lauenburg  was  sold  to  Prussia  for 
2,500,000  Danish  thalers.  The  port  of  Kiel  was  occupied  by 
Prussia,  which  at  once  commenced  the  erection  of  fortifications. 
The  convention  of  Gastein  was  Bismarck's  revenge  for  the  humilia- 
tion of  Prussia  at  Olmiitz.  But  it  was  evident  that  the  arrangement 
could  be  only  temporary,  and  that  the  relations  of  the  two  powers 
in  the  duchies  and  in  Germany  could  only  be  settled  by  war. 

§  9.  The  war  was  not  long  delayed.  Austria  was  already  convinced 
that  its  recent  policy  had  been  a  great  blunder,  and  sought  to 
retrace  its  steps.  Rechberg  had  been  dismissed  from  the  ministry, 
and  his  successors  set  themselves  to  conciliate  the  Bund  and  to 
support  the  claims  of  the  duke  of  Augustenburg.  While  Man- 
teuffel,  the  governor  of  Schleswig,  rigorously  forbade  every  ex- 
pression of  popular  opinion,  public  meetings  in  favour  of  duke 
Frederick  were  openly  held  in  Holstein  under  the  very  eyes  of  the 
Austrian  representative,  Gablenz.  Bismarck  wrote  to  Vienna  in 
January,  1866,  to  complain  of  the  encouragement  of  "  demagogic 
anarchy "  in  Holstein.  In  April  he  concluded  an  offensive  and 
defensive  alliance  with  Victor  Emmanuel.     In  a  circular  /dispatch 


A.D.  1865-1866.  SEVEN  WEEKS*  WAR.  729 

he  announced  that  Prussia  was  arming,  not  only  for  its  immediate 
security,  but  also  to  obtain  substantial  guarantees  for  the  future. 
As  these  guarantees  were  not  afforded  by  the  existing  constitution 
of  the  Bund,  he  declared  that  that  constitution  must  be  amended, 
and  demanded  that  its  revision  should  be  entrusted  to  a  German 
parliament  elected  by  universal  suffrage.  This  was  a  startling 
proposal  from  a  minister  who  prided  himself  upon  being  the 
champion  of  order  against  revolution,  and  who  had  shown  resolute 
hostility  to  popular  liberties  at  home.  In  Austria,  the  military 
party  once  more  gained  the  upper  hand,  and  was  encouraged  by 
the  support  of  the  middle  German  states,  and  the  unpopularity  of 
Bismarck's  ministry  in  Berlin,  to  make  energetic  preparations  for 
war.  Napoleon  III.  negotiated  with  both  parties,  and  sought  to 
utilise  the  crisis  to  gain  an  increase  of  French  territories  in  the 
direction  of  the  Rhine.  But  events  marched  too  fast  for  the  pro- 
crastinating diplomacy  of  the  French  Emperor.  On  June  1,  Au.-t  ria- 
announced  that  the  question  of  Schleswig-Holstein  should  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Bundestag,  and  that  a  meeting  of  the  estates  of 
Holstein  should  be  summoned  to  declare  the  wishes  of  that  pro- 
vince. Ten  days  latter  a  formal  accusation  was  brought  against 
Prussia  of  violating  the  convention  of  Gastein,  and  the  mobilisation 
of  the  troops  of  the  Bui,d  was  demanded.  Bismarck  responded  by 
bringing  forward  his  proposal  for  a  new  constitution  of  the  Bund, 
which  was  to  be  divided  into  a  northern  federation  under  Prussia 
and  a  southern  under  Bavaria,  while  Austria  was  to  be  excluded 
altogether.  Manteuflel  was  ordered  to  occupy  Holstein  if  the 
estates  met,  and  he  obeyed  the  order  on  June  8.  The  Austrian 
troops  were  too  weak  to  resist,  and  the  duchy  was  annexed  to 
Schleswig  under  Prussian  rnle.  On  June  14  the  Bundestag,  by  nine 
votes  to  six,  accepted  the  Austrian  demand  for  the  mobilisation  of 
the  troops.  The  Prussian  representative  at  once  declared  that  this 
resolution  was  a  breach  of  the  constitution  of  1815,  pronounced 
the  dissolution  of  the  Bund,  and  quitted  the  assembly.  War  was 
declared  against  Saxony,  Hanover  and  Hesse-Cassel,  which  had 
supported  Austria. 

The  general  expectation  in  Europe  was  that  the  war,  which  broke 
out  on  June  15,  would  be  a  long  and  desperate  struggle,  in  which 
the  superior  resources  of  Austria  wonld  secure  an  ultimate  victory. 
But  these  anticipations  were  completely  falsified  by  the  event.  The 
Prussian  troops  were  better  organised  than  any  others  in  Europe, 
and  they  were  armed  with  the  needle-^un,  which  enabled  them  to 
fire  four  or  five  times  as  fast  as  their  opponents.  On  the  other 
hand,  Austria  was  in  a  hopeless  financial  position,  its  armies  were 
composed  of  various  nationalities,  it  had  to  send  more  than  150,000 


730  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xxm 

men  to  defend  Venetia  against  the  Italians,  and  it  had  no  general  to 
be  compared  with  the  Prussian  commander-in-chief,  Von  Moltke. 
In  every  engagement  the  Prussians  gained  conspicuous  successes. 
Hesse-Cassel  and  Saxony  were  occupied  without  opposition.  The 
Hanoverian  army,  after  being  defeated  at  Langensalza,  was  com- 
pelled to  capitulate  (June  29).  It  was  in  Bohemia  that  the  main 
armies  of  Austria  and  Prussia  came  into  collision.  After  a  series 
of  smaller  engagements  the  great  battle  was  fought  on  July  3  at 
Sadowa  (or  Koniggratzj,  where  the  Austrians  were  completely 
defeated.  On  July  26  an  armistice  was  concluded  at  Nikolsburg, 
by  which  Austria  agreed  to  withdraw  from  the  Bund,  to  renounce 
all  claims  in  Schleswig  and  Holstein,  to  recognise  the  new  con- 
stitution which  Prussia  was  to  arrange  for  Germany,  and  to  cede 
Venetia  to  Italy.  On  August  23  the  preliminaries  of  Nikolsburg 
were  confirmed  by  the  peace  of  Prague,  and  Prussia  undertook  to 
restore  the  kingdom  of  Saxony,  and  to  transfer  northern  Schleswig 
to  Denmark  if  the  inhabitants  expressed  a  wish  for  such  a  transfer. 
The  latter  provision  was  wholly  evaded,  and  though  the  former 
was  fulfilled,  it  was  on  such  hard  conditions  that  Saxony  became 
little  more  than  a  vassal  state  of  Prussia.  The  two  other  provinces 
which  had  been  occupied,  Hanover  and  Hesse-Cassel,  together  with 
Schleswig-Holstein,  Nassau,  and  Frankfort,  were  to  remain  in  the 
possession  of  Prussia. 

§  10.  Prussia  now  set  to  work  to  draw  up  the  plan  of  a  North 
German  Confederation,  to  include  all  states  to  the  north  of  the 
Main.  Saxony,  the  only  powerful  state,  was  unable  in  existing 
circumstances  to  make  any  opposition.  The  scheme  was  first  ela- 
borated in  a  conference  of  plenipotentiaries  of  the  various  govern- 
ments, and  was  then  submitted  to  an  assembly  chosen  by  universal 
suffrage  which  sat  in  Berlin  from  Feb.  24  to  April  17,  1867.  The 
executive  government  was  entrusted  to  the  Prussian  king  as  here- 
ditary President  and  General  of  the  Confederation.  He  was  to  be 
assisted  by  a  Federal  Council  (Bundesrath),  which  was  to  be 
presided  over  by  a  chancellor  appointed  by  Prussia.  Legislation 
was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  a  Reichstag,  the  deputies  to  which  were 
to  be  chosen  by  direct  suffrage.  Contributions  to  the  common  mili- 
tary expenditure  were  to  be  regulated  by  the  number  of  soldiers 
which  each  state  supplied  for  the  federal  army.  Military  service 
was  organised  on  the  Prussian  system,  and  was  made  compulsory 
on  every  citizen  over  seventeen  years  of  age.  Bismarck  was 
appointed  to  be  the  first  Chancellor  of  the  Confederation.  With 
the  chief  states  of  southern  Germany,  Prussia  was  connected  by  the 
Zollverein,  and  special  treaties  were  concluded  with  Bavaria,  Wur- 
temberg  and  Baden,  by  which  their  territories  were  guaranteed, 


a.d.  1866-1867.      ITALY   ACQUIRES   VENICE.  731 

and  their  armies  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Prussia  in  case  of 
war.  Thus  the  whole  of  Germany,  with  the  exception  of  Austria, 
became  practically  subject  to  Prussian  sovereignty. 

Austria  had  been  taught  by  the  disasters  of  the  war  to  realise 
how  fatal  to  the  empire  was  the  discontent  and  disunion  of  the 
subject  populations.  Venetia  was  resigned  almost  with  cheerful- 
ness, and  a  serious  effort  was  made  to  pacify  Hungary.  The  work 
of  conciliation  was  carried  out  by  Count  Beust,  who  had  recently 
been  minister  in  Saxony,  but  had  been  compelled  to  quit  that 
kingdom  by  the  enmity  of  Prussia.  The  government  found  it 
necessary  to  restore  the  old  system  of  dualism.  Hungary  received 
a  ministry  and  a  diet  of  its  own,  while  another  diet  and  ministry 
were  created  for  the  provinces  west  of  the  Lei t ha.  Joint  delega- 
tions were  to  be  appointed  by  the  two  diets  for  the  consideration  of 
imperial  business,  and  there  were  to  be  three  common  ministers,  for 
finance,  war,  and  foreign  affairs.  This  constitution,  with  improve- 
ments in  detail,  has  been  preserved  to  the  present  day. 

§  11.  In  Italy  the  Seven  Weeks'  War  had  produced  important 
results.  Before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  Austria  had  attempted 
to  buy  off  Italian  hostility  by  offering  the  cession  of  Venetia,  but 
Victor  Emmanuel  had  preferred  to  adhere  to  his  treaty  with  Prussia. 
As  soon  as  the  war  began  in  Germany,  the  Italian  forces  advanced 
towards  the  Quadrilateral.  They  were  divided  into  two  armies, 
one  of  which,  under  Cialdini,  was  to  cross  the  Po  at  Ferrara,  and  to 
cut  the  line  of  communication  between  Venice  and  Verona,  while 
the  other,  under  the  king  and  La  Marmora,  was  to  invest  the 
fortresses.  The  plan  of  the  campaign  was  based  on  the  belief  that 
the  Aiihtrians  would  stand  on  the  defensive,  and  all  calculations 
were  upset  when  the  archduke  Albert  quitted  his  position  and 
attacked  the  Italians.  At  Custozza  an  obstinate  battle  was  fought 
(June  24),  and  after  twelve  hours'  fighting  the  Italian  army  was 
forced  to  retire  to  the  Mincio.  In  July  the  Italian  fleet  was  almost 
destroyed  by  the  Austrians  in  the  Adriatic  near  the  island  of  Lissa, 
Before  an  opportunity  was  offered  of  retrieving  these  mortifying 
disasters,  the  news  came  that  the  German  war  had  been  terminated 
at  Nikolsburg,  and  that  Venetia  was  offered  for  the  acceptance  of 
Italy.  It  was  a  great  blow  to  Italian  pride  to  have  to  receive  the 
coveted  province  at  the  hands  of  an  ally  instead  of  winning  it  by 
the  prowess  of  the  national  arms.  But  Victor  Emmanuel  realised 
that  it  was  not  the  time  for  excessive  punctiliousness,  and  accepted 
the  cession  of  Venetia  by  the  treaty  of  Vienna  (Oct.  3).  The  usual 
plebiscite  was  almost  unanimous  in  favour  of  annexation,  and  in 
November  the  king  was  received  with  enthusiasm  in  Venice.  Aus- 
tria now  possessed  no  territory  that  could  be  called  Italian  except 


732  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvil 

Trieste  and  the  small  district  of  the  Trentino.  It  was  just  at  this 
time  that  the  evacuation  of  Rome  by  the  French  was  completed 
in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  September  Convention.  The 
great  work  of  freeing  Italy  from  the  foreigners  seemed  for  the 
moment  to  be  accomplished.  But  one  grievance  still  remained, 
the  independent  rule  of  the  pope  in  Rome  and  the  Patrimony,  and 
this  was  protected  by  the  agreement  with  France.  The  ministry 
of  Rattazzi  was  foolish  enough  to  think  that  Rome  could  be  obtained 
in  the  same  way  as  Cavour  had  obtained  the  Two  Sicilies.  Gari- 
baldi was  secretly  encouraged  to  raise  a  new  force  of  volunteers  on 
the  papal  frontier.  The  result  of  this  was  that  Napoleon  III.  at 
once  despatched  a  new  body  of  French  troops  to  defend  the  city 
which  had  just  been  evacuated.  At  Mentana  (Nov.  3,  1867) 
Garibaldi's  raw  levies  were  utterly  routed  by  the  French,  and  the 
occupation  of  Rome  was  resumed  for  an  indefinite  period.  But  the 
sympathies  of  Italy  were  for  the  misguided  and  defeated  patriots, 
and  the  victory  of  the  French  chassepots  at  Mentana  destroyed  all 
sentiments  of  gratitude  for  the  services  which  France  had  previously 
rendered  to  the  cause  of  Italian  independence. 

§  12.  In  no  country  was  the  result  of  the  Austro-Prussian  war 
such  an  unwelcome  surprise  as  in  France.  Napoleon  III.  was 
humiliated  at  this  time  by  events  in  Mexico.  In  1861,  France, 
England  and  Spain  had  agreed  to  send  a  joint  expedition  to  demand 
satisfaction  for  injuries  inflicted  on  their  subjects  by  Juarez,  the 
head  of  the  Mexican  Republic.  The  two  latter  powers  withdrew 
their  forces  when  the  object  of  the  treaty  had  been  attained.  But 
the  French  emperor  conceived  the  chimerical  project  of  forming  a 
grand  empire  of  the  Latin  race  in  Mexico,  which  should  counter- 
balance the  power  of  the  United  States.  He  ordered  his  troops  to 
conquer  Mexico,  which  was  achieved  in  1863,  and  he  offered  the 
sovereignty  to  the  Austrian  archduke  Maximilian,  who  accepted 
it  in  1864.  T>ut  Maximilian  quarrelled  with  the  French  commander, 
Bazaine ;  the  United  States  threatened  to  make  war  on  the  new 
empire ;  and  Napoleon  found  the  expense  of  the  occupation  a 
serious  embarrassment.  In  1866  the  French  troops  were  withdrawn, 
and  the  result  was  that  the  archduke  was  shot  by  Mexican  rebels 
in  the  next  year.  While  this  mortification  was  still  fresh,  Napoleon 
discovered  that  his  policy  in  Germany  had  been  a  complete  failure. 
He  had  determined  to  utilise  the  quarrel  of  the  two  powers  to 
obtain  territorial  acquisitions  for  France,  and  if  the  war  had  been  a 
long  one  he  might  have  succeeded.  But  the  rapid  success  of  Prussia 
foiled  all  his  plans.  Germany  had  received  a  strong  organisation 
under  the  headship  of  a  military  state,  and  France  had  little  pro- 
spect of  obtaining  any  advantages  to  counterbalance  the  increased 


a.d.  1867-1868.  ISABELLA  OF  SPAIN.  733 

power  of  its  formidable  neighbour.  The  emperor  opened  negotia- 
tions with  the  king  of  Holland  for  the  purchase  of  Luxemburg, 
which  by  the  treaty  of  Vienna  was  a  member  of  the  German  Bund, 
but  which  had  become  independent  by  the  dissolution  of  that  body. 
Prussia,  however,  stepped  in  to  prevent  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty, 
and  a  diplomatic  conference  at  London  arranged  that  Luxemburg 
should  remain  subject  to  the  Dutch  king,  but  that  the  fortifications 
should  be  demolished  and  its  neutrality  guaranteed.  Napoleon  III. 
now  endeavoured  to  form  a  close  alliance  with  Austria,  and  in  August, 
1867,  he  paid  a  formal  visit  to  the  emperor  Francis  Joseph  at 
Salzburg.  The  visit  was  nominally  one  of  condolence  on  the  fate  of 
the  archduke  Maximilian,  but  contemporary  opinion  persisted  in 
attributing  to  it  a  political  importance  which  it  may  not  have  pos- 
sessed. At  all  events  no  important  results  followed  the  interview, 
but  from  this  time  it  was  certain  that  France  would  seize  the  first 
opportunity  to  measure  its  strength  against  the  northern  state  which 
had  made  such  a  sudden  stride  towards  the  leadership  in  Europe. 
This  opportunity  soon  presented  itself  in  the  affairs  of  Spain. 

§  13.  It  would  be  tedious  to  narrate  in  detail  the  domestic  his- 
tory of  Spain  under  Isabella  of  Bourbon.  The  queen  sought  to 
cloak  the  dissoluteness  of  her  private  life  by  a  superstitious  devotion 
to  religion  and  the  church,  and  her  personal  sympathies  were  on 
the  side  of  the  clerical  and  reactionary  party.  But  occasionally  the 
progresistas  and  modcrados  forced  themselves  into  office,  though 
their  jealous  rivalry  prevented  them  from  maintaining  the  power 
to  which  their  numbers  entitled  them.  At  last,  in  1866,  Isabella 
was  induced  to  take  energetic  measures  against  the  opposition. 
Narvaez  was  appointed  chief  minister,  and  the  most  prominent 
liberals,  ODonneli,  Serrano,  and  Prim,  sought  safety  in  exile.  The 
Cortes  was  dissolved,  and  many  of  the  deputies,  including  the 
president,  Rosas,  were  transported  to  the  Canary  Islands.  A 
royalist  reign  of  terror  was  established  in  Spain,  and  was  continued 
i  he  death  of  Narvaez  (April,  1868)  by  his  successor,  Gonzalez 
Bravo.  But  the  Spaniards  were  completely  alienated  from  Bourbon 
rule.  They  resented  the  scandals  of  the  court  and  the  despotism  of 
the  contemptible  camarilla  of  priests  and  courtiers  who  surrounded 
the  queen.  The  various  sections  ot  the  liberal  party  were  driven 
into  union  by  their  common  danger.  In  September,  1868,  Prim 
and  Serrano  returned  to  Spain,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt,  and 
offered  the  people  the  bribe  of  universal  suffrage.  The  revolution 
was  promptly  effected,  and  Isabella  fled  to  France.  The  leaders  ol 
the  movement  were  not  republicans,  and  they  at  once  looked  round 
for  a  prince  to  fill  the  vacant  throne.  There  were  three  Bourbon  can- 
didates, Alfonso,  Isabella's  son ;  the  duke  of  Montpcnsier,  husband 


734  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvii. 

of  the  queen's  sister;  and  Don  Carlos,  the  representative  of  the 
legal  claims  of  the  male  line.  But  no  ope  of  them  was  acceptable 
to  the  people  or  to  their  leaders,  and  it  was  necessary  to  seek  a 
foreign  ruler.  Serrano  was  appointed  regent  during  the  interregnum, 
and  Prim  undertook  the  office  of  minister  of  war.  The  Cortes  drew 
up  a  new  constitution,  by  which  a  hereditary  king  was  to  rule  in 
conjunction  with  a  senate  and  a  popular  chamber.  The  "  Iberian" 
party  wished  to  unite  the  whole  peninsula  by  the  election  of  the 
king  of  Portugal,  but  he  refused  to  entertain  the  proposal.  At 
last  it  was  decided  to  offer  the  crown  to  Leopold  of  Hohenzollern- 
Sigmaringen,  belonging  to  a  distant  branch  of  the  royal  family  of 
Prussia.  The  prince  expressed  his  personal  willingness  to  accept 
the  offer,  but,  as  a  Prussian  subject,  he  demanded  and  obtained  the 
approval  of  William  I. 

The  prince  of  Hohenzollern  was  connected  with  the  Bonaparte 
family,  as  his  father  had  married  Antoinette  Murat,  and  it  was 
hoped  that  his  candidature  would  therefore  be  acceptable  to  the 
French  emperor.  But  Napoleon  III.  represented  the  whole  affair 
as  an  intrigue  of  Bismarck  to  extend  the  authority  of  Prussia  in 
Europe.  To  satisfy  him,  the  prince  withdrew  his  acceptance  of  the 
Spanish  crown  (July  12).  But  Napoleon  and  the  Ollivier  ministry 
were  convinced  that  a  war  was  the  only  means  of  reviving  the 
waning  attachment  of  the  people  to  the  empire.  A  plebiscite  in 
1869  had  approved  a  new  constitution,  but  the  increased  number 
of  negative  votes  had  been  very  significant.  They  were  encouraged 
by  the  belief  that  the  states  of  southern  Germany  were  jealous  of 
Prussian  ascendancy,  and  would  welcome  the  prospect  of  recovering 
their  independence.  The  French  envoy,  Benedetti,  was  instructed 
to  demand  a  promise  from  the  Prussian  king  that,  if  Spain  again 
pressed  the  Hohenzollern  candidature,  he  would  interpose  his 
authority  to  prohibit  it.  William  I.  courteously  but  firmly  refused 
to  give  any  such  pledge.  On  July  19,  France  declared  war  against 
Prussia,  and  the  streets  of  Paris  resounded  with  cries  of  d  Berlin ! 
For  the  moment  the  empire  seemed  to  be  stronger  and  more  popular 
than  at  any  time  since  its  establishment. 

§  14.  All  the  hopes  that  had  been  based  upon  German  disunion 
were  speedily  disappointed.  The  North  German  Confederation 
placed  the  whole  of  its  forces  at  the  disposal  of  Prussia,  and  voted 
120  million  thalers  for  the  expenses  of  the  war :  the  southern  states 
hastened  to  fulfil  the  obligations  imposed  by  the  treaties  of  1867. 
More  than  440,000  men  were  placed  in  the  field,  under  the  nominal 
command  of  the  king,  but  the  real  direction  of  Von  Moltke.  The 
Crown  Prince,  prince  Frederick  Charles,  and  Steinmetz  were  the 
chief  leaders  of  divisions.     The  command  of  the  French  army  was 


a.d.  1869-1870.       FRANCO-GERMAN  WAR.  735 

assumed  by  Napoleon  in  person,  his  chief  marshals  being  Lebceuf, 
Bazaine,  MacMahon,  and  Canrobert.  The  regency  in  Paris  was 
entrusted  to  the  Empress  Eugenie.  The  first  action  was  fought  at 
Saarbriick  (Aug.  3),  where  the  young  Prince  Imperial  underwent 
his  "  baptism  of  fire."  From  this  moment  events  marched  with  a 
rapidity  that  astounded  Europe.  In  every  engagement  the  Ger- 
mans showed  an  immense  superiority  in  everything  but  personal 
bravery.  The  French  fought  with  conspicuous  courage,  but  they 
had -to  contend  against  superior  arms  and  superior  generalship.  They 
were  the  first  in  the  field,  and  ought  to  have  taken  the  aggressive. 
Their  delay  allowed  the  Germans  to  enter  Alsace,  and  to  carry  on 
the  war  on  French  soil.  MacMahon  was  defeated  at  Weissemburg 
(Aug.  3),  and  again  at  Worth  (Aug.  6).  General  Frossard  was 
di  iven  from  the  heights  of  Spicheren  by  the  army  of  Frederick 
Charles  and  Steinmetz  (Aug.  6).  The  main  force  of  the  French 
was  now  concentrated  near  Metz  under  Bazaine,  while  MacMahon, 
who  had  been  wounded  at  Worth,  retreated  to  Chalons.  At 
Gravellotte  a  bloody  and  decisive  victory  was  gained  by  the 
Germans  (Aug.  18),  and  Bazaine  shut  himself  up  in  Metz. 
Frederick  Charles  was  entrusted  with  the  blockade  of  the  fortress, 
while  the  rest  of  the  German  army  under  the  Crown  Prince 
advanced  upon  Paris.  MacMahon  was  now  ordered  by  the  emperor 
to  march  from  Chalons  to  relieve  Metz.  At  Sedan  the  French 
were  completely  defeated  (Sept.  1),  and  on  the  next  day  the 
whole  army  capitulated.  Napoleon  himself  became  a  prisoner  and 
was  sent  to  Wilhelmshohe  near  Cassel. 

The  news  of  these  crushing  disasters  overthrew  the  Frenoh 
Kni|  ire.  The  Empress  Eugenie  fled  to  England,  a  " government 
of  national  defence  "  was  formed  by  the  deputies  of  Paris,  and  the 
IU'puhlic  was  formally  proclaimed  (Sept.  4).  A  ministry  was  ap- 
pointed, of  which  the  leading  spirits  were  Jules  Favre,  minister 
of  foreign  affairs,  and  Gambetta,  minister  of  the  interior.  The 
Senate  was  abolished,  and  the  Corps  Legidatif  was  dissolved. 
The  defence  of  the  capital  was  left  in  the  hands  of  general  Trochu, 
who  had  been  appointed  by  the  regent  before  her  flight.  M.  Thiers, 
who  had  no  republican  sympathies,  and  who  had  refused  a  place  in 
the  provisional  government,  undertook  an  informal  embassy  to 
the  European  sovereigns  to  request  their  mediation  on  behalf  of 
France. 

§  15.  Meanwhile  the  advance  of  the  Germans  continued.  On 
September  20  Paiis  was  invested ;  on  the  28th  Strasburg  surren- 
dered ;  and,  finally,  on  October  28  Bazaine  capitulated  at  Metz, 
and  150,000  French  troops,  including  3  marshals,  50  generals,  and 
nearly  6000  officers,  became  prisoners  of  war.     Gambetta,  who  had 


736  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvii. 

escaped  from  Paris  in  a  balloon,  organised  the  "army  of  the 
Loire,"  which  carried  on  a  desperate  but  hopeless  resistance  to 
the  invaders.  Paris  held  out  with  obstinate  courage,  though  the 
inhabitants  were  compelled  to  feed  on  vermin  to  escape  starvation. 
To  add  to  the  general  distress,  the  communists  organised  an 
emeute  under  Flourens,  Blanqui,  etc.,  which  almost  succeeded  in 
overthrowing  the  government,  but  was  ultimately  put  down  by  the 
national  guard.  In  the  provinces  the  Germans  carried  all  before 
them  in  a  number  of  local  engagements.  Garibaldi  offered  his 
services  and  came  as  far  as  Besancon,  but  it  was  too  late  to  effect 
anything.  Gambetta's  army  of  the  Loire  was  practically  destroyed. 
The  only  place  besides  the  capital  which  held  out  was  the  fortress 
of  Belfort  in  Alsace.  At  last,  the  condition  of  Paris  made  it  im- 
perative to  come  to  terms,  and  the  preliminaries  of  a  peace  were 
arranged  by  Bismarck  and  Jules  Favre  at  Versailles.  An  armistice 
was  concluded  for  three  weeks,  and  all  military  operations  weie  to 
cease  except  those  in  the  Jura  and  the  siege  of  Belfort ;  a  national 
assembly  was  to  meet  at  Bordeaux  to  settle  the  terms  of  peace. 
The  forts  of  Paris  were  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans, 
but  they  were  to  be  excluded  from  the  city ;  the  garrison  was  to 
surrender  as  prisoners  of  war,  except  12,000  men  who  were  left 
to  maintain  order;  the  blockade  was  to  continue,  but  measures 
were  arranged  for  supplying  food  to  the  citizens.  The  capitulation 
raised  a  feeling  of  bitter  indignation  in  the  provinces,  and  Gam- 
betta  announced  his  determination  to  continue  the  war  in  defiance 
of  the  armistice.  But  Jules  Simon  was  despatched  to  Bordeaux  to 
prohibit  this  useless  quixotism,  and  Gambetta  in  disgust  resigned 
his  place  in  the  ministry.  The  assembly  met  at  Bordeaux  on 
February  12,  and  elected  M.  Thiers  as  "  head  of  the  executive 
government  of  the  French  Republic."  The  veteran  politician, 
whose  services  to  his  country  in  the  moment  of  disaster  have  out- 
weighed any  errors  of  his  previous  career,  at  once  undertook  the 
difficult  task  of  securing  the  best  possible  terms  from  Bismarck. 
The  preliminaries  were  signed  on  February  26.  France  ceded  the 
whole  of  Alsace  except  Belfort  (which  had  surrendered  on  Feb.  1G) 
and  the  greater  part  of  Lorraine,  including  the  fortresses  of  Metz 
and  Thionville.  The  indemnity  was  fixed  at  five  milliards  of  francs, 
to  be  paid  within  three  years.  The  German  army  of  occupation 
was  to  be  withdrawn  gradually  as  each  instalment  of  the  in- 
demnity was  paid,  and  while  it  remained  was  to  be  supported  at  the 
expense  of  Fiance.  The  national  assembly  accepted  the  terms  by 
546  votes  to  107,  and  the  final  treaty  of  Frankfort  was  signed 
on  May  10,  1871. 

The  Third  French  Republic  was  established  at  a  period  of  national 


a.d.  1871-1878.       THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE.  737 

humiliation  unparalleled  since  the  15th  century,  but  it  has  achieved 
greater  permanence  than  either  of  its  predecessors.  Napoleon  III. 
took  up  his  residence  at  Chiselhurst,  where  lie  died  in  January,  1873 
The  death  of  his  unfortunate  son  the  Prince  Imperial,  in  South 
Africa  (June  1,  1879)  seems  to  have  rendered  hopeless  any  project 
of  another  Ronapartist  restoration.  The  royalist  party  has  also 
suffered  from  the  discord  between  the  elder  Bourbons  and  tho  house 
of  Orleans.  To  these  causes,  and  to  the  popular  desire  for  rest,  the 
Republic  has  undoubtedly  owed  much  of  its  strength.  The  first 
President,  M.  Thiers,  held  office  until  May  24, 1873,  when  a  hostile 
vote  of  the  assembly  led  to  his  resignation,  and  ho  was  replaced  by 
Marshal  MacMahon.  In  1875  a  new  republican  constitution  was 
drawn  up  which  created  two  chambers,  an  elective  Senate  and  a 
Chamber  of  Deputies.  As  the  President  showed  an  inclination 
to  a  reactionary  policy,  the  republicans  formed  a  strong  op|osi- 
ttota.  In  1878  MacMahon  resigned,  and  M.  Jules  GreVy,  who  had 
won  general  respect  in  a  long  political  career,  was  chosen  as  his 
successor. 

§  16.  In  Germany  the  result  of  the  war  was  to  give  a  great  im- 
pulse towards  the  establishment  of  unity  under  Prussian  headship. 
The  work  which  the  Parliament  of  Frankfort  had  failed  to  cany  out 
in  the  revolutionary  period  was  easily  accomplished  at  a  time  when 
Germans  wero  fighting  side  by  side  for  a  common  Fatherland.  Bis- 
marck was  enabled  to  sweep  away  the  unnatural  line  of  the  Main,  and 
to  extend  the  Confederation  of  1867  over  the  four  states  of  southern 
Germany.  The  terms  of  union  were  settled  in  separate  negotiations 
with  the  governments  of  Bavaria,  Wurtemberg,  Baden,  and  Grand- 
ducal  Hesse.  They  were  then  submitted  for  formal  approval  to  the 
estates  of  each  province  and  to  the  diet  of  the  North  German  Con- 
federation. On  January  18,  1871,  the  veteran  King  of  Prussia  was 
formally  proclaimed  German  Emperor  in  the  great  Hall  of  Mirrors 
at  Versailles.  Bismarck,  the  Cavour  of  Germany,  was  appointed 
Imperial  Chancellor  It  is  idle  la  prophecy  as  to  the  probable  dura- 
tion of  this  attempt  to  revive  in  Germany  a  national  unity  that  had 
\x  rished  six  centuries  ago.  The  German  Empire  has  been  acknow- 
ledged since  1871  to  be  the  first  military  power  in  Europe,  and  the 
national  pride  in  this  position  has  made  the  people  overlook  many 
domestic  inconveniences  and  even  humiliations.  Bismarck  has  been 
able  to  maintain  the  ascendancy  of  Prussia  in  spite  of  serious  quarr 
rel8  with  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  and  in  spite  of  the  threatening 
attitude  of  social  democracy. 

§  17.  The  first  reverses  at  Weissembur^  and  Worth  had  been 
followed  by  the  hasty  recall  of  the  French  troops  from  Rome,  and 
the  citv  was  offered  to  the  Italian  government  as  the  price  of  armed 
33 


738  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvh. 

assistance  to  France.  But  Victor  Emmanuel  had  already  declared 
the  neutrality  of  Italy ;  it  would  have  been  imprudent  to  join  what 
was  evidently  a  losing  cause,  and  the  link  between  Italy  and  France 
had  been  broken  at  Mentana.  On  September  11,  ten  days  after  the 
capitulation  of  Sedan,  Italian  troops  crossed  the  frontier  of  the  Papal 
States.  Pius  IX.  had  held  an  oecumenical  council  in  the  previous 
year  to  decree  the  dogma  of  papal  infallibility,  and  had  thus  decided 
a  dispute  that  had  remained  unsolved  since  the  famous  assemblies 
of  Constance  and  Basel.  Such  a  man  was  not  likely  to  resign  his 
temporal  power  of  his  own  accord.  All  suggestions  of  a  peaceful 
compromise  were  met  with  the  invariable  answer  of  non  possumus. 
On  September  18  the  bombardment  of  Rome  commenced,  and  two 
days  later  the  city  was  occupied.  A  plebiscite  declared  for  annexa- 
tion to  the  Italian  kingdom  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and  in 
the  next  year  the  capital  was  transferred  from  Florence  to  the 
Eternal  City.  No  protest  was  made  against  this  natural  completion 
of  the  Italian  state.  Victor  Emmanuel  carried  out  the  policy  of 
Cavour,  left  the  Pope  in  undisturbed  possession  of  the  Vatican,  and 
ostentatiously  proclaimed  the  complete  independence  of  his  eccle- 
siastical authority.  It  was  a  great  blow  to  the  kiug  to  be  involved 
in  hostile  relations  to  the  head  of  his  church,  but  he  was  consoled 
by  the  thought  that  he  had  obtained  the  object  of  his  life.  He  had 
still  much  work  to  do  in  welding  together  the  discordant  parts  of  his 
kingdom,  and  increasing  its  material  prosperity.  His  prosperous 
reign  was  ended  by  a  sudden  death  on  January  9,  1878,  when  the 
crown  passed  to  bis  eldest  son,  Humbert  I. 

§  18.  It  proved  a  very  difficult  task  to  fill  up  the  vacancy  in  the 
Spanish  throne,  which  had  been  productive  of  such  vast  results. 
After  the  collapse  of  the  Hohenzollern  candidature,  the  crown  was 
offered  to  Victor  Emmanuel's  second  son,  Amadeusof  Aosta  (born  in 
1845).  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  young  prince  did  his  best 
to  perform  the  duties  which  he  had  undertaken.  But  Spain  was 
wholly  unfit  for  a  constitutional  monarchy.  Wearied  out  and  dis- 
gusted by  the  incessant  factions  and  intrigues,  Amadeus  resigned  his 
crown  in  1873.  A  provisional  republic  was  now  formed,  of  which 
Castelar  was  the  guiding  spirit.  But  Don  Carlos  raised  his  standard 
once  more  in  the  Basque  provinces,  while  the  democrats  of  the  south 
revolted  against  any  central  authority,  and  demanded  the  establish- 
ment of  a  republican  federation.  At  last  the  restoration  of  order 
was  undertaken  by  the  army.  The  Cortes  were  dissolved  by  a  coup 
oVetat,  Castelar  indignantly  threw  up  his  office,  and  a  military  re- 
public was  established.  This  insured  the  unity  of  the  state,  and  the 
anarchy  of  the  federalists  was  suppressed.  But  it  was  obvious  that 
peace  could  not  be  finally  restored  except  by  the  restoration  of  the 


a.d.  1870-1876.  SPAIN.  739 

monarchy,  and  the  only  possible  candidate  was  the  young  Alfonso, 
the  son  of  the  exiled  Isabella.  In  December,  1874,  he  was  proclaimed 
king  as  Alfonso  XII.  The  first  business  of  the  new  monarch  was 
to  terminate  the  Carlist  war,  and  this  was  successfully  accom- 
plished in  1876.  From  this  time  the  restored  monarchy  has  main- 
tained itself  in  Spain,  and  has  satisfied  the  people,  though  without 
exciting  any  enthusiastic  devotion. 


740  MODERN  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
THE   EASTERN   QUESTION. 

1830-1878. 

§  1.  Russian  influence  in  eastern  Europe;  conquest  of  Syria  by  Mehemet 
AH;  treaty  of  Unkiar  Skelessi.  §  2.  Renewal  of  the  war  in  Syria; 
death  of  Mahraoud  II. ;  treaty  of  London ;  Mehemet  Ali  forced  to  accept 
the  treaty  ;  convention  of  the  Straits  ;  twelve  years  of  peace.  §  3. 
Quarrel  about  the  Holy  Places;  Nicolas  proposes  a  partition  ;  Russian 
demands  rejected  by  the  Porte  ;  occupation  of  the  Principalities  ;  out- 
break of  Russo-Turkish  war.  §  4.  France  and  England  join  Turkey  ; 
the  Russians  evacuate  the  Principalities  ;  war  in  the  Crimea;  siege  of 
Sebastopol ;  §  5.  Death  of  Nicolas  ;  failure  of  negotiations ;  fall  of 
Sebastopol ;  Treaty  of  Paris.  §6.  Emancipation  of  the  Russian  serfs  ; 
Polish  insurrection  ;  its  suppression.  §  7.  The  kingdom  of  Greece 
under  Otho  I.  ;  revolution  of  1843;  Greece  during  the  Crimean  war; 
revolution  of  1862  ;  expulsion  of  the  Bavarian  dynasty ;  accession  of 
George  I.;  England  cedes  the  Ionian  Islands.  §  8.  Turkey  from  1856- 
1875  ;  Cretan  insurrection.  §  9.  Rising  in  Herzegovina  and  Bosnia  ; 
the  Andrassy  Note  ;  the  Berlin  Memorandum ;  deposition  of  Abdul 
Aziz  .and  Amurath  V. ;  Servia  and  Montenegro  declare  war  ;  attitude  of 
Russia;  conference  of  Constantinople.  §  10.  Russo-Turkish  war; 
siege  of  Plevna;  passage  of  the  Balkans;  occupation  of  Adrianople ; 
preliminaries  of  San  Stefano.  §  11.  Opposition  of  England;  risk  of 
war  ;  Congress  of  Berlin  ;  cession  of  Cyprus  to  England ;  "  peace  with 
honour." 

§  1.  The  vigorous  conduct  of  the  Turkish  war  in  1829,  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  independent  kingdom  of  Greece  under  Otho  I., 
and  the  suppression  of  the  Polish  insurrection  of  1830,  combined  to 
give  Russia  a  commanding  position  in  eastern  Europe.  Nicolas 
had  failed  to  have  his  own  way  in  Belgium,  but  Belgium  was  a 
distant  country,  and  Russian  interests  were  not  directly  involved. 
In  the  East  Russia  had  acted,  while  the  other  powers  had  debated. 
England,  it  is  true,  had  struck  a  vigorous  blow  at  Navarino,  but 
had  subsequently  disowned  the  victory  as  "  an  untoward  event.'* 
The  growing  ascendancy  of  Russia  was  accompanied  by  the  rise  of 
a  wholly  new  policy  in  Europe  with  regard  to  the  "  Eastern  Ques- 
tion." The  old  feeling  that  the  Turk  was  the  common  enemy  of 
Christendom,  that  every  victory  over  the  crescent,  no  matter  what 


A.D.  1830-1839.  MEHEMET  ALL  741 

power  it  was  gained  by,  was  a  subject  for  general  triumph,  com- 
pletely disappeared.  On  the  contrary,  the  Turkish  power  was  to 
be  maintained,  because  Russia  was  dreaded.  To  satisfy  public 
opinion  the  Porte  was  to  reform  its  administration,  or  at  least 
to  promise  reform,  but  whether  reformed  or  not,  the  power  of  the 
infidel  in  Europe  was  to  be  preserved  from  dissolution.  The  powers 
overlooked  the  fact  that  they  really  played  into  the  hands  of  Russia, 
by  making  that  state  the  champion  of  the  Christian  provinces  of 
Turkey.  The  new  policy  was  no  sudden  creation,  but  its  genesis 
may  be  clearly  traced  in  the  twenty  years  which  followed  1830. 

The  first  disturbance  in  tho  east  after  the  treaty  of  Adrianople 
was  caused  by  the  ambition  of  Mehemet  Ali  of  Egypt.  Mehemet 
had  received  the  island  of  Candia  as  the  reward  for  the  assistance 
he  had  given  to  the  Porte  in  Greece,  but  he  endeavoured  to  take 
advantago  of  Turkish  weakness  to  make  further  acquisitions.  In 
1831  he  picked  a  quarrel  with  the  Pasha  of  Acre,  and  seized  the 
oj»]H>rt unity  to  conquer  Syria.  Mahmoud  II.  sent  a  large  army 
against  the  Egyptian  adventurer,  but  the  Turks  were  completely 
defeated  at  KocJth,  the  ancient  Iconium  (Dec.  21,  1832).  Con- 
stantinople itself  was  now  threatened,  and  the  Sultan  applied  for 
aid  to  the  Bllimmil  powers.  The  Czar  at  once  responded  to  this 
apical,  but  England  and  France  refused  to  sanction  Russian  inter- 
vention and  threatened  to  support  the  Egyptians.  Mahmoud  was 
compelled  to  sign  the  treaty  of  Kntaieh,  which  confirmed  Mehemet 
Ali  in  the  possession  of  Candia  and  ceded  Syria  to  him  as  a  fief  of 
the  Porte.  Disgusted  with  tin.-  attitude  of  the  m stern  powers,  the 
Sultan  concluded  the  treaty  of  Unkiar  Skelessi  with  the  Czar 
(July  8, 1833),  and  in  a  secret  article  agreed  to  close  the  Dardanelles 
to  all  but  Russian  vessels. 

§  2.  In  1839  Mahmoud  If.  made  an  attempt  to  recover  Syria, 
but  his  army  was  routed  at  Nisib,  a  village  on  the  Euphrates,  by 
Ibrahim,  Mehemet's  son  (June  24).  Four  days  later  the  aged  Sul- 
tan died,  leaving  his  empire  to  his  son,  Abdul  Medjid,  a  feeble  and 
dissolute  youth  of  seventeen.  Mehemet  Ali  now  conceived  the 
hold  idea  of  supplanting  the  house  of  Othman  on  the  throne.  The 
Turkish  fleet  was  carried  to  Alexandria  and  placed  at  his  disposal 
by  the  admiral,  Achmet  Fevzy.  But  Russia  was  not  prepared  to 
see  an  able  and  vigorous  ruler  at  the  head  of  the  Ottoman  empire, 
and  England  had  been  alienated  by  Mehemet  Ali's  rule  in  Egypt. 
For  once  the  two  powers  pursued  a  common  policy  in  the  east. 
France,  on  the  other  hand,  remembering  the  part  which  it  had  once 
played  under  Napoleon,  was  eager  to  establish  a  protectorate  over 
Egypt,  and  became  the  ardent  champion  of  Mehemet.  European 
diplomacy  undertook  to  settle  the  question,  and  a  conference  met  in 


742  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvm. 

London.  To  the  intense  disgust  of  France,  a  treaty  was  arranged 
by  England,  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia  (July  15,  1840),  by 
which  the  integrity  of  Turkey  was  guaranteed  and  Syria  and  Candia 
were  to  be  restored.  Mehemet  Ali  refused  to  accept  these  terms, 
and  force  had  to  be  employed.  English  and  Austrian  troops  defeated 
Ibrahim  in  Syria,  while  the  English  fleet  bombarded  Beyrout  and 
Acre.  Finding  resistance  to  the  European  powers  impossible, 
Mehemet  Ali  accepted  the  treaty  of  London  (Nov.  27),  on  condition 
that  the  Pashalic  of  Egypt  should  be  confirmed  to  himself  and  his 
direct  decendants,  the  Porte  receiving  one  fourth  of  the  revenues  as 
tribute.  Russia  had  to  sacrifice  the  secret  article  of  Unkiar  Skelessi  as 
the  price  of  English  support.  By  a  convention  of  July  13,  1841, 
the  rive  great  powers — France  was  this  time  included — recognised 
the  absolute  right  of  the  Sultan  to  control  the  navigation  of  the 
Dardanelles  and  the  Bosphorus,  and  the  passage  of  foreign  ships  of 
war  was  prohibited.  This  was  a  deleat  for  Nicolas,  but  he  was 
consoled  by  the  humiliation  inflicted  on  the  government  of  Louis 
Philippe,  which  he  cordially  detested  as  the  outgrowth  of  revolution. 

For  the  next  twrelve  years  the  east  enjoyed  a  period  of  compara- 
tive tranquillity.  Mehemet  Ali  abdicated  in  1844,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  Egypt  passed  to  his  son  Ibrahim.  Abdul  Medjid,  under 
the  influence  of  Redschid  Pasha  and  Sir  Stratford  Canning  (Lord 
Stratford  de  Redcliffe),  attempted  to  reform  the  administration  of 
Turkey  on  the  European  model.  But  all  his  schemes  were  frustrated 
by  the  weakness  of  the  Sultan  and  the  inveterate  habits  of  his 
officials,  and  the  old  misrule  continued.  Russia  was  undisturbed 
by  the  revolution  of  1848.  While  thrones  and  dynasties  were 
falling  on  every  side,  Nicolas  assumed  the  congenial  role  of  the 
champion  of  order  and  legitimacy.  He  helped  Austria  to  trample 
on  the  liberties  of  Hungary,  and  to  defeat  the  scheme  of  a  new  union 
in  Germany.  He  interfered  to  prevent  the  dismemberment  of  the 
Danish  monarchy.  When  the  revolutionary  movement  spread  to 
Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  40,000  Russian  soldiers  occupied  the 
Principalities,  and  were  not  withdrawn  until  1850.  The  Czar  seemed 
to  have  good  grounds  for  believing  that  he  could  impose  his  will 
upon  Europe,  but  the  time  approached  when  he  was  to  be  rudely 
undeceived. 

§  3.  In  1852  an  old  dispute  about  the  custody  of  the  Holy  Places 
in  Jerusalem  was  revived,.  Napoleon,  then  President  of  the  French 
Republic,  put  himself  forward  as  the  champion  of  the  Latin 
Christians,  and  obtained  for  them  from  the  Porte  the  right  of  free 
entry  to  the  Sepulchre,  which  had  been  contested  by  the  Greek 
monks.  Nicolas,  as  the  head  of  the  Greek  church,  considered 
himself  aggrieved   by  this  decision.     The    weakness  of   Turkey 


a.d.  1840-1854.  THE  CRIMEAN  WAR.  743 

seemed  to  offer  a  convenient  opportunity  for  carrying  out  those 
aggressive  designs  which  the  Czar  had  never  ceased  to  cherish  even 
when  he  joined  England  in  supporting  the  Porte  against  Mehemet 
Ali.  The  opposition  of  England  might  be  bought  off.  In  January, 
1853,  Nicolas  disclosed  his  plans  in  two  important  interviews  with 
Sir  Hamilton  Seymour,  the  English  ambassador.  Without  cir- 
cumlocution, he  suggested  that  the  two  powers  should  divide 
between  them  the  territories  of  the  "  sick  man."  The  Danubian 
Principalities,  Servia,  and  Bulgaria  were  to  be  formed  into  inde- 
pendent states  under  Russian  protection  ;  England  might  annex 
Egypt,  so  important  for  the  route  to  India,  and  also  Candia.  "If 
England  and  myself  can  come  to  an  understanding  about  this  affair, 
I  shall  care  very  little  what  the  others  (Le.  France,  Austria,  and 
Prussia)  may  think  or  do."  England  declined  the  proposal,  and 
excited  the  Czar's  indignation  by  publishing  Seymour's  despatches. 

In  March,  Prince  Menschikoff  appeared  in  Constantinople,  and 
arrogantly  demanded  from  the  Porte  the  recognition  of  a  Russian 
protectorate  over  all  Turkish  subjects  belonging  to  the  Greek 
church.  Abdul  Medjid  replied  by  offering  to  secure  the  rights  of 
the  Greek  Christians  by  charter,  but  refused  to  do  so  by  treaty. 
Menschikoff  withdrew  after  presenting  an  ultimatum,  and  the 
Russian  army  under  Gortschakoff  crossed  the  Pruth  (July  3, 1853), 
t<>  occupy  Moldavia  and  Wallachia  as  a  guarantee  for  the  fulfilment 
of  Russian  demands.  The  Porte  treated  this  as  an  act  of  hostility, 
and  declared  war  against  Russia  (Oct  1).  Omar  Pasha,  a  Servian 
renegade  in  the  Turkish  service,  won  a  conspicuous  victory  at 
Oltenitza  (Nov.  4).  Napoleon  III.  seized  the  opportunity,  to  secure 
his  recently  established  empire  by  embarking  in  a  great  war  and 
by  obtaining  the  countenance  and  support  of  England.  The  two 
western  powers  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  Porte  (Nov.  27),  ami 
promised  their  assistance  if  Russia  would  not  accept  peace  on 
moderate  terms.  The  destruction  of  the  Turkish  fleet  at  Sinope  by 
Admiral  Nakhimof  destroyed  the  last  chance  of  terminating  the 
contest  by  diplomacy.  The  French  and  English  fleets  entered  the 
Black  Sea,  and  the  Russian  admiral  had  to  retire  to  Sebastopol. 

§  4.  In  1854  France  and  England  declared  war  against  Russia. 
Austria  and  Prussia  remained  neutral,  but  agreed  to  oppose  the 
Russians  if  they  attacked  Austria  or  crossed  the  Balkans.  The 
Czar  found  himself  completely  isolated  in  Europe,  the  result  in 
great  measure  of  the  haughty  attitude  which  he  had  assumed  in 
recent  years.  By  sea  the  allies  had  an  overwhelming  superiority, 
but  it  proved  of  little  use  to  them.  In  the  Black  Sea  they 
blockaded  Odessa,  but  in  the  Baltic  they  found  Cronstadt  too  strong 
to  be  attacked,  and  had  to  content  themselves  with  the  capture  of 


744  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvm. 

Bomarsund.  It  was  obvious  that  Russia  could  only  be  seriously 
attacked  by  land.  In  April  the  Russians,  under  the  veteran 
Paskiewitsch,  had  laid  siege  to  Silistria,  but  all  attempts  to  storm 
the  fortress  were  foiled.  In  July  the  siege  was  raised,  the  Prin- 
cipalities were  evacuated,  and  Austria  undertook  their  occupation 
by  a  convention  with  the  Porte.  Meanwhile  the  French  and  Eng- 
lish armies,  under  St.  Arnaud  and  Lord  Raglan,  had  landed  at  Galli- 
poli  and  proceeded  to  Varna.  Finding  the  war  in  the  Principalities 
settled  without  their  intervention,  the  allies  determined  to  trans- 
fer the  scene  of  hostilities  to  the  Crimea  and  to  attack  Sebastopol. 
They  landed  without  opposition  at  Eupatoria  (Sept.  14).  and  the 
battle  of  the  Alma  (Sept.  20)  opened  the  way  to  the  great  fortress. 
A  vigorous  pursuit  of  the  Russians  might  have  taken  Sebastopol  at 
once,  but  the  delay  enabled  Menschikoff  to  make  elaborate  prepa- 
rations for  defence.  The  siege  lasted  for  more  than  twelve  months 
and  absorbed  the  interested  attention  of  Europe.  The  allies 
suffered  terribly  from  the  severity  of  the  climate  and  from  the 
defective  organisation  of  the  commissariat.  At  the  same  time  they 
had  to  resist  the  constant  efforts  of  the  Russian  field  army  to 
interrupt  the  siege  operations.  At  Balaclava  (Oct.  25),  and  Inker- 
mann  (Nov.  5),  the  Russian  attack  was  only  repulsed  after  hard 
fighting  and  serious  loss  on  both  sides.  In  January,  1855,  the 
allied  forces  were  strengthened  by  the  arrival  of  18,000  Sardinian 
troops  under  La  Marmora. 

§  5.  The  disasters  of  1854  were  a  bitter  humiliation  to  Nicolas, 
and  probably  hastened  his  death,  which  occurred  on  March  3,  1855. 
His  successor,  Alexander  II.,  was  more  pacifically  disposed,  and  it 
was  hoped  that  his  accession  might  lead  to  the  conclusion  of  peace. 
But  the  military  honour  of  the  allies  could  only  be  satisfied  by  the 
capture  of  Sebastopol,  and  hostilities  were  soon  renewed.  The 
English  fleet  rendered  conspicuous  service  by  destroying  the  Russian 
base  of  supplies,  but  the  garrison,  which  was  now  commanded  by 
Gortschakoff,  held  out  with  unflinching  courage.  A  grand  assault, 
in  which  the  English  attacked  the  Redan  and  the  French  the 
Malakoff,  was  repulsed  with  great  loss  (June  18).  The  French 
were  now  commanded  by  Pelissier,  who  had  superseded  Canrobert, 
the  successor  of  St.  Arnaud.  On  the  death  of  Lord  Raglan 
(June  28),  General  Simpson  undertook  the  command  of  the  English 
army.  Although  the  two  armies  supported  each  other  with  credit- 
able loyalty,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  dual  command  was  a 
great  obtacle  to  the  success  of  the  besiegers.  On  August  16,  a 
Russian  attack  was  repulsed  with  great  loss  on  the  Tschernaya,  a 
battle  in  which  the  Sardinian  contingent  distinguished  itself.  The 
allies  had  at  last  succeeded  in  bringing  a  superior  force  of  artillery 


a.d.  1854-1859.  TREATY  OF  PARia  745 

to  bear  upon  the  fortress,  and  on  the  17th  the  final  bombardment 
was  commenced.  For  twenty-three  days  the  batteries  kept  up  an 
almost  incessant  fire,  which  inflicted  terrible  damage.  On  Sept.  8  a 
general  assault  was  ordered.  The  French  stormed  the  Malakoff, 
but  the  English,  after  carrying  the  Redan,  were  compelled  to  retreat 
for  want  of  support.  The  Russian  position,  however,  was  no  longer 
tenable,  and  on  the  10th  Gortschakoff  evacuated  Sebastopol  and 
retired  to  the  north  side  of  the  harbour.  The  success  of  the  allies 
was  by  no  means  complete,  the  Russians  still  occupied  a  very  strong 
position,  and  the  war  might  have  been  indefinitely  prolonged  if  the 
people  had  not  begun  to  murmur  at  the  heavy  burdens  imposed  upon 
them.  The  fall  of  the  Asiatic  fortress  of  Kara  (Nov.  28,  1855)  was 
a  salve  to  the  military  vanity  of  Russia.  Austria  undertook  to 
mediate,  the  bases  of  a  pacification  were  agreed  upon  in  January, 
1856,  and  an  armistice  was  concluded.  A  conference  met  at  Paris, 
where  the  final  treaty  was  signed  on  March  30.  The  Russian 
protectorate  over  the  Danubian  Principalities  was  abolished;  the 
free  navigation  of  the  Danube  was  to  be  secured  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  an  international  commission ;  the  Black  Sea  was  neutralised, 
and  all  ships  of  war,  including  those  of  Turkey  and  Russia,  were  to 
be  excluded,  except  a  small  number  of  light  vessels  to  protect  the 
coasts ;  the  Sultan  undertook  to  confirm  the  privileges  of  his 
Christian  subjects,  but  the  powers  agreed  not  to  use  this  as  ar 
pretext  for  interfering  with  his  domestic  administration ;  the  con- 
vention of  1841  about  the  Straits  was  confirmed ;  and  the  Porte 
was  to  be  admitted  to  all  the  advantages  of  public  law  and  the 
European  concert.  Russia  agreed  to  restore  Kara  and  to  retire 
from  the  Danube  by  ceding  a  strip  of  Bessarabia  to  Roumania; 
while  the  allies  were  to  evacuate  Sebastopol  and  all  other  conquests 
in  the  Crimea.  These  terms  were  accepted  by  six  powers,  viz. 
France,  Austria,  Great  Britain,  Prussia,  Russia,  and  Sardinia.  A 
fortnight  later  France,  Austria,  and  Great  Britain  concluded  a 
separate  agreement  to  guarantee  the  independence  and  integrity  of 
the  Turkish  empire.  In  1858  the  signatories  of  the  treaty  of  Paris 
arranged  a  convention  to  settle  the  relations  of  Moldavia  and  Wal- 
lachia.  They  were  to  be  ruled  by  separate  princes,  who  were  to  be 
chosen  by  the  assembly  of  each  principality,  aud  they  were  to  pay 
a  tribute  to  the  Porte.  But  the  two  principalities  elected  the  same 
prince,  Alexander  Cusa,  and  in  1859  the  convention  was  modified  to 
allow  them  to  become  one  state  under  the  name  of  Roumania.  In 
1866  Prince  Alexander  was  deposed,  and  Roumania  fell  under  the 
rule  of  Prince  Charles  of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,  a  member  of 
the  royal  family  of  Prussia. 

§  6.  The  Crimean  war  had  exhausted  the  resources  of  Russia  and 
33* 


746  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxviii. 

had  given  rise  to  great  discontent  in  that  country.  To  satisfy  his 
subjects  Alexander  II.  adopted  a  liberal  policy,  and  introduced  a 
number  of  reforms,  of  which  the  greatest  was  the  emancipation  of  the 
serfs.  The  peasants  on  the  crown  domains,  some  20,000,000  in 
number,  received  personal  freedom  by  a  series  of  edicts  in  1858. 
More  difficulty  was  experienced  in  dealing  with  the  serfs  of  private 
owners,  but,  after  long  negotiations  with  the  territorial  lords,  the 
great  edict  was  issued  on  March  3,  1861.  All  peasants  attached  to 
the  soil  became  free  cultivators,  with  the  permanent  occupation  of 
part  of  their  land,  the  rest  being  left  to  the  lord.  The  permanent 
occupation  might  be  exchanged  for  absolute  ownership  by  a  money 
payment,  and  the  government  organised  a  system  of  loans  to  enable 
the  peasants  to  free  themselves  at  once  by  becoming  debtors  to  the 
state.  There  were  political  as  well  as  humane  motives  for  the 
measure,  which  extended  the  Czar's  authority  at  the  expense  of  the 
nobles.  The  change  was  by  no  means  welcomed  with  unanimous 
approval.  The  upper  classes  resented  the  advance  of  despotism  and 
demanded  the  concession  of  constitutional  privileges,  while  the 
peasants  thought  less  of  the  future  gain  than  of  the  immediate  loss 
of  part  of  the  land  which  they  and  their  ancestors  had  cultivated  for 
centuries.  But,  on  the  whole,  the  reform  was  both  just  and 
necessary,  and  involved  more  important  social  changes  than  any 
'measure  since  the  first  French  Revolution. 

The  liberal  policy  of  the  new  Czar  seems  to  have  excited  great 
hopes  among  the  Poles,  and  their  disappointment  gave  rise  to  a 
formidable  insurrection  in  1863.  For  two  years  a  desperate 
guerilla  warfare  was  carried  on  against  the  Russian  troops,  but  in 
the  end  order  and  discipline  carried  the  day  against  ill- organised 
heroism.  Prussia,  which  had  never  sympathised  with  the  Poles, 
made  an  alliance  with  the  Czar.  England,  Austria,  and  France 
sought  to  mediate  on  behalf  of  the  unfortunate  nation,  and  to 
secure  for  Poland  some  of  the  liberties  that  had  been  promised  in 
1815.  But  they  did  not  attempt  to  go  beyond  paper  remonstrances, 
which  Russia  treated  with  contempt.  The  rebellion  was  put  down 
with  a  hideous  barbarity  that  was  disgraceful  to  a  state  which  had 
just  professed  such  solicitude  for  its  own  peasants.  It  was  deter- 
mined to  obliterate  the  last  remnants  of  Polish  nationality.  The 
country  was  divided  into  ten  provinces  ;  the  Russian  language  was 
introduced  in  the  schools,  and  in  all  public  acts ;  the  university  of 
Warsaw  was  Russianised ;  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  became  a 
luxury  which  only  the  rich  could  afford  ;  and  to  punish  the  nobles 
for  their  sympathy  with  the  insurrection,  their  lands  were  arbi- 
trarily handed  over  to  the  peasants.  As  the  alliance  between  England 
and  France  was  an  effective  barrier  to  aggression  at  the  expense  of 


A.D.  1837-1864.  GREECE.  747 

Turkey,  Russia  now  devoted  itself  to  the  easier  task  of  making 
conquests  in  Asia.  Alexander  II.  did  not  attempt  to  play  such  a 
prominent  part  in  European  politics  as  his  father  had  done.  He 
offered  no  opposition  to  the  establishment  of  the  North  German 
Confederation  and  the  German  Empire,  but  he  took  advantage  of 
the  Franco-German  war  to  obtain  the  erasure  of  the  article  in  the 
treaty  of  Paris  which  limited  the  maritime  forces  of  Russia  in  the 
Black  Sea. 

§  7.  The  kingdom  of  Greece  had  never  thriven  as  its  ardent 
admirer*  had  expected.  This  wm  due  partly  to  the  defects  of  the 
Greeks  themselves,  partly  to  the  errors  of  king  Otho  and  his 
Bavarian  advisers,  but  mainly  to  the  attitude  of  the  great  powers. 
Neither  Russia  nor  England  really  wished  Greece  to  become  a 
powerful  state.  Russia  dreaded  a  possible  rival  in  the  headship 
of  the  Greek  church,  and  England  feared  for  her  commercial 
supremacy  in  the  Levant.  Hence  the  defective  frontier  which  was 
given  to  the  new  kingdom,  and  the  constant  snubs  that  it  received 
from  the  European  states.  Otho,  who  was  only  seventeen  years 
old  when  the  crown  was  given  to  him,  assumed  the  personal 
control  of  the  government  in  1837.  Possessed  of  no  ability,  ex- 
perience, or  energy,  but  eager  to  exercise  an  absolute  authority 
for  which  he  was  unfitted,  he  alienated  his  subjects  before  they  had 
acquired  the  habits  of  loyalty.  A  revolution  in  1843  compelled 
him  to  dismiss  his  Bavarian  followers  and  to  grant  a  constitution. 
When  the  Crimean  war  broke  out,  the  Greeks  eagerly  seized  the 
opportunity  to  attempt  the  annexation  of  Thessaly  and  Epirus. 
The  king  offered  no  opposition  to  the  national  movement,  which 
was  probably  prompted  by  Russian  influence.  Regardless  that  by 
a  breach  of  the  treaties  the  support  of  England  and  France  would 
be  forfeited,  the  government  openly  took  part  in  the  war,  which  had 
already  been  commenced  by  an  insurrection  in  the  two  provinces. 
The  Turks  had  no  difficulty  in  repulsing  the  invaders,  whose 
rapacity  and  disorder  did  much  to  conciliate  the  inhabitants  to 
Turkish  rule.  In  May,  1854,  English  and  French  troops  landed  at 
the  Piraeus  and  compelled  the  king  to  abandon  the  Russian  alliance. 
From  this  time  the  Bavarian  monarchy  forfeited  all  hold  upon  the 
respect  or  affection  of  Greece.  The  Italian  war  of  1859  evoked  the 
warmest  sympathy  among  the  Greeks,  while  Otho  and  his  court 
did  not  disguise  their  attachment  to  Austria.  To  put  down  the 
growing  opposition,  the  king  endeavoured  to  tamper  with  the 
constitution.  Newspapers  were  suppressed,  intimidation  and  cor- 
ruption were  employed  to  influence  the  elections,  and  the  senate 
was  packed  with  royal  nominees.  In  1862  a  rebellion  broke  out 
while  the  king  and  queen  were  on  a  tour  through  the  country.     On 


748  MODERN   EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvin. 

returning  to  Athens,  they  found  the  city  closed  against  them,  and 
quitted  Greece  under  the  protection  of  the  English  flag.  Otho,  who 
never  abandoned  his  pretensions  to  the  throne,  died  at  Bamberg  in 

1867.  Meanwhile  a  provisional  government  was  established,  and  a 
national  assembly  was  summoned  to  elect  a  new  king  and  to  frame 
a  new  constitution.  The  assembly  refused  to  take  the  responsibility 
of  the  election,  and  entrusted  it  to  a  national  vote.  By  an  over- 
whelming majority  the  crown  was  offered  to  the  English  prince 
Alfred  (the  duke  of  Edinburgh).  But  the  great  powers  had  agreed 
that  no  member  of  the  ruling  families  of  France,  Russia,  or  Great 
Britain  should  ascend  the  throne  of  Greece,  and  the  election  was 
annulled.  England  now  undertook  to  find  a  constitutional  king, 
but  discovered  that  the  vacant  throne  was  not  an  object  of  ambition 
to  European  princes.  At  last  prince  William  George  of  Denmark, 
the  second  son  of  Christian  IX.  and  the  brother  of  the  princess  of 
Wales,  was  selected,  and  was  acknowledged  by  the  Greeks  as 
George  L  In  order  to  conciliate  the  Greeks  to  their  new  sovereign, 
England  resigned  the  Ionian  Islands  to  Greece  in  1864. 

§  8.  In  Turkey,  Abdul  Medjid  died  in  1861,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Abdul  Aziz.  The  promises  which  the  Sultan  had  made  in  the 
treaty  of  Paris  shared  the  fate  of  most  Turkish  promises.  The  fact 
was  that  the  despotism  of  the  Sultan  no  longer  existed  except  in 
name.  Turkey  was  practically  ruled  by  an  official  obligarchy, 
and  the  personal  will  of  the  nominal  ruler  counted  for  very  little 
when  it  clashed  with  the  interests  of  the  dominant  class.  A  series 
of  revolts  in  the  Christian  provinces  attested  the  continuance  of 
Turkish  oppression  and  of  the  discontent  which  it  could  hardly  fail 
to  provoke.  The  most  important  of  these  revolts  before  1875  was 
that  of  Crete  (1866-1868),  which  was  almost  openly  countenanced 
by  the  Greek  government.  Diplomatic  relations  between  Constan- 
tinople and  Athens  were  broken  off,  and  war  would  probably  have 
ensued  if  the  European  powers  had  not  stepped  in  to  compel  Greece 
to  observe  a  strict  neutrality.     The  insurrection  was  put  down  in 

1868,  mainly  by  the  exertions  of  Hobart  Pasha,  an  English  naval 
officer  who  had  entered  the  Turkish  service,  and  Crete,  with  some 
nominal  concessions,  returned  to  its  former  servitude. 

§  9.  In  1875  an  insurrection  in  Herzegovina  and  Bosnia  raised 
a  storm  in  the  whole  of  Turkey,  and  made  the  eastern  question  for 
three  years  the  centre  of  European  politics.  Volunteers  from 
Montenegro  and  Servia  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  insurgents. 
Austria,  with  its  large  Slav  population,  was  at  first  inclined  to 
sympathise  with  the  movement,  and  took  the  lead  in  procuring 
diplomatic  intervention  on  its  behalf.  Count  Andrassy,  the  foreign 
minister  of  Austro-Hungary,  drew  up  a  note  in  December  in  which 


a.d.  1861-1876.         RISINGS  IN   TURKEY.  749 

he  enumerated  the  concessions  which  the  Porte  ought  to  make  to 
its  Christian  subjects.  The  "Andrassy  Note"  was  accepted  by 
Russia,  Austria,  France,  Italy,  and  after  some  hesitation  by  England, 
and  it  was  presented  to  the  Porte  by  Count  Zichy  on  January  31, 
1876.  The  Turkish  miuistry  undertook  to  make  the  proposed 
reforms,  but  the  insurgents  refused  to  accept  them  unless  the 
European  powers  offered  a  practical  guarantee  for  their  execution. 
The  note  thus  failed  of  its  purpose,  and  the  zeal  of  Austria 
perceptibly  cooled  as  the  Hungarians,  who  had  never  forgotten  the 
conduct  of  Russia  in  1849,  showed  unmistakeable  hostility  to  the 
causj  of  the  Slavs.  A  more  energetic  document,  the  "Berlin 
Memorandum,"  was  now  drawn  up,  and  threatened  active  coercion 
unless  the  concessions  were  made  within  two  months.  But  England, 
where  Lord  Beacon  afield' 8  ministry  was  returning  to  the  attitude  of 
the  Crimean  war,  refused  to  accept  the  Memorandum,  which  thus 
became  futile.  Meanwhile  matters  in  the  east  were  daily  becoming 
more  serious.  Bulgaria  joined  the  insurrection,  but  the  Bulgarians 
were  not  a  warlike  race,  and  their  rising  was  suppressed  by  Turkish 
irregular  troops  with  a  wanton  barbarity  that  raised  a  storm  of 
indignation  in  Europe  and  especially  in  England.  In  Constantinople 
Abdul  Aziz  was  deposed  on  May  30,  and  was  murdered  a  few  days 
later.  His  successor,  Amurath  V.,  was  a  hopeless  idiot,  and  was 
deposed  on  August  31,  in  favour  of  his  brother  Abdul  Hamid  II. 
Servia  and  Montenegro  had  already  declared  war  against  the  Porte 
(July  1  and  2).  Against  the  hardy  mountaineers  of  Montenegro 
the  Turks  failed  to  gain  any  successes,  but  the  Servians  were 
completely  defeated  at  Alexinatz  (October  31).  An  armistice  was 
now  concluded  to  give  a  new  opening  for  the  efforts  of  diplomacy. 

It  was  impossible  for  the  son  of  Nicolas  to  look  quietly  on 
while  the  Slavs  of  Servia,  Bosnia,  and  Herzegovina  were  crushed 
by  Turkey.  Alexander  II.  was  compelled  by  the  excited  feeling 
of  the  Russian  people  to  return  to  his  father's  policy  which  had 
been  so  long  deserted.  The  alliance  of  the  three  emperors  seemed 
to  secure  him  against  opposition  from  Germany  and  Austria,  in 
spite  of  the  Hungarian  agitation  in  the  latter  country.  France  and 
Italy  were  eager  for  a  Russian  alliance,  the  one  to  get  its  revenge 
upon  Germany,  the  other  in  the  hope  of  annexing  the  Trentino. 
The  English  ministry  was  hostile  to  Russia,  but  the  agitation 
about  the  "  Bulgarian  atrocities  "  during  the  parliamentary  recess 
had  made  a  great  impression  on  public  opinion,  and  a  reaction  in 
favour  of  the  Liberals  would  secure  the  Czar  in  that  quarter.  In 
October  Alexander  threatened  the  Porte  with  immediate  war  unless 
a  truce  of  two  months  were  concluded.  Hostilities  now  ceased,  and 
a  conference  of  ministers,  at  which  England  was  represented  by 


750  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap.  xxvm. 

Lord  Salisbury,  met  at  Constantinople  (Dec.  23,  1876).  Midhat 
Pasha,  the  leader  of  the  reforming  party,  had  been  in  power  since 
the  deposition  of  Abdul  Aziz,  and  it  was  hoped  that  he  would  meet 
the  wishes  of  the  powers  half-way.  The  conference  drew  up  a 
number  of  reforms,  and  demanded  that  the  powers  should  supervise 
their  execution,  and  should  have  a  voice  in  the  appointment  of 
provincial  governors.  The  Porte  refused  to  make  such  a  sacrifice 
of  its  independence,  and  the  conference  broke  up  (Jan.  20,  1877). 
Midb  at  Pasha  was  driven  from  office  and  banished. 

§  10.  In  face  of  the  obstinacy  of  the  Turkish  government,  Russia 
had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  assurances  of  neutrality  from  the 
other  powers,  and  at  once  prepared  for  war.  In  April,  Alexander  II. 
joined  his  army  in  person,  and  issued  a  mauifesto  announcing  his 
intention  to  obtain  "such  securities  for  his  fellow-Christians  on 
Turkish  soil  as  were  absolutely  necessary  for  their  future  welfare." 
A  convention  with  Roumania  secured  the  Russians  free  passage 
through  that  province.  Prince  Charles  seized  the  opportunity  to 
declare  his  independence  of  Turkish  suzerainty  (May  22),  and 
joined  the  Czar  at  the  head  of  a  Roumanian  army.  Without 
meeting  with  serious  opposition,  the  Russians  crossed  the  Danube 
at  two  points,  near  Galacz  and  at  Sistowa  (June  21-28),  and  the 
general  expectation  prevailed  that  the  campaign  would  be  brought 
to  a  speedy  conclusion.  But  the  Turkish  soldiers  showed  that  they 
had  not  lost  the  military  prowess  which  had  once  made  them  the 
terror  of  Europe.  Osman  Pasha  repulsed  two  attacks  of  vastly 
superior  forces  upon  the  fortress  of  Plevna  (July  30  and  Sept.  11). 
The  siege  was  now  turned  into  a  blockade,  but  it  was  not  till 
November  10  that  the  heroic  garrison  was  starved  into  surrender, 
after  a  desperate  attempt  to  cut  their  way  through  the  besieging 
forces.  In  Asia,  the  fortress  of  Kars  was  taken  on  Nov.  18. 
Servia  and  Montenegro  had  followed  the  example  of  Roumania  in 
declaring  their  independence.  The  Russians  were  masters  of  Bul- 
garia, and  prepared  to  follow  up  their  success  by  crossing  the 
Balkans.  A  force  of  30,000  men  blocked  the  Schipka  Pass,  but  the 
Russians  found  another  passage,  took  the  Turks  in  the  rear,  and 
compelled  them  to  capitulate  (  Jan.  10,  1878).  A  few  days  later 
General  Grourko  defeated  Suleiman  Pasha  in  Roumelia.  The  Russian 
vanguard,  under  the  Czar's  brother  Nicolas,  entered  Adrianople  with- 
out opposition  on  January  19. 

The  advance  of  the  Russians  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Constantino- 
ple alarmed  the  English  ministers,  and  Admiral  Hornby  was  ordered 
to  take  the  English  fleet  to  the  Dardanelles.  But  it  was  too  late  to 
exert  much  influence  on  the  course  of  events.  A  truce  had  been  con- 
cluded at  Adrianople  on  January  31,  and  the  preliminary  treaty  of 


a.d.  187&-1878.         TREATY  OF  BERLIN.  751 

San  Stefano  was  accepted  by  Turkey  on  March  3.  Roumania,  Servia, 
and  Montenegro  were  to  be  recognised  as  independent  and  to  receive 
an  increase  of  territory.  Bulgaria,  with  boundaries  reaching  from 
the  Black  Sea  to  the  ^gean,  was  to  be  formed  into  an  autonomous 
but  tributary  state.  Turkey  was  to  pay  an  indemnity  of  14  million 
roubles,  but  10  millions  were  to  be  compounded  for  by  cessions  in 
Asia,  which  included  Batoum,  Erzeroum,  and  Kara.  Russia  was  to 
recover  the  strip  of  Bessarabia  that  had  been  ceded  by  the  treaty  of 
Paris,  and  Roumania  was  to  be  compensated  with  the  Dobrudscha. 

§  11.  The  treaty  of  San  Sufano  was  regarded  with  grave  mis- 
givings by  England,  and  the  government  demanded  that  it  should 
be  submitted  to  a  European  Congress.  Russia  consented  to  this  as 
regards  those  articles  which  concerned  the  general  interests  of 
Europe,  but  refused  to  allow  the  discussion  of  the  whole  treaty.  On 
this  i>oint  negotiations  came  to  a  standstill,  and  both  countries  pre- 
pared seriously  for  war.  But  the  exertions  of  Count  Schouwaloff, 
the  Russian  ambassador  in  London,  at  last  succeeded  in  effecting  a 
compromise.  A  written  agreement  was  drawn  up  as  to  the  main 
points  which  were  to  be  submitted  to  the  Congress,  which  met  at 
Berlin  on  June  13  under  the  presidency  of  Prince  Bismarck. 

Austria  was  represented  by  Andraasy,  Russia  by  Gortschakoff  and 
Schouwaloff,  and  England  by  Lords  Beaconsfield  and  Salisbury.  The 
preliminary  agreement  helped  to  smooth  matters,  and  the  treaty  of 
Berlin  was  signed  on  July  13.  Its  chief  result  was  to  soften  down 
those  articles  of  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano  which  bore  most  hardly 
on  the  Porte.  The  independence  of  Roumania,  Servia  and  Monte- 
negro was  confirmed,  but  the  proposed  increase  of  their  territories 
was  diminished.  The  exchange  of  the  Dobrudscha  for  the  strip  oi 
Bessarabia  was  confirmed,  to  the  great  disgust  of  Roumania,  which 
had  rendered  loyal  service  to  Russia  in  the  war.  The  huge  province  of 
"  Bulgaria  *  which  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano  proposed  to  create,  was 
divided  into  two  parts.  Bulgaria  proper  was  to  form  an  autonomous 
but  tributary  state,  under  a  prince  to  be  elected  by  a  national  assembly 
and  approved  by  the  powers.  Eastern  Roumelia,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  to  remain  subject  to  Turkey,  with  a  certain  amount  of  administra- 
tive autonomy,  and  was  to  be  ruled  by  a  Christian  governor,  nomi- 
nated every  five  years  by  the  Sultan  and  confirmed  by  the  powers. 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  which  had  been  left  untouched  by  the  treaty 
of  San  Stefano  out  of  regard  for  Austria,  were  now  handed  over  to 
Austrian  occupation  until  they  could  receive  a  reformed  administra- 
tion under  the  guarantee  of  the  powers.  The  free  navigation  of  the 
Danube  was  confirmed,  and  the  fortresses  on  its  banks  were  to  be  razed, 
the  existing  arrangements  about  the  Dardanelles  and  the  Bosphorus 
were  left  unaltered.     In  Asia  Russia  resigned  Erzeroum,  but  kept 


752  MODERN  EUROPE.  Chap,  xxvin. 

Batoum  and  Kars.  The  Porte  undertook  to  introduce  reforms 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  powers,  ^nd  to  grant  complete 
political  equality  to  all  its  subjects,  without  any  regard  to  their 
religion,  but  no  support  was  given  to  Russia's  claim  of  a  special  pro- 
tectorate over  the  Greek  Christians.  All  other  articles  of  the  San 
Stefano  treaty,  including  that  of  the  indemnity,  were  left  to  be 
settled  in  a  new  agreement  between  Russia  and  Turkey.  The 
question  of  Greece  was  brought  before  the  congress,  but  no  very 
definite  conclusion  was  come  to.  The  powers  recommended  the 
Porte  to  grant  Greece  a  rectified  frontier,  and  reserved  their  light 
of  future  mediation  on  the  subject.  A  convention  was  now  made 
public  which  had  been  concluded  between  England  and  Turkey  on 
June  4,  ten  days  before  the  meeting  of  the  Congress.  In  order  to 
reconcile  the  Porte  to  the  cession  of  Batoum  and  Kars,  England 
undertook  to  guarantee  the  remaining  possessions  of  Turkey  in  Asia. 
The  Sultan,  on  his  part,  undertook  to  introduce  such  reforms  as 
should  be  agreed  upon,  and  handed  over  the  island  of  Cyprus  to  be 
occupied  and  administered  by  England.  Lord  Beaconsfield  returned 
to  England  with  the  proud  assertion  that  he  had  brought  back 
"  peace  with  honour."  History  has  yet  to  show  whether  this  boast 
was  justified,  and  whether  the  treaty  of  Berlin  provided  more  than 
a  temporary  settlement  of  the  Eastern  Question.1 

1  Since  this  was  written,  events  have  occurred  in  Eastern  Rouroelia 
which  seem  likely  to  annul  one  very  important  article  of  the  treaty,  the 
subdivision  of  Bulgaria. 


INDEX. 


Abd-el-Kader. 


Ahdel-Kader,  678. 
AbdulAziz.748.  Deposed,74«. 
Abdul  Hamkl  1,  sultan,  449, 

463. 

II..  749. 

Abdul  Medjid,  741,  743,  743 

Death  of,  748. 
Abo,  treaty  of,  389. 
Aboukir,  battle  of,  667. 
Academy,  the  French,  fouixl- 

ed  by  Klcbelieu.  16*. 
Achmet  I..  Turkish  sultan, 

201. 

II.,  313. 

Ackermann,  convention  of, 

666. 
Acquavlva,  general  of  the 

Jesuit*.  181. 
Adolf  Frederick,  of  Sweden, 

38».      Marries    sister  of 

Frederick  the  Great,  330. 
Adrian  VI.,  pope,  47. 
Adrianople,  treaty  of,  667. 
jEneaa  Sylvias,  9  (ax  Pins 

Affre.  Monselgneor,  684. 
Death  of,  686. 

Agnadello,  battle  of,  41. 

Algues- Morten,  interview  at, 
76. 

Atx-la-Chapel!e.  treaty  of 
(166«),  179,331.  Do.(1748), 
384.  385.  Congress  of 
(1818),  640. 

Alula,  treaty  of,  165. 

Alberoni,  cardinal,  397, 399, 
300.     Fall  of.  301. 

Albert,  the  archduke,  731. 

Albert  of  Brandenburg,  forms 
duchy  of  Prussia,  63,  323. 

—  of  Brandenburg,  allied 
with  Maurice  of  Sumy, 
86.  Assists  Charles  V.  at 
Metr,  87.  Attacked  by 
Maurice.  88.  Retires  to 
France,  89. 

Albert  III.,  of  Bavaria,  131. 

Albizzi.  Rinaldo,  10. 

Albornox,  cardinal,  9. 

Albret,  bouse  of,  In  Navarre, 
26. 

Albuera,  battle  of,  614. 

Alcacer,  battle  of,  104. 

Alexander  Vf..  pope,  10.  31. 
Treaty  with  Charles  VIII., 
36.  Alliance  with  Louis 
XII,  38.  Nepotism  of,  to. 
Death,  40. 

VII.,  319. 


Alexander  I.,  of  Russia,  677, 
686.  Joins  coalition  against 
Napoleon,  686.  Defeated 
at  AusterhHz,  690.  •Con- 
cludes treaty  of  Tilsit  wiih 
Nupok-on,  698.  Interview 
.it  Krfurt,  606.  Alienated 
from  France,  612,  615. 
Allied  with  Prussia.  619 
Attitude  towards  France, 
627,  633.  Forms  the  Holy 
Alliance,  638.  Attitude 
towards  Greece,  660. 
Death  of,  648,  663. 

II.,    of    Rossis,    744. 

Emancipates  the  serfs,  74  c. 
Suppresses  the  Polish  re- 
volt, 746.  Involved  in 
war  with  Turkey.  749, 750. 

Alexandria,  capitulation  of, 
678. 

Alexinatx,  battle  of,  749. 

Alexin,  Czar  of  Russia.  193. 

son  of  Peter  the  Great, 

If* 

Alessandria,  convention  of, 
675. 

Alfonso  I.  of  Naples  snd 
V.  of  Aragon.  8. 

II.,  of  Naples,  acces 

*lon  of.  35.  Abdication,  36. 

Alfonso  XU,  «f  Spain,  733, 
739. 

Algiers,  pirate  state  of,  73. 
Attacked  by  Charles  V., 
77. 

AH  Pasha,  of  Jannina,  649, 
650,651. 

Alkma.ir,  scigeof,  110. 

Alma,  battle  of  >he,  744. 

Almanza,  battle  of,  255. 

A'tmark,  truce  of,  190. 

Altranstadt,  Charles  XII.  at, 
255,  274, 275.  Treaty  of, 
275. 

Alva,  the  duke  or,  com- 
mands in  Daly  against 
Paul  IV.,  91.  Senttolbe 
Netherlands,  108.  Cruelty 
of  his  rule,  to.  He  puts 
down  opposition,  109. 
His  financial  schemes,  to. 
His  recall,  110. 

Amadeus,  of  Spain,  738. 

Amboise,  conspiracy  of,  116. 
Peace  of.  118. 

Amboise.  George  of,  minister 
of  Louis  XII.,  3m. 

American  colonies,  revolt 
of,  481.    Independence  of , 


Arenberg. 

Amiens,  treaty  of,  578. 
Amurath  III.,  Turkish  sua 

tan,  201. 

IV.,  202. 

V.,  749. 

Anabaptists  in  Monster,  81 
Ancona,  French  occupation 

of,  671. 
And  t  assy,  count,  748,  751. 
Andru«sov,  truce  of.198, 304 
Anhalt-Dessau,  I^eopold  of 

380,  338,  343,  366,  373. 

,  Leopold  of  (the 

younger),  343. 

Angouleme,  the  duke  of 
640,  647. 

Anjou.  Francis,  duke  of,  In 
the  Netherlands,  113,  133 
Propped  as  husband  for 
Klizabeth  of  England,  120 
123.     Death  of,  123. 

Anne  of  Austria,  married  to 
Louis  XIII.,  153.  Con- 
cerned in  plot  against 
Richelieu,  154.  Regency 
of.  161.  Relations  with 
Mozarin,  to.  Conduct  in 
the  Fronde,  164. 

Anne  of  Beaujeu,  regent  in 
France,  35. 

Anne  of  Hrlttany,  marries 
Charles  VIII.,  36.  Mar- 
ries Louis  X 1 1 

Anne,  regent  of  Holland,  399. 

Anne  of  Mecklenburg,  regent 
In  Russia,  387.  Exiled,388. 

Anne,  of  Russia,  287.  Sup- 
ports Augustus  III.,  316. 
War  with  Turkey,  320. 
Domestic  government, 
3*6.     Death  of,  386. 

Annese.  Oennaro,  178.  179. 

Antonelll,  cardinal,  693. 

Antonio,  prior  of  Crato, 
claims  crown  of  Portugal, 
104,  105. 

Antony  of  Bourbon,  115. 
Gained  over  by  the  Catho- 
lic party,  117.  Killed  at 
Rouen,  118. 

A  past,  prince  of  Transyl- 
vania, 203,  204,  307,  312. 

Apraxin,  Russian  general, 
407,  413,  415. 

Aragon,  liberties  of,  t»up- 
pressed,  103. 

Aranjuez,  treaty  of,  395. 

Areola,  battle  of,  558. 

Arcos,  the  duke  of,  177. 

Arenl>  rg  Austrian  general 
361,  366,  368. 


754 

Arras. 

Arras,  treaty  of  (1435),  22. 
Treaty  of  (1482),  24. 

Artois,  ceded  to  Louis  XI., 
24.  Restored  by  Charles 
VIII.,  25.  Annexed  to 
France  by  treaty  of  the 
Pyrenees,  171. 

Artois,  count  of,  491,  492, 
493.  Flight  of,  498.  At- 
tempts to  form  coalition 
against  France,  517,  518. 
Plots  of,  552,  584.  lie- 
turns  to  Paris,  627.  Atti- 
tude under  Louis  XVI1L, 
639,  640.  Succeeds  to  the 
crown,  658  (see  Charles  X.). 

Aspern,  battle  of,  608. 

Aspromonte,  battle  of,  725. 

Assignats,  the,  509,  552,  554. 

Auerstadt,  battle  of,  594. 

Augereau,  general,  561. 

Augsburg,  confession  of,  63. 
Religious  peace  of,  89, 130. 
League  of,  237. 

Augustenburg,  duke  of,  691. 

Augustenburg,  Frederick  of, 
726,  728.> 

Augustus  J  I.  (the  Strong),  of 
Saxony  and  Poland,  19^, 
270,  272.  Deposed  in  Po- 
land, 273,  274.  Recovers 
the  crown,  277.  Death  of, 
315. 

III.,  of  Saxony,  obtains 

Polish  crown,  316,  333. 
Claim  to  Austrian  succes- 
sion, 340.  Joins  league 
against  Maria  Theresa, 
345.  Concludes  treaty 
with  Austria,  351.  Re- 
news the  Austrian  alli- 
ance, 368,  371.  Attacked 
by  Prussians,  373.  Con- 
cludes treaty  of  Dresden, 
374.  Driven  from  Sax- 
ony, 406.  Recovers  his 
territories  by  peace  of 
Hubertsburg,  428.  Death 
Of,  442. 

Augustus  William,  brother 
of  Frederick  the  Great, 
411,  459. 

Austerlitz,  battle  of,  5*9. 

Avignon,  papal  residence  in, 
2,  9.  Seized  by  Louis 
XIV.,  219.  Restored  to 
the  papacy,  244.  An- 
nexed to  France,  516,  627. 

Azof,  acquired  by  Russia, 
214.  Restored  to  Turkey, 
279.  Recovered  by 
Russia,  322. 

B. 

Baboeuf,  conspiracy  of,  554. 

Badajoz,  taken  by  Welling- 
ton, 614. 

Baden,  treaty  of,  261  Grand 
-iuchy  of,  591. 


INDEX. 


Bagnolo,  treaty  of,  14. 

Bailly,  493.  Mayor  of  Paris, 
498,  499,  514.  Resigns 
his  office,  520.  Death  of, 
545. 

Bajazet  II.,  31. 

Balaclava,  battle  of,  744. 

Baltadschi,  Mehemet,  278, 
279. 

Baner,  Swedish  general,  146, 
148,  149. 

Bar,  confederation  of,  445. 

Barbarossa,  commander  of 
Turkish  fleet,  73,  199. 
Ravages  coast  of  Naples, 
75. 

Barbesieux,  241.  Death  of, 
249. 

Barcelona,  treaty  of,  25. 
Treaty  of,  between  Charles 
V.  and  Clement  VII.,  51. 

Barclay  de  Tolly,  617,  621. 

Barenklau,  349. 

Barere,  536,  541,  542,  547, 
549,  550. 

Barlaymont,  106,  1C8. 

Barnave,  502,  511,  515.  528. 

Barras,  549,  553,  561,  568. 

Bart,  Jean,  241. 

Bartenstein,  John  Christo- 
pher, 320. 

Bartenstein,  treaty  of,  597. 

Barthelemy,  560,  561. 

Basel,  treaty  of,  551.  Dis- 
putes in,  670. 

Bastille,  taking  of  the,  497. 

Batavian  Republic,  581,  587. 

Bathori,  Stephen,  elected 
king  of  Poland,  186.  War 
with  Russia,  187. 

Bautzen,  battle  of,  621. 

Bavaria  becomes  an  elector- 
ate, 138,  150.  Kingdom 
of,  591. 

Bavarian  Succession,  451 . 

Baylcn,  capitulation  of,  603. 

Bayonne,  conference  of,  118. 

Bazaine,  Marshal,  732,  735. 

Beaconsfield,  Ix>rd,  749,  751, 
752. 

Beaufort,  the  duke  of,  161, 
165,  168. 

Beaujeu,  Anne  of,  regent  in 
France,  25. 

Bed  of  Justice,  162. 

Beggars,  the,  oiigin  of  the 
name,  108. 

Belgium,  conquered  by 
French,  534.  United  to 
Holland,  631.  Indepen- 
dence of,  664-667. 

Belgrad,  relief  of,  19.  Taken 
by  the  Turks,  199.  Cap- 
tured by  imperial  troops, 
212.  Recovered  by  the 
Turks,  213.  Battle  of, 
3C6.  Ceded  to  Austria, 
ib.  Recovered  by  the 
Turks,  321,  322. 

Belleisle,  marshal,  314,  345, 


Bomba. 

348,  353,  357,  380,  383,  409, 
418. 

Bender,  Charles  XII.  at,  277, 
278,  305. 

Benedetti,  734. 

Benedict  XIV.,  pope,  435. 

Bennigsen,  Russian  com- 
mander, 596. 

Beresford,  614,  642,  643. 

Beresina,  passage  of  the,  618. 

Bergerac,  Edict  of,  122. 

Berlin,  treaty  of  (1742),  351. 
Congress  of,  752.  Treaty 
of  (1878),  751. 

Berlin  decree,  the,  595. 

Bernadotte,  568,  590. 
Adopted  as  heir  to  Charles 
XIII.  of  Sweden,  599,  616. 
Conduct  in  the  war  of 
liberation,  621,  622,  623. 
Obtains  the  cession  of 
Norway  to  Sweden,  624. 

Bernhard  of  Saxe-Weimar, 
143,  146.  Defeated  at 
Nordlingen,  147.  Con- 
quers Elsuss,  149.  Death, 
ib. 

Bernis,  Abbe  de,  401,  409, 
.420. 

Berry,  the  duchess  of,  641, 
662.  Adventures  under 
Louis  Philippe,  674,  675. 

Btrry,  the  duke  of,  264. 

,  the  duke  of,  assassi- 
nated, 640. 

Berryer,  676. 

Berthier,  499. 

Berwick,  the  duke  of,  255, 
301,  318. 

Bestoujef,  Russian  chan- 
cellor, 389,  405,  407.  Fall 
of,  415. 

Bethlen  Gabor,  prince  of 
Transylvania,  135,  137, 
139,  140. 

Beust,  count,  731. 

Beza,  Theodore,  72. 

Bicocca,  battle  of,  47. 

Billaud-Varennes,  542,  546, 
647,  548,  549,  550. 

Biren,  duke  of  Courland,  386, 
441. 

Bismarck,  708.  Prussian 
minister,  727,  728,  729. 
Chancellor  of  the  North 
German  Confederation, 
730.  Imperial  Chancellor, 
737.  Presides  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Berlin,  751. 

Blanc,  Louis,  682,  684,  685, 
686. 

Blanqui,  682,  685,  686. 

Blenheim,  battle  of,  253. 

BIQcher,  Marshal,  594,  622, 
623,  624,  632,  633. 

Blum,  Robert,  702. 

Bolingbroke,  viscount,  259, 
260. 

Bomba,  king  (see  Ferdinand 
II.  of  the  Two  Sicilies). 


Bona. 

Bona  of  Savoy,  married  to 
MO    Slorza,   7.     Re- 
gent in  Milan,  «. 

lioiiapatt'-,  .l.-PMie,  5*5,  592. 
King  of  Westphalia,  598. 
Flight  of,  634. 

Bonaparte,  Louis,  685.  Made 
king  of  Holland,  592.  Re- 
sign*, 611. 

Bonaparte,  Lucien,  568,  685. 

Bonaparte,  Joseph,  564,  5x5. 
King  of  Naples  592.  King 
ofSpain,  603,  612, 613,  614. 
Expelled.  625. 

Bona|>urti>,  Napoleon,  643, 
653.  Italian  campaign 
(1796%  655-568.  Invades 
Austria.  659.  Threatens 
V.  nhe,t6.  Attitudeon  the 
Mh  Kruciidor,561.  Con- 
cludes treaty  of  Campo 
Formio,662.  Kgyptiun  ex- 
pedition. 563,  567.  Returns 
to  France.  567,  568.  Coup 
d'etat  of  lxth  Brumalre, 
668.  Becomes  First  Con- 
sul, 670.  Marengo  cam- 
paign. 574. 575.  Concludes 
i  |  of  l.ini-ville,  576, 
ant  Amiens, 578.  Consul 
»<.r  In  i-ws  the 

war  with   England,  683. 
Murders    the     duke     of 
Knghien,    686.     Becomes 
Emperor  «>r  the    I 
685  (tee  Napoleon  I.). 

Bonn!  vet,  commands  the 
French  in  Lombardy,  46. 

Borgia,  Rodrigo,  10  (see 
Alexander  V  I 

Borgia,  Cesar,  36.  Conquers 
I :.  .magna,  40.    Death,  to. 

Boris,    <  Jtharine,    marries 

1 .11 1  her,  62. 

Borodino,  battle  of,  617. 
Borromeo,  Carlo,  archbishop 

of  Milan,  98,  99. 
Botta,  the  marquis,  378, 380, 

389. 
RoumVrs,  marshal,  2i0,  243, 

251,  257. 
1l..uille.  613,  514. 
Boulogne,  taken  by  English, 

78.  Restored  to  Franc*-,  ib. 
B-urbon,   cardinal   of,    124. 

Proclaimed     king,     125. 

Death,  ib. 
Bourbt.n,  the  constable  of,  48. 

Deserts    Francis    I.,    ib. 

Killed    at    the    siege    of 

Rome,  50. 
Botirtmn,  tbe  duke  of,  294. 

Minister  of   Louis    XV., 

302,  303. 
R.urniont  general,  659. 
Boym>,  battle  of  the,  240. 
Braddock,  general,  397. 
Braganza,      Catharine      of, 

man  led  to  Charles  II.  of 

England,  179. 


INDEX. 


Braganza,  house  of,  claims 
Portugal.  104.  Obtains  the 
crown,  177,  220.  Expelled 
by  Napoleon,  608. 

Brandenburg,  count,  701. 
Death  of,  708. 

Bravo.  Gonzales,  733. 

Brazil,  empire  of,  643. 

Breda,  peace  of,  219. 

Brederode,  108. 

Breitenfeld,  battle  of.  144. 

Breslau,  treaty  of.  345.  Pre- 
liminaries of  (1742),  351. 

Breton  Club,  the,  602.  Be- 
the  Jacobin  Club, 


Briconntt,  Guillaume,  34. 
Brienne,   Lomenie  de,  480, 

489. 
Brihuega,  battle  of.  259. 
Brill,  seized    by   the    "sea 

beggars,"  110. 
Biissot,  520,  622,  631,  641. 
Broglie,   tbe  duke  of,  418, 

423.  42»,  426,  495. 

.duke  of.  674,  711. 

,  marshal,  349,  352,  357. 

BrOmsebro,    treaty  or,   185. 

Second  treaty  of(1643),191. 
Broutsel.  arrest  of,  164.     Re- 
leased, to.    Made  Provost 

of  the  Merchants,  168. 
Browne,  Austrian   general, 

378,  380,  406,  406.    Death 

of,  411. 
BrfJhl,  count,  368. 
Brumalre,  coup  d'etat  of  the 

16th,  568. 
Brunswick,  the  duke  of,  587, 

694. 
Bucharest,  treaty  of,  616. 
Buckingham,  duke  or,  155. 
Bucquoi,  Austrian  coraman- 

d  r  in  Bohemia,  136. 
Budxiak,  treaty  of,  204. 
Bulgaria,   749.      Subdivided 

by  treaty  of  Berlin,  751. 
Billow,  623,  624. 
Burgundy,    duchy     of,     22. 

Annexed  by  France,  24. 
Burgundy,  county  of,  24  (see 

Franche-Comte). 
Burgundy,  tbe  duke  of,  256. 

Death  of,  264. 
Burgundy,  house  of,  22. 
Burrard,  Sir  Harry,  603. 

Nattle  of,  613. 
Bute,  lord,  426,  426. 
Buzot,  602,  545. 
By  ng.  admiral,  300,  399, 400. 
Byron,  lord,  652. 


Cabrera,  679. 
Cadoudal,  Georges,  584. 
Cajetan,  cardinal,  55. 
Calabria,  Alfonso  of,  9.     In 

8iena,    14     (see    Alfonso 

II.  of  Naples). 


755 

Castelar. 

Calabria,  John  of,  claims 
Naples,  8.  Goes  to  Cata- 
lonia, 26.     Death,  tfr. 

Calais,  recovered  by  France, 
91. 

Calderon,  176. 

Calendar,  tbe  Republican, 
645.     Abolished,  592. 

Calixtus  111.,  pope,  9. 

Calmar,  union  oi,  66. 

Calonne,  487,  488. 

Calvin,  John,  70.  Exiled 
from  Geneva,  71.  Return. 
ib.  Character  of  teaching 
of,  ib.    Death,  72. 

Calvlnists,  excluded  from 
treaty  of  Augsburg.  89. 

Cambaceres,  670,  685,  620, 
631. 

Cam  bray,  league  of,  41. 
Treaty  of(  1529),  51.  Con- 
gress of,  307. 

Campegglo,  cardinal,  60. 

Campenlown,  battle  of,  663. 

Ci  tnpo  Formio.treaty  of.562 

Canada,  ceded  to  England, 
428. 

Candla,  war  of.  180, 202, 204. 

Canning,  597,  647, 618.  At- 
titude towards  Greece,  662, 
654,665.     Deal  h  of,  655. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  ceded  to 
England.  627. 

Capistrano.  19. 

Capo  d'lstria,  count,  650. 
President  in  Greece,  656. 
Death  of,  667. 

Cappel,  treaties  or,  65. 

Capponi,  Hero,  35. 

Caraffa,  cardinal,  94,  96 
(see  Paul  IV.). 

Carbonari,  the,  614, 670, 718. 

Carlos,  Don,  son  of  Philip 
II.,  104. 

Carlos,  Don,  son  of  Philip  V. 
of  Spain.  299.  Receives 
Parma  and  Piacenza,  315. 
Exchanges  the  duchies  for 
Naples  and  Sicily,  319. 
Forced  to  be  neutral  in 
Austrian  Succession  War, 
356.  Becomes  King  of 
Spain.  423  (see  Charles 
III.  of  Spain). 

Carlos,  Don,  brother  of  Fer- 
dinand VIL,  679. 

Carlos,  Don,  the  younger, 
733,  738. 

Carlowitx,  treaty  of.  180, 214. 

Carlsbad,  edict*  of,  638,  669. 

Garlsta.lt.  6*.  Teaching  lo 
tbe  peasants  60. 

Carnot,  542,  544,  551.  Be- 
comes a  director,  553,  560 
A  tucked  on  18  th  Fruc- 
Udor,  561. 

Carrier.  547,  548,  550. 

Carteret,  350. 

Cassel,  battle  of,  228. 

Castelar,  738. 


756 

Castel. 

Castel  Fidardo,  battle  of,  723. 

Castelnaudari,  battle  of,  157. 

Castlereagb,  628,  637.  Death 
of,  647. 

Castro,  war  of,  182. 

Catalonia,  revolt  of  (1640), 
177. 

Cateau-Cambresis,  treaty  of, 
92. 

Catharine  of  Aragon,  28. 
Divorced  by  Henry  VIII., 
74. 

C.uharine  I.,  wife  of  Peter 
the  Great,  279,  285.  Be- 
comes Czarina,  286,  312. 

- —  II,  of  Russia,  390,  427, 
439.  Altitude  towards 
Poland,  441,  442.  Secures 
the  Polish  crown  for  Sta- 
nislaus Poniatowski,  443. 
Arranges  the  Partition, 
448.  War  with  Turkey, 
446.  Concludes  treaty  of 
Kainardji,  449.  Alliance 
with  Joseph  II. ,  456,  461. 
Second  Turkish  war,  461. 
Concludes  peace  at  Jassy, 
466.  Suppresses  the  Polish 
constitution,  468.  Ar- 
ranges Second  Partition, 
469.  Makes  final  parti- 
tion, 471.  Forms  the 
Armed  Neutrality,  483. 
Death  of,  472,  564. 

Catinat,  240,  242,  250,  251. 

Cavaignac,  general,  686,  7G9. 
Candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, 710. 

Cavalier,  251,  255. 

Cavour,  Camillo,  717,  718. 
Interview  with  Napoleon 
III.,  719.  •  Resigns  office, 

721.  Again  minister,  ib. 
Quarrel    with    Garibaldi, 

722.  Secures    the     two 
Sicilies.  723.  Death  of,  724. 

Cayla,  madame  du,  641. 
Cazales,  501. 
Cerignola,  battle  of,  39. 
Cerisoles,  battle  of,  78. 
Cervantas,  176. 
Cevennes,  rising  in  the,  251. 
Chaise,  Pere  la,  233. 
Cliambord,  count  of,  713. 
Chamillart,  249,256. 
Changarnier,    general,    711, 

712. 
Charhs,  archduke    of  Aus- 

iria,  245.      Proclaimed  as 

Charles  HI.  of  Spain,  254. 

Driven  from  Castile,  255, 

259.      Becomes    emperor, 

259  (see  Charles  VI.). 
,  the  archduke,  557,  559, 

565,    573,    589,    607,    608. 

Defsated  at  Wajjram,  609. 
Charles,  duke  of  Berry,  22. 

Becomes  duke  of  Guienne, 

23.    Death,  ib. 
,  the  Bold,  duke  of  Bur- 


INDEX, 


gundy,  22.  His  schemes, 
23.  War  with  the  Swiss 
and  death,  24. 
Charles  V.,  emperor,  elecfon 
of,  46.  Rivalry  with 
Francis  I.,  to.  Forms 
alliance  with  Henry  VIII. 
and  Leo  X.,  47.  Extorts 
treaty  of  Madrid  from 
Francis,  49.  Concludes 
treaties  of  Cambruy  and 
Barcelona,  51.  Attitude 
towards  religion,  57.  At 
the  diet  of  Augsburg 
(1529),  63.  War  with  the 
Turks,  64.  Intervention 
in  Algiers,  73.  Invades 
France,  75.  Supprej-ses 
Castilian  Cortes,  76.  Puts 
down  a  revolt  in  Ghent,  ib. 
Disastrous  expedition  to 
Algiers,  77.  Concludes 
treaty  of  Crespy,  78.  Pre- 
pares to  attack  the  German 
Protestants,  82.  Makes 
war  on  the  League  of 
Schmalkald\  83.  Quarrels 
with  Paul  III.,  8 «.  Issues 
the  Interim,  85.  Attacked 
by  Maurice  of  Saxony,  86. 
Besieges  Metz,  87.  Abdi- 
cates, 90.  Death  at  San 
Juste,  ib. 

VI.,    emperor,     259. 

Concludes  treaty  of  Ra- 
studt,  261.  Joins  the  Quad- 
ruple Alliance,  299.  Ex- 
changes Sardinia  for  Sicily, 
301,  305.  Reign  of,  304- 
322.  Assists  Ven ice  against 
the  Turks,  305.  Concludes 
treaty  of  Passarowitz,  306. 
Issues  the  Pragmatic  Sanc- 
tion, 308.  Founds  the 
Ostend  Company,  309. 
Conduct  in  the  Polish  ac- 
cession, 317.  Exchanges 
Naples  and  Sicily  for  Par- 
ma, 319.     Death  of,  322 

Charles  VII.,  emperor,  349.  j 
Driven  from  Bavai  ia,  ib. 
Recovers  Bavaria,  352.  • 
Again  expelled,  357.  Joins! 
Union  of  Frankfort,  362. 
Again  restored,  366.  Death 
of,  367. 

Charles  I.,  of  England, 
marries  Henrietta  Maria, 
138.  Fail-i  to  support 
Christian  IV.,  140. 

II.,  of  England,  marries 

Catharine  of  Braganza, 
179.  Sells  Dunkirk  to 
France,  2 '9.  Concludes 
treaty  of  Dover,  222. 

Charles  VII.,  of  France,  22. 

VIII.,  of  France,  ac- 
cession of,  25.  Expedi- 
tion to  Naples,  34.  Suc- 
cess, 36.     Death,  38. 


Charles. 

Charles  IX.,  of  France,  117, 

120.  Conduct  in  the  mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew, 

121.  Death,  122. 

X.,    of     France,   655. 

Reign  of,  658-662.  Death 

of,  676  (see  Artois,  count 
of). 

Charles  III.,  of  Lorraine,  156. 
Restored  to  his  duchy,  171. 
Expelled  again,  222. 
Death  of,  227. 

IV.,  of  Lorraine,  general 

in  the  imperial  service, 
208,  209,  210,  211,  227,  228, 
229,  240.     Death  of,  213. 

of  Lorraine,  brother-in- 
law  of  Maria  Theresa,  349. 
Defeated  at  Chotusitz.  350. 
Commands  on  the  Rhine, 
358,  359.  Invades  Alsace, 
361.  Retreats  from  the 
Rhine,  365.  Campaign  in 
Bohemia,  ib.  Defeated  at 
Hohenfriedberg,  370,  and 
at  Soor,  372.  Defeated  at 
Raucoux,  380. 

Charles  of  Maine,  33. 

Charles  III.,  of  Savoy,  69 
Expelled  by  the  French,74  .* 
Fails  to  regain  bis  duchy 
by  treaty  of  Crespy,  78. 

Charles  I.,  of  Spain,  acces- 
sion, 28  (see  Charles  V., 
emperor). 

II.,  of  Spain,  179,  220, 

244.  Will  of,  246,  247. 
Death  of,  247. 

HI.,  of  Spain,  423.  Re- 
news Family  Compact 
with  France,  426.  Govern- 
ment of,  434.  Banishes 
the  Jesuits,  436.  Death  of, 
437.  Joins  France  against 
England,  482. 

Charles  IV.  of  Spain,  538,576, 
601.     Abdication  of,  602. 

Charles  of  Styria,  135. 

Charles  IX.,  of  Sweden,  129, 
185,  188,  189. 

X.,  of    Sweden,    192. 

War  with  Poland,  193, 
194.     Death  of,  195. 

XL,  of   Sweden,   196, 

270.  War  with  Denmark 
and  Pomerania,  197.  Es- 
tablishes absolutism,  ib. 
Death  of,  198. 

XIL.of  Sweden,  198,255, 

271.  War  with  Denmark, 

272.  War  with  Russia, 
272,  276,  277.  War  with 
Poland,  272-275.  Camp 
at  Altranstadt,  274.  Re- 
sidence  at    Bender,    27s, 

279.  Return  to  Sweden, 

280.  Death  of,  282. 

XHL,  of  Sweden,  599. 

Charles    of   Viana,    son    of 

John  II.  of  Aragon,  26. 


Charles. 

Charles  Albert,  of  Bavaria, 
claims  Austria,  339,  340. 
Allied  with  France  against 
Maria  Theresa,  345,  348. 
Elected  emperor,  349  (tee 
Charles  VII.,  emperor). 
Chute!  Albert,  of  Sardinia. 
644,  646.  Succeeds  to  the 
throne,  671.  Rule  of,  691, 
692,  693.  First  war  with 
Austria,  693,  694.  Second 
war,  699.  Abdication  of, 
TOO. 

Charles  Emanuel  I. .of  Savoy, 
183.    Acquires  Suluzzo,  ib. 

II.,  of  Savoy.  184. 

HI.,  of  Savoy,  317,  318. 

Obtains  Novara  and  Tor- 
tona,  319.  Attitude  in 
Austrian  succession,  34*1, 
355,  356.  Concludes  the 
treaty  of  Worms,  359. 
Conduct  in  the  war,  375, 
37 *,  :iho.  N.^otlatea  with 
<-,  376,  377.  Accepts 
treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapclle, 
3-5. 

IV.,  or  Sardinia,  565. 

Charles  Felix,  of  Sardinia, 
614,616.    Death  of,  671. 

diaries  I  .owls,  son  of  r"r<  <l- 
erick  V.,  recovers  Palatine 
electorate,  160. 

Charles  Louis,  of  Lucca,  630, 
692.  * 

Charles  Theodore,  Elector  Pa 
latlne.45l.  Obtains  electo- 
rate of  Bavaria,  ib.  Treaty 
with  Joseph  1 1. ,457. 

Charter,  the  French,  628. 

Chaase,  general,  666. 

Chateauroux,  duchess  of,  360 . 

Chatellneau,  539.  543. 

Chatham,  lord,  610. 

Chatillo:i,  family  of,  116. 

Chatillon,  congress  of,  626. 

Chaumette,  538,  546. 

Cliaumont,  treaty  of,  626. 

« 'luiiv.  tin,  538. 

Chcrasco,  treaty  of.  143,  183. 
•ise,  madume  de,  161. 

ChlarL  battle  of,  250. 

Chilli  Pasha,  306. 

Cblopicki,  667,  668. 

OmsWOL  .hike  or,  420,  422, 
426.  Government  of,  433. 
Hostility  to  th<-  Jesuits, 
436.  Attitude  in  l\li-h 
question,  442,  445.  Fall 
of,  433,  44*. 

Chotusltz,  haitta  of,  350. 

ChoarcbJd  Pasha,  651. 

Christian  of  Anhalt,  minis- 
ter In  the  Palatinate,  133. 
Forms  the  Pr-testant 
Union,  134.  Induces  Fred- 
erick V.  to  accept  Bote 
mian  crown,  137. 

Christian  of  DrWMwtflk,  137, 
139.     Death  of,  140. 


INDEX. 


Christian  1 1., of  Denmark,  66. 
Driven  from  the  throne,  67, 
185. 

HI.,  of  Denmark,   67, 

185.  Allied  with  France,77. 

IV.,  of  Denmark,  inter- 
vention in  Germany,  139. 
I  efeated  at  Lutter,  140. 
Retires  from  the  war,  141. 
Domestic  government,  1H5. 
First  war  with  Sweden, 
188,189.  Secoud  war  with 
Sweden,  191. 

V.,  of  Denmark,  197,198. 

VI.,  of  Denmark,  390. 

VIII.,  of  Denmark,  690. 

Death  of,  691. 

IX.,  of  Denmark,  726. 

727. 

Christian  I.,  of  Saxony,  131. 

Christina,  regent  in  Spain, 
ITS,  M*. 

Christina  of  Sweden,  acces- 
sion of,  146,  191.  Abdica- 
tion or,  192/ 

Chrzmowski.  general,  609. 

Cia'.dini,  General,  VSS,fSL 

Cibo,  Franceschetto,  10. 

Cinq-Mar*,  conspiracy  of, 
168. 

Cintra,  convention  of,  603. 

Circles.  German.  21. 

n-alpine  Republic,  558,  662, 
566,  5*1. 

Cispadane  Republic,  568. 

Ciuda  1  Rodrigo,  stormed  by 
Wellington,  614. 

I  l-me. it  VII.,  pope,  48. 
Quarrels  with  diaries  V., 
49.  Imprisoned  bv  im- 
perial fortes,  60.  Makes 
peace  with  Charles,  51. 
Death,  74. 

VHL,  pope,  127. 

IX..    pope.    181,    234. 

Annexes  Ferr.ira,  1  - 1 . 

X I ,  pope,  262,  301,  302. 

XHI.,   pope,   435,  436, 

437. 

XIV.,  pope,  437 

presses  the  Jesuits,  ib. 

Clement  Augustus,  arch- 
bishop ofCologne,23S,2l4, 
24s.  ill,  343. 

Clement,  Jacques,  assassi- 
nates Henry  III.,  125. 

Clermont,  415,  418. 

Clermont-Tonnerre,  492, 498, 
MB. 

Cleve  and  Jiilich,  disputed 
succession  to.  134,  324. 

Cltchy,  club  of,  560. 

Clissow,  battle  of,  273. 

Clive,  Robert,  397,  418. 

Closter  Seven,  convention  of, 
412,413. 

OoOnsL  Austr'an  minister, 
5*6. 

Co'  urg.  the  prince  of,  544, 
OJ',  ML' 


757 


Cord  ay. 

Cochrane,  lord,  643,  653. 
Code  Napoleon,  580. 
Cognac,  league  of,  50. 
Cohorn,  242,  243. 

j  Coigni,  359,  361,  362,  365. 

|  Colbert,  216,  217,  222.  Death 
of,  230. 

Coligny,  admiral  de,  116. 
Defends  St.  Quentin,  91. 
Assumes  command  of  the 
H  u  guenota,  118.  Defeated 
at  Moncontour,  120.  Ob- 
tains influence  at  court,  to. 
Assassinated,  121. 

Collot    d'Herbols,   530,   542, 

546,  547,  549,  550. 
Commincs,  Philippe  de,  em- 
bassy   to    Florence,    12. 
Embassy  to  Venice,  38. 

Commerce,  influence  upon 
European  politics,  310. 

Common  Penny,  20. 
Commune,  of  Paris,  526,  546, 
MS. 

Communes,  rising  of  the,  in 
Spain,  29. 

Compromise,  the,  108. 

Concinl,  favourite  or  Mary  do 
Medici,  162.  Death  or,  153. 

Concordat  (of  1516)  between 
Leo  X.  and  Francis  I.,  43. 
Do.  (of  1802),  580.  Do. 
(or  1813).  620. 

Conde,  Louis,  prince  or,  11 6. 
Taken  prisoner  at  Dreux, 
118.  Besieges  Paris,  119. 
Killed  at  Jarnac,  120. 

Conde,  the  Great,  148.  Con- 
duct during  the  Fronde, 
165-169.  Enters  service 
or  Spain,  169,  170.  Re- 
stored to  his  property,  171. 
Campaigns  or,  220,225,227. 

Condorcet,  520. 

Confederation,  the  German, 
or  1H16,  630.  Attempts 
|0  r.f.rmit,  689-707.  Re- 
storation or,  708. 

Confederation,  North  Ger- 
man, 730. 

C.Mlans,  treaty  or.  21. 

Constant,  Benjamin,  672, 
MS, 

Constant  Ine,  brother  of  Alex- 
ander I.,  MS.  Cbnttect  in 
Poland,  667.  Death  or, 
668. 

Constantinople,  fall  or,  2,  29. 
Treaty  of,  14. 

Constituent  Assembly,  601- 
516. 

Contari'  i.  cardinal,  82,  93. 

Conti,  the  prince  or,  candi- 
date for  Polish  throne,  198. 

Convention,  the,  529. 

Copenhagen,  treaty  of,  195. 
Bombarded  by  Neboa, 
577.  Second  bombardment 
(1*07),  f99. 

Corday,  Charlotte,  ML 


758 

C  jrdeliers. 

Cordeliers,  the  club  of,  546. 

Corfu,  ceded  to  Venice,  306. 

Cornaro,  Catharine  da,  14. 

Corneille,  160. 

Corsica,  sold  to  France,  433. 

Corunna,  battle  of,  607. 

Council  of  Blood,  established 
by  Alva,  108. 

Council  of  Regency,  in  Ger- 
many, 20.     Revived,  46. 

Courland,  duchy  of,  187. 
Annexed  to  Russi  i,  472. 

Couthon,  520,  542,  546,  547, 
548,  549. 

Contras,  battle  of,  124. 

Crefeld,  battle  of,  418. 

Crell,  chancellor  of  Saxony, 
131. 

Crequi,  marshal,  227,  228, 
229. 

Crespy,  treaty  of,  78. 

Crete,  conquered  by  the 
Turks,  180. 

Crimea,  ceded  to  Russia,  456. 

Crimean  war,  743-745 

Cromwell,  allied  with  France, 
170.  Death  of,  171.  Re- 
lations with  the  north,  193. 

Culloden,  battle  of,  379. 

Cumberland,  the  duke  of, 
369,  382,  384,  412. 

Cumurgi,  Ali,  305. 

Custine,  527,  534,  545. 

Custozza,  battle  of  (1848),  664 
Kattle  of  (1866),  731. 

Cyprus,  annexe  1  to  Venice, 
14.  Conquered  by  the 
Turks,  201.  Ceded  to 
England,  752. 

Czartoriski,  Adam,  667,  668. 

D. 

Dthlminn,  702,707. 

D'Aiguillon,  433,  477. 

Damiens,  409. 

Danton,  515,  525,  526.  Or- 
ganises the  September 
massacres,  527.  Conduct 
in  the  Convention.  531 , 
532,  539.  In  Belgium,  535. 
Attitude  during  theTerror, 
545,  546.     Death  of.  547. 

Danzig,  made  a  free  6tate, 
598. 

D'Argenson,  357.  Italian 
scheme  of,  376.  Dis- 
missal of,  331. 

Darmes,  678. 

Daun,  Marshal,  411,  417,  422, 
421. 

Davoust,  608,  633. 

Decazes,  minist?r  of  Louis 
XVIII.,  639,640,641. 

De  Launay,  497. 

Delessart,  519,  523. 

Demetrius,  the  False,  189. 
The  second  False,  ib. 

D  main,  battle  of,  260. 

Denncwitz,  battle  of,  623. 


INDEX. 


Departments,     creation     of 

French,  607. 
De  Retz,  cardinal,  164, 166, 

167,  168. 
Desaleurs,  278. 
Descartes,  160,  191. 
Desmarets,  256. 
Desmoulins,    Camille,    496, 

504, 530,  546.  Death  of,547. 
Dettingen,  battle  of,  358. 
Devolution,  law  of,  220. 
Diebit8ch,   Russian  general, 

656.    In  Poland,  668. 
Diet,  the  German,  15. 
Directory,    the,    instituted, 

552.     Composition  of,  553. 

Fall  of,  568. 
Djem,  brother  of  Bajazet  II., 

3 1 .  Handed  over  to  Charles 

Vlli.,35.     Death,  38. 
Djezzar  Pasha,  567. 
Dolgorouki,  lwan,  286. 
Donauworth,     annexed     to 

Bavaria,  133. 
Doria,  Andrea,  61. 
Doroschenko,  204. 
Dover,  treaty  of,  222. 
Dragatschan,  battle  of,  650. 
Dresden,    treaty     of,     374. 

Battle  of,  923. 
Dubarry,      madame,      433. 

Death  of,  545. 
Dubois,  the  abbe,  295,  298, 

300.  Becomes  a  cardinal, 

301.  Death  of,  302. 
Dumouriez,    520.     Becomes 

a  mini>ter,  523.  Resigns, 
524.  Repulses  the  Prus- 
sians, 628.  Conquers  Bel- 
gium, 534.  Defeated  at 
Neerwinden,  539.  Failure 
of  his  plan  and  flight,  539, 
640. 

Duncan,  admiral,  563. 

Dunkirk,  acquired  by  Eng- 
land, 170.  Sold  to  France, 
219. 

Dupes,  day  of,  156. 

Dupleix,  397. 

Dupont  de  l'Eure,  674,  684, 
711. 

Duquesne,  227. 

,  Fort.  397.  Captured  by 

the  English,  419. 

E. 

Eck,  controversy  of,  with 
Luther,  55. 

Eggenberg,  minister  of  Fer- 
dinand II.,  141. 

Egmont,  count,  91.  Heads 
the  nobles  in  the  Nether- 
lands, 106.  His  embas:»y 
to  Madrid,  107.  Imprisoned 
by  Alva,  108.  Executed, 
109. 

Egypt,  conquered  by  the 
Turks  31.  Bonaparte's 
expedition  to,  563.     Made 


Family. 

hereditary  for  Mehemet 
Ali,  742. 

Electors,  the  seven,  11. 

Elizabeth,  of  England,  92. 
Supports  the  Huguenots, 
118.  Proposals  of  a  French 
marriage  for,  120. 

of  Parma,  wife  of  Philip 

V.  of  Spain,  296,  310,  311, 
336, 340.  Concludes  treaty 
of  Seville.  314.  Joins 
League  of  Turin,  317,  318. 
Ambition  of,  354.  Loses 
power  on  death  of  her 
husband,  378. 

Elizabeth,  of  Russia.  388. 
Hostility  to  Frederick  the 
Great,  390,403,  415.  Allied 
with  Austria  against  Prus- 
sia, 407.      Death  of,   427. 

Elliott,  general,  486. 

Elsass,  ceded  to  Charles  the 
Bold,  23.  Conquered  by 
Bernhard  of  Saxe-Weimar, 
148.  Ceded  to  France,  149, 
150  {see  Alsace). 

Emanuel  Philibert,  of  Savoy, 
wins  battle  of  St.  Quentin, 
91.  Recovers  his  father's 
duchy,  92.  His  govern- 
ment, 183. 

Enrflia,  province  of,  721. 

Empire,  Holy  Roman,  de- 
cline of,  2.  Loss  of  power 
in  Italy,  7.  Connexion 
with  German  monarchy, 
15.     End  of,  592. 

Enghien,  duke  of,  murdered. 

684. 

Enzht  im,  battle  of,  226. 

Erfurt,  interview  at,  606. 

Eric,  of  Sweden,  185. 

Ernest  Augustus,  of  Han- 
over, 688.  Grants  con- 
stitution, 690. 

Escorial,  the,  built  by  Philip 
II.,  101. 

Espartero,  679,  680. 

Espinosa,  battle  of,  606. 

Estatuto  Real,  679. 

Etaples,  treaty  of,  25. 

Eugene  Beauharnais,  585. 
Viceroy  of  Italy,  587. 
Fidelity  to  Napoleon,  618. 
Defeated  at  Mockern,  621. 
Receives  principality  of 
Eichstadt,  626. 

Eugene,  prince,  of  Savoy, 
210,214,243,249,250,252, 
253,  257,  261,  305,  306, 309, 
310,  318.     Death  of,  320. 

Eugenie,  the  empress,  714. 
Flight  from  France,  735. 

Evoramente,  treaty  of,  672. 
■  Eylau,  battle  of,  596. 


Family  Compact  (1733),  336. 
Do.*(l76l),426. 


Parel. 

FareL  Guillaume,  70. 

Farnese,  Alexander,  104. 
Commands  in  the  Ne- 
therlands, 111.  Reduces 
southern  provinces,  112. 
Intervention  in  France, 
125.     Death,  to. 

Farnese,  Ottavio,  marries 
Charles  V .'s  daughter  Mar- 
garet, 76.  Obtains  Parma 
andPiacenza,  91. 

Farnese,  IleroLulgi.receives 
Parma  and  Placenta  from 
Paul  III.,  84.  Murdered, 
to. 

Favre,  Jules,  735,  738. 

Fehrbellin,  battle  of,  197, 
325. 

Fdnelon,  256,  264. 

Feodor,  of  Russia,  199. 

Fe-dnand  (the  Catholic),  of 
A  r agon,  26.  Marries 
Isabella  of  Castile,  27. 
Family  policy,  28.  An- 
nexes Naples,io.  Denb.to. 

Ferdinand    I.,  emperor    of 
Austria,  688.  Attitude  to- 
wards   the   revolutionary 
mcnt,  689,  696,  697. 
Abdication  of,  697. 

Ferdinand  of  Brunswlck.414. 
Victories  of,  415,  418,  422, 
426. 

Ferdinand  I.,  emperor,  ac- 
quires Bohemia  ami  Hun- 
gary, 52.  Concludes  treaty 
of  Panau,  86.  Concludes 
peace  of  Augsburg.  89. 
comes  emperor  by  Charles 
V.'s  abdication,  91.  Re- 
ligious policy,  130. 

— —  II.,  emperor,  137. 
Drives  Frederick  V.  from 
Bohemia,  137.  Suppress*! 
Protestantism  in  his  tent 
torles,  138.  Issues  Edict 
of  Restitution,  142.  Dis- 
misses Wallenstein,  143. 
Recalls  Wallenstein,  144. 
Introduces  the  Jesuits  into 
Hungary,  205.     Death  of, 

III.,  emperor,  wins  vic- 
tory at  Nordlingen,  147. 
Succeeds  his  father,  149. 
Concludes  treaty  of  West- 
p  ha  11a,  150.  Supports 
Poland  against  Sweden, 
194.  Persecutes  Protes- 
tants In  Hungary,  205. 

K- -riliiiand  I.,  of  Naples,  8. 
His  cruel  rule,  9,  33. 
Death,  35. 

. II.,  of  Naples.  36.  Re- 
covers Naples,  37 .  Death , 
to. 

IV.,  of  Naples,  434, 565, 

566.  Restored  in  Naples. 
632  (see  Ferdinand  I.  of 
the  Two  Sicilies). 


INDEX. 


Ferdinand  VI.,  of  Spain,  378, 
395.     Death  of,  4'23. 

VII.,   of  Spain,   601. 

Imprisoned  by  Napoleon, 
602.  Released,  625.  Re- 
stored, 641.  Revolt 
against,  642.  Recovers 
authority,  647.  Abolishes 
the  Salic  law  in  Spain,  679. 
Death  of,  to. 

Ferdinand,  of  Styria.  135. 
Acknowledged  as  heir  to 
Matthias,  136.  Elected 
emperor,  137  (see  Fer- 
dinand II.,  cmptTor). 

Ferdinand  I.,  of  the  Two 
S  639. 6 14.  Accepts 
constitution,  645.  Re- 
covers absolute  power 
(see  Ferdinand  IV.,  of 
Naples). 

1L.  of  the  Two  Sicilies 

(Bombs),  671,  691,  694. 
Cruellies  In  Sicily,  701, 
717.    Death  of,  722. 

Ferdinand  III.,  of  Tuscany, 
556,  665,  630.  643. 

Fcrmor,  Russian  general, 
415.  Defeated  at  Zorn- 
dorf,417. 

Ferrara,  war  of  (1482),  4, 14. 
Annexed  to  papal  states, 
181. 

Ferrieres.  614. 

FtuiUanlt,  the,  615,  619. 

Fleechi,  676. 

Finland.  conquered  by 
Russia,  279. 

Flesselles,  497. 

Fleurus.  battle  of,  240. 
Battle  or.  551. 

Fleury,  cardinal,  302.  Be- 
comes chief  minister,  303. 
Attitude  ip  Polish  suc- 
cession question,  316,  317. 
Secures  Lorraine  for 
France,  319.  AtUtude  in 
Austrian  succession,  341, 
344.  Opposes  Maria 
Theresa,  345.  Death  of, 
356. 

Flodden,  battle  of,  42. 

Florence,  the  capital  of  Italy . 
726. 

Florida,  sold  to  the  United 
Statos,  642. 

Foix,  Gaston  de,  41.  Killed 
at  Ravenna,  42. 

Fontaineblesu,  treaty  of, 
360.  Treaty  of  (1785),457. 
Treaty  of  (1807),  600. 

Fontenoy,  battle  of.  369. 

Fomovo,  battle  of,  37. 

Foecari.  Francesco,  •!  3. 

louche.  568,  631,  633. 

Foulon,  496,  499. 

Fouque,  general,  424. 

Fouquet,  216. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  death 
of,  593. 


759 


Frederick. 

Foy,  general.  658. 

Franche-Comte,  ceded  in 
Louis  XL.  24.  Restored 
by  Cbarl.8  VIII.,  25. 
Conquered  by  French,  220. 
Restored  to  Spain,  221. 
Second  conquest  of,  225. 
Ceded  to  France  at  Nim- 
wegen,  229. 

Francesco  d'Este,  duke  of 
Modena,  35 1,  355.  385. 

Francis  of  Anjou-Aleuoon, 
122,  123. 

Francis  II.,  of  Brittany,  en- 
gaged in  war  of  Public 
Weal,  22.    Death,  25. 

Francis  I.,  emperor,  372, 392, 
406.    Death  of,  436. 

II.,  emperor,  468,  522, 

524.  Assumes  title  of 
emperor  of  Austria.  586. 
Abandons  the  old  imperial 
title,  592  (see  Francis  1., 
emperor  of  Austria). 

Francis  I.,  emperor  of 
Austria,  692,  637.  Death 
oC  MS, 

Francis  I.,  king  of  Franco, 
43.  Conquers  Milan,  to. 
Concludes  Concordat  with 
Leo  X.,  to.  Candidature 
for  the  empire,  45. 
Rivalry  with  Charles  V., 
46.  Taken  prisom-r  at 
Pavla,  49.  Concludes 
treaty  of  Madrid,  to. 
Forms  league  against 
Charles,  60.  Concludes 
treaty  of  Cambray,  51. 
Renews  the  war,  74. 
Death,  78. 

Francis  1 1.,  of  France,  116. 

Francis  IV.,  of  Modena,  630, 
644,  670,  €71. 

V.,  of  Modena,  692,  693, 

720. 

Francis  I.,  of  the  Two 
Sicilies,  645.  Death  of, 
671. 

II.,  of  the  Two  Sicilies, 

722.     Expelled.  723. 

Francis  Joseph,  of  Austria, 
697. 698, 708.  Issues  con- 
stitution of  1861,  726. 
Commands  in  Italy,  720. 

Francis  Stephen,  of  Lorraine, 
313.  Marries  Maria 
Theresa,  319,  338.  Ex- 
changes Lorraine  for  Tus- 
cany, 319.  Candidature 
for  the  empire,  343. 
Elected  emperor,  372  (see 
Francis  I.,  emperor). 

Frankfort,  union  of,  361. 
Annexed  to  Prussia,  73a 
Treaty  of,  736. 

Frauenstadt,  battle  of,  274. 

Frederick  I.,  of  Denmark; 
67.  185. 

II.,  of  Denmark,  188. 


7G0     . 

Frederick. 

Frederick  III.,  of  Denmark, 
194,  195.  Establishes  ab- 
solutists, 196. 

IV.,  of  Denmark,  270, 

271,  272,  278,  283. 

VI.,  of  Denmark,  624. 

VII.,  of  Denmark,  691,  I 

709.     Death  of,  726. 

Frederick  III.,  emperor,  15. 
Goes  to  Rome,  17.  Inter- 
view with  Charles  the  j 
Bold,  23.  Guardian  of  La- 
dislaus  Postumus,  18.  Ac- 
quires Austria,  19.  War 
with  Hungary,  20.  Death, 
ib. 

Frederick  III.,  Elector  Pa- 
latine, 131. 

IV.,  Elector  Palatine, 

131. 

V.,   Elector  Palatine, 

131.  Marries  Elizabeth 
of  England,  ib.  Accepts 
the  crown  of  Bohemia,  137. 
Driven  from  Bohemi;i,  ib. 
Deprived  of  his  electorat", 
138.  Joins Gustavus  Adol- 
phus.  144, 

Frederick  of  Naples,  37. 
Expelled  from  his  king- 
dom, 39. 

Frederick  I.,  of  Piussia,  327. 

II.    (the    Great),    of! 

Prussia,  quarrel  with  his  | 
father,   331,  332.     Acces- 1 
sion  of, 334,  337.     invades  ; 
Sll  sia,     342.        Alliance  i 
wiih    France,   345.     Con-' 
eludes  convention  of  Klein  i 
Sclinellendorf,347.  Breaks! 
the  convention,  348.     Mo-  ! 
ravian  campaign,  348-350.  | 
Makes  peace  with  Maria  I 
Theresa,  351.  Forms  Union  j 
of  Frankfort,  362.     Fresh  j 
alliance  with  France,  363.  | 
Invades  Bohemia,  363, 364. 1 
Repulsed  by  Traun,  365.  | 
Repels  attack  on   Silesia, 
370.      Invades     Saxony, 
373.    Concludes  the  treaty 
of  Dresden,  3  74.    Alliance 
with    England,   399.    In- 
vades    Saxony,    404  -406. 
Invades     Bohemia,     411. 
Defeated    at    Ksolin,    ib. 
Victories  at  Rossbach.  413, 
Leuthen,  414,  and  Zorn- 
dorf,    417.     Defeated     at 
Hochkirch,       417,       and  j 
Kunersdorf,  421.    Victory 
at  Torgau,  424.   Concludes  j 
peace  of  Hubertsburg,  429.  ' 
Domestic  governments  38. 
Attitude    in    the    Polish 
question,    440,    443.     In- 
terviews with  Joseph  II., 

447.  Arranges  partition, 

448.  Opposes  Joseph  II. 
in     Bavarian    succession, 


INDEX. 


451,  452,  Forms  the  I 
Fiirstenbund,  457,  458.  j 
Joins  the  Armed  Neu- 1 
trality,  483.  Death  of,  ; 
458. 

Frederick,  elector  of  Saxony, ' 
46.  Founds  university  of 
Wittenberg,  54.  Supports  j 
Luther,  57.     Death,  61. 

Frederick,  of  Sweden,  389.     | 

Frederick  Augustus,  of  | 
Saxony,  595,  621,  624. 
Recovers  part  of  Saxony, 
629. 

Frederick  William,  of 
Brandenburg  (the  Great 
Elector),  149,192,193,  222. 
Frees  Prussia  from  Polish 
suzerainty,  194,  195,  324.  ' 
War  with  Sweden,  197,' 
226,  229,  325.  At  war 
with  Louis  XIV.,  223,  240,  | 

324.  Claims    in    Silesia, 

325.  Domestic  govern- 1 
ment,  326. 

Frederick  William  I.,  of 
Prussia,  327.  War  with 
Sweden,  280,  283,  329. 
Joins  league  of  Hanover, 
3 '2.  Concludes  treaty  of 
Wusterhausen,  312,  330. 
Relations  with  the 
emperor,  322,  330, 333,334. 
Domestic  government, 
328.  Claims  to  Jiilich  and 
Berg,  330.  Quarrel  with 
his  son,  332. 

II.,  of  Prussia,  459,  460, 

464,  465.  Concludes  treaty  j 
ofReicnenbacb.,466.  Atti- 
tude towards  Poland,  467. 
Concl  udes  Second  Partition, 
469.  Accepts  Third  Par- 
tition, 472.  Attitude  to- 
wards France,  517,  518. 
Concludes  treaty  of  Basel, 
551.     Death  of,  584. 

III.,  of  Prussia,  584, 

586.  Joins  league  against 
France,  590.  Makes  peace, 
591.  Renews  the  war,  593. 
Accepts  treaty  of  Tilsit, 
598.  Grants  passage  to 
French,  615.  Forced  into 
the  war  of  liberation,  619. 
Joins  the  Holy  Alliance, 
636.  Refuses  constitution 
to  Prussia,  637 .  Death  of, 
688. 

IV.,  of  Prussia,   688. 

Attitude  towards  revo- 
lution, 689,  7fll.  Inter- 
vention in  Holstein,  691, 
703.  Refuses  the  offer  of 
the  empire,  705.  Policy 
in  Germany,  707,  708. 
Death  of,  725. 

Freiburg,  battle  of,  1 49. 
Friedewalde,  treaty  of,  86. 
Friedland,  battle  of,  597. 


George. 

Friedlingen,  battle  of,  251. 
Friedrichshall,  Charles 

XII.'s  death  at,  282. 
Friesland,    East,    ceded    to 

Hanover,  629. 
Fronde,  the,  164-169. 
Fructidor,  coup  d'etat  of  the 

18th,  561. 
Frundsberg,  George,  50. 
Fuentes  d'Onoro,  battle  of, 

614. 
Fttrstenberg,    William    of 

238. 
Fiirstenbund,  the,  453. 
Fflssen,  treaty  of,  368. 

G. 

Gadebusch,  battle  of,  280. 

Gagern,  president  of  the 
German  Parliament,  702, 
704,  705,  707. 

Gages,  Spanish  general,  356, 
359,  375,  376,  378. 

Gambetta,  735,  736. 

Garibaldi,  695.  Defends 
Rome,  700.  Opposes  the 
cession  of  Nice,  722.  In 
Sicily  and  Naples,  722, 
723.  Defeated  at  Aspro- 
monte,  725.  Defeated  by 
the  French  at  Montana, 
732.     In  France,  736. 

Garigliano,  the,  36.  Battle 
of,  39. 

Garnier-Pages,  682,  684. 

Gastein,  convention  of,  728. 

Gaston  of  Orleans,  brother 
of  Louis  XIII.  (at  first  of 
Anjou),  154,  155.  Quar- 
rels with  Richelieu,  156. 
Claim  to  the  regency,  161. 
Hostility  to  Mazarin,  166. 
Death  of,  169. 

Gemblours,  battle  of,  111. 

Geneva,  Reformation  in, 
69.  United  to  France,  564. 
Annexed  to  Switzerland, 
630. 

Genoa,  ceded  to  Sardinia, 
628. 

George,  margrave  of  Bran- 
denburg, becomes  a  Pro- 
testant, 63. 

George  1.,  of  Hanover  and 
England,  280,  283,  298. 

II.,   of  England    and 

Hanover,  341,  345.  Se- 
cures the  neutrality  of 
Hanover,  346.  Wins 
battle  of  Dettingen,  358. 
Concludes  convention  of 
Hanover  with  Piussia, 
371.  Relations  with 
Austria  after  the  war,  395. 
Allied  with  Prussia,  399, 
409,  415.     Death  of,  425. 

III.,  of  England,  573, 

583. 

George  I.,  of  Greece,  748 


George. 

George,  duke  of  Saxony,  63. 
Opposition  to  Protestant- 
ism, 63.      Death,  M. 

George  William  of  Branden- 
burg, 143. 

Gerard,  Baltliasar,  assassi- 
nate* William  the  Silent, 
112 

Gerard,  marshal,  666. 

Geriruydeuburg,  congress  at, 

<ih' tit,  revolt  of,  against 
Charles  V.,  76.  Pacifica- 
tion <,f,  in. 

Gibraltar,  Mixed  by  the  En- 
glish, 354.  Ceded  at 
Utrecht,  360.  Siege  of, 
313,314.  Second  siege  of, 
483,486. 

Girondists,  the,  520,  531. 
Fall  of,  541,  545. 

Gneiseuau.  605,  616,  633. 

Goito,  battle  of,  694. 

Godoy,  Spanish  minister, 
538,  576,  600,  601. 

Godunof.  Boris,  189. 

<;.>iidt,  Paul  de,  164  (tee  De 
KeU). 

Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  38. 
Vutori«sOT«  Mm  lYpofc 
In  Neplea,  36. 

Gorgey,  Hungarian  leader, 
697,  698,  699. 

Gortechakoff,  743,  745,  761. 

Gourko,  general,  750. 

GGrx,  count,  3so.     In  service 

of  Charles  XII.,  381,  2*2. 

tod,  383,  300. 

Granada,  conquest  of,  27. 
Treaty  of,  39. 

Grand  Alliance,  the,  2i8, 
249. 

Granson,  battle  of,  24. 

Granvella,  cardinal,  104. 
Recalled  from  the  Nether- 
lands, 105. 

Gravellnea,  battle  of,  9\. 

Gravellotte,  Utile  of,  735. 
n  Mil.,  pope,  99. 

XV..  183. 

XVI.,  671, 691.    Death 

of,  692. 

Greece,  kingdom  of,  657. 

Gr6vy,  Jules,  737. 

Grodno,  diet  of,  470. 

Gross  Beeren,  kettle  of,  633. 

Gross  Gorschen,  battle  of, 
621. 

Gross  Hennersdorf,  battle  of, 
373. 

Grouchy,  marshal,  633. 

Grumbkow,  331,  333. 

Guerrazzi,  695. 

Guinegate,  battle  of  (1482), 
24.     Battle  of  (1 512),  42. 

Guise.  Charles,  duke  ot,  126. 

Guise,  Claude  of,  115. 

Guise,  Francis  of,  115.  Com- 
mander in  Metz,  87.  Op- 
posed to  Alva  In    Italy, 

34 


INDEX. 


91.    Captures   Calais,  to 
Assassinated,  118. 
;  Guise,  Henry,  duke  of,  121 
Forms  the  Catholic  League, 
123.     Assassinated,  124. 

Guise,  the  duke  of,  in  Naples, 
176. 

Guise,  Mary  of,  married  to 
James  V.  of  Scotland,  77. 

Guizot,  659,  672.  674,  676. 
Embassy  to  London,  677. 
Ministry  or,  678,  680. 
Resignation  of,  683. 

Gnstavns  Vasa,  67.  Be- 
comes king  of  Sweden, 
68.  Introduces  the  Re- 
formation, 69. 

Adolpbus,  of  Sweden, 

interests  Involved  In 
Tinny  Years'  War,  139. 
Sends  aid  to  Stralsund, 
141.  Lands  In  Germany, 
143.  Obtains  alliance  of 
Brandenburg  and  Saxony, 
ib.  Defeats  Tilly,  144. 
Marches  into  southern 
Germany,  ib.  Reduces 
Bavaria,  ib.  Killed  at 
LUts.ii.  145,  191.  Acces- 
sion. 188.  Relation*  with 
Russia.    190.     War  with 

d,  to. 

III.,  of  Sweden,  463, 

517,  633. 

GutUvus  IV.,   of  Sweden, 

587.    Denoted,  5sw. 
Gyllenburg,  382. 


Hague,  treaty  of  the  (1788), 
«61.     Do.  (1794X550. 

Hall. ,  university  of,  326. 

Hanover,  league  of,  312, 330. 
ntionof,37l.    King- 
dom of,  630.     Annexed  to 
Prussia,  730. 

Hspaburg,  house  of,  ac- 
quires Austria,  16.  Ob- 
tains practically  heredi- 
tary possession  of  the 
empire,  15.  Acquires  the 
N.  W..-tldi..l>.-.,M.  Acquire., 
Hungary  and  Bohemia, 
in,  52. 

Harcoort,  count,  247. 

Harden  berg,  Prussian  mi- 
nister, 6*6.  Dismissal  of, 
603.  Resumes  office,  6 1 5. 
At  the  congress  of  Vienna, 
628,629.  Subsequent  con- 
duct, 637. 

Hero,  Don  Luis  de,  succeeds 
Oltvarex,  177.   Negotiates 
treaty  of  the    Pyrenees, 
171. 
j  Hassenpflug,  708. 

Has*  nlieck,  battle  of,  412. 

Hsngwits^Prnssiea  minister, 
584,  086,  590.  Fall  of,  KM. 


761 

HesseCassel. 

Havre,  ceded  to  England  by 
the  Huguenots,  118.  Re- 
covered by  France,  ib. 

Haynau,  Austrian  general, 
699,  700. 

Hebert,  538,  610.  Death 
of,  546. 

Heilbronn,  league  of,  146. 

Heiligerlee,  battle  of,  109. 

Heinsius,  249,  267. 

Heliopolis,  battle  of,  578. 

Heligoland,  ceded  to  Eng- 
land, 634. 

Helvetic  Republic,  581. 

Henrietta  ol  Orleans,  222. 

Henriot,  540,  541,  548,  649. 

Henry  of  Anion,  119,  121 
( tee  Henry  ill.  of  France  V 
Elected  king  of  Poland, 
122,  186. 

<>f  Brunswick,  81. 
K\|»lled  by  League  of 
Schmalkalde,  82. 

Henry  IL,  of  France,  marries 
Catharine  de  Medici.  74. 
Allies  himself  wttl 
man  princes  against 
Charles  V.,  86.  Annexe* 
the  three  bishoprics,  87. 
Persecutes  Protestantism, 
116.     Death,  ib. 

IIL,   of   France,    122, 

134.     Asusrinsted,  135. 

IV.,    of    France,    be- 

comes  head  of  the  house  of 
Bourbon,  118.  Heir  to  the 
throne,  133.  Wins  battle 
of  Contrss,  134.  Obtains 
the  crown,  135.  Defeat* 
the  League,  to.  Becomes 
s  Roman  Catholic,  136. 
Issues  edict  or  Nantes,  ib. 
His  government,  127. 
Alliance  with  German 
Protestants,  134.  Asses- 
•tossed.  138,  134. 

VIII.,  ..f  England, 
allied  with  Charier. 
Joins  France,  5?>.  Jealous 
of  French  Influence  In 
Scotland,  77.  Captures 
Boulogne,  78. 

•arre,  120,  123 

(tee  Henry  IV.  ol  France). 

ol  Portugal,  104. 

!  I'ni^ia,  brother  of 

it,  415, 

431,427,  442,447. 

luke  of  Saxony,  in- 
troduces      I*rote*tantism, 
81. 
Herzegovina,  conquered   by 
the  Turks,  31.     Revolt  ot, 
748. 
Hertzberg,     Prussian    min- 
ister, 46  •,  461.    Policy  of, 
462,  464,  466. 
Hesse-Cassel,  electorate   of, 
&*2.     Annexed  to  ] 
730. 


762 

Hildburghausen. 

Hildburghausen,  prince  of, 
412,  413. 

Hobart  Pasha,  748. 

Hoche,  Lazare,  544, 554,  559. 
Death  of,  562. 

Hochkirch,  battle  of,  417. 

Hochstett,  battle  of,  575. 

Hofer,  Andrew,  608.  Death 
of,  611. 

Hohpnfriedberg,  battle  of, 
370. 

Hohenlinden,  battle  of,  576. 

Hohenlohe,  Prince,  594. 

Hohenzollern,  house  of,  ac- 
quires Brandenburg,  16. 

Hohenzollern  -  Sigm  iringen, 
Leopold  of,  734. 

,  Charles  of,  745. 

Hollerne1*,  Lord,  398. 

Holland,  independence  of, 
113,  i50,  174. 

Holy  Alliance,  the,  636. 

Holy  League,  41. 

Horn,  Swedish  general,  146, 
147. 

Hornby,  admiral,  750. 

Hortense  B^auharnals,  mar- 
ried to  Louis  Bonaparte, 
585,  592. 

Hotham,  Sir  Charles,  331, 
332. 

Hubertsburg,  treaty  of,  428. 

Hugo,  Victor,  712. 

Hungary,  acquired  by  the 
Hapsburgs,  18.  Becomes 
independent  under  Mathias 
Corvinus,  19.  Recovered 
by  the  Hapsburgs,  52. 
Revolts  against  Leopold  I., 
205.  Rebellion  of,  698, 
699.  Receives  separate 
constitution,  731. 

Huniades,  John,  18.  Re- 
lieves Belgrad,  19. 

Hutten,  Ulrich  von,  56. 
Conduct  in  the  Knights' 
war,  59. 

Hyndford,  Lord,  345,  347, 
350. 


Ibrahim,  Turkish  sultan, 
202. 

Ibrahim  Pasha,  son  of  Me- 
hemet  Ali,  653,  655,  741. 
Succeeds  in  Egypt,  742. 

Illyrian  Provinces,  the,  610. 

Imperial  Cnamber,  insti- 
tuted, 20.  Renewed,  46. 
Roman  Catholic  majority 
ill,  133. 

Index,  the,  issued  by  Paul 
IV.,  96. 

Inkermann,  battle  of,  744. 

Innocent  VHI.,  pope,  10,31. 
Supports  Neapolitan  ba- 
rons, 33. 

XL,     234,     236,     237. 

.  Quarrel  with  Louis  XI V., 
238.     Death  of,  244. 


INDEX. 


Innocent  XII.,  247. 

Inquisition,  the,  in  Spain,  27. 
Introduced  into  Rome,  95. 
Employed  for  political 
purposes  by  Philip  II., 
103. 

Interim,  the,  issued  by 
Charles  V.,  85. 

Ionian  Islands,  ceded  to 
France,  562.  Given  by 
England  to  Greece,  748. 

Ipsilanti,  650. 

Isabella,  of  Castile,  27. 

Isabella  II.,  of  Spain,  679. 
Marriage  of,  680.  Ex- 
pelled, 733. 

Ivry,  battle  of,  125. 

Iwan  III.,  of  Russia,  186. 

IV.  (the  Terrible),  187. 

VI.,  341, 386.    Deposed, 

388.    Death  of,  439. 

J. 

Jacobin  Club,  the,  506,  516, 
520. 

Jatcellou,  house  of,  acquires 
Poland,  18.  Extinction 
of,  186. 

Jagerndorf,  323,  324. 

James  I.,  of  England,  his  at- 
titude in  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  137,  139. 

II.,  of    England,   236, 

237,  239.     Death  of,  249. 

James  V.,  of  Scotland,  77. 

Janissaries,  30,  31,  200.  De- 
struction of,  654. 

Jansen,  Cornelius,  233. 

Jansenists,  the,  233.  Perse- 
cution of,  261,  262. 

Jarnac,  battle  of,  120. 

Jaroslavetz,  battle  of,  617. 

Jassy,  treaty  of,  466. 

Jeanne,  of  Navarre,  1 15, 12  ». 

Jellachich,  Ban  oi  Croatia, 
697. 

Jemmappes,  battle  of,  534. 

Jemmingen,  battle  of,  109. 

Jena,  battle  of,  594. 

Jenkins'  ear,  war  of,  337. 

Jesuits,  foundation  of,  94. 
Character  of  their  institu- 
tions, 95.  Quarrel  with 
the  Dominicans,  181. 
Expelled  from  Venice,  181, 
182.  Decline  of, 432.  Ex- 
pelled from  Portugal,  435, 
436;  from  France,  436; 
from  Spain,  ib.  Suppres- 
sed by  Clement  XIV.,  437. 

Joachim  I.,  of  Brandenburg, 
81. 

II.,  of  Brandenburg,  81, 

325. 

Joachim  Frederick  of  Bran- 
denburg, 132,  324. 

Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  married 
to  the  archduke  Philip,  28. 


Juarez. 

Joanna  Henriquez,  wife  of 

John  H.  of  Aragon,  26. 
John,  the  archduke,  702,  704. 
John  II.,  of  Aragon,  26. 
John  ot    Austria,   Don,   in 

the  Netherlands,  111. 
,  Don,   natural   son   of 

Philip  IV.,  170,  178,  179, 

180. 
John  III.,  of  Portugal,  104. 
IV.,  of  Portugal,  restores 

Portuguese  independence. 

177. 
V.,  of  Portugal,  435. 

VI.,  of  Portugal,  600* 

Takes  refuge  in  Brazil,  6001 

642.  Returns  to  Lisbon, 

643.  Quarrel  with  Dom 
Miguel,  647,  648.  Death, 
671. 

John,  elector  of  Saxony,  61. 
Signs  Protest  of  Speier, 
63.     Death,  64. 

John  HI.,  of  Sweden,  129, 
185. 

John  Casimir,  of  Poland, 
193,  194.     Abdicates,  198. 

John  Frederick,  elector  of 
Saxony,  64.  Captured  at 
MUhlberg,  84.  Deprived 
of  his  electorate,  ib.  Re- 
leased, 86.  Fails  to  re- 
cover electorate,  88. 

John  George,  of  Saxony, 
131.  Obtains  Lausitz, 
137.  Allied  with  Sweden, 
144,  145.  Signs  treaty  of 
Prague,  148. 

John  Sigismund,  of  Bran- 
denburg, 134,  324. 

Joseph  I.,  emperor,  253,  259, 
276. 

II.,    emperor,     438. 

Interviews  with  Frederick 
the  Great,  447, 450.  Policy 
of,  449,  450.  Claim  to 
Bavarian  succession,  451. 
Forced  to  accept  treaty  of 
Teschen,  452.  Reforms  of, 
453-455.  Alliance  with 
Catharine  II.,  456,  461. 
Scheme  'to  exchange  the 
Netherlands  for  Bavaria, 
457.  Foiled  by  Frederick 
II.,  458.  Turkish  war, 
463.     Death  of,  464. 

Joseph  I.,  of  Portugal,  435, 

436. 
Joseph,  Father,  Richelieu's 

right-hand  man,  143. 
Joseph  Ferdinand,  electoral 

prince  of  Bavaria,  245,  246. 
Josephine  Beauharnais, 

married  to  Bonaparte,  555, 

585.  Divorced,  612.   Death 

of,  626. 
Joubert,  559,  566,  567. 
Jourdan,  544,  551,  555,  557, 

565,  625. 
Juarez,  732, 


jiilich. 

iilich  and  Clcve,  disputed 
succession  to,  134,  324. 

Julius  II.,  pope,  40.  Forms 
league  of  Cambray  and 
Holy  League,  41.  Death, 
42. 

III.,  86.    Oils  second 

meeting  of  Council  of 
Trent,  87,  96.     Death,  88. 

Junot,  marshal,  600. 

Justice,  bed  of,  162. 


Kadan,  peace  of,  81. 

Koghul,  battle  of.  446. 

Kainardji,  treaty  of,  449,  460, 
456. 

Kaliscb,  treaty  of,  619. 

Kantemir,  27h. 

K anils,  treaty  of,  195, 198. 

Katte,  lieutenant  von.  332. 

Katzbach,  battle  «.f,  623. 

Kaunitz.383.  Policy  of,  393, 
400,  40H,  410,  4i- 
baasy  to  Versailles,  394. 
Chief  minist-  r  of  Austria, 
395.  Int.  r\  iew  with  Fred- 
erick II..  447.  Position 
under  Joseph  II.,  454. 
Arrange s  alliance  with 
Russia,  456. 

Kellermann  527,  634. 

Kemenyi,  John,  prince  of 
Transylvania.  203. 

Kemelsdorf,  battle  of,  373. 

K.ttl.r,  Oothard,  founds 
ducby  of  Courlarxl. 

Kht  vcnhailer,  Austrian  ge- 
neral, 349,  352,  357. 

Kbocxim,  battle  of,  204. 

Kiel,  treaty  of,  624. 

Kiuprili,  Mohammed,  202. 

,  Achmct,  203,  204,  207. 

,  Mustafa,  212,  213. 

Kleber,  567,  578. 

Klein  Schnellendorf,  con- 
vention of,  347. 

Knights,  German,  16.  War 
of,  59. 

Kolberg,  siege  of,  424. 

Kolin.  battk  <>r,  411. 

Kolokotroni,  C50,  651,  652. 

Ki>low  rat,  Austrian  minister, 

in 

Komeh,  Uttleof,  741. 
Kotiiggratx,  battle  of,  730. 
l«Tg,  treaty  of,  193. 
Konigscgg,     Austrian     ge- 
neral, m. 

Kosciusko,  470,  471,  472. 

Kossuth,  6"5,  697,  698.  Es- 
capes to  Turkey,  699. 

Kotzebue,  assassination  of, 
638. 

Kray,  Austrian  general,  574, 
575. 

Krudener,  baroness,  636. 

Kunrrsdorf,  battle  of,  421. 

Kutaieb,  treaty  of,  741. 


INDEX. 


Kutschuk  Kainardji,  treaty 

of,  44tt,  450,  456. 
Kutusow,  Russian  general, 

617,  618,  619. 


Labiau,  treaty  of.  194. 

I*  Chetardie,  3»7. 

UdttUM  VI.,  of  Poland  and 
Hungary,  18. 

VII.,  of  Poland,   189, 

190. 

Ladisbus  Postumus,  18. 
Death,  19. 

La  Favorite,  battle  of,  55*. 

Lifay.tte,  481,  492.  Com- 
mander of  National  Guard, 
498,  499,  604,  506,  606, 
514,  515.  Resigns  com- 
mand, 620.  in  command 
<»f  the  army,  622  623, 
524.  Treachery  of,  527. 
Share  in  tbe  Revolution  of 
1830,  659-661.  Dismissed 
l.v  L  'Ui*  Philippe,  674. 

Lafflte,  661,  674. 

U  Hogu~,  bs.ttl-.Mf,  241. 

I^ainez,  general  of  the  Jes- 
uit'*, 94.  96.  At  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,  98.  • 

Lally-Tollendal.  492,  502. 

Lamarck,  count  of,  512,  613. 

La  Marmora,  general,  71*, 
731. 

Limartlne,  682,  68  4,  685. 
Candidal-  for  the  Presi- 
dency, 710. 

Lamberg,  count,  assassin- 
ated, 697. 

Ijinioriciere,  general,  712. 
In  papal  service,  722,  723. 

Landskrona,  battle  of,  197. 

Lanjuinaia,  537,  641. 

I  juigensalza,  battle  of,  730. 

La  Revetllere-L-paux,  663. 
660. 

La  Rochelle,  headquarters 
of  tbe  Huguenots,  120, 
121.  Besieged  by  Riche- 
lieu, 134.  15.V 

Lascy,  general,  386,  387, 
463. 

Ijiudon,  Austrian  general, 
416,  421, 422, 424,  425,  463. 

I,auenburg,  ceded  to  Den- 
mark, 629.  Ceded  to 
Prussia,  728. 

I*u  field,  battle  of,  382. 

I.aus.inup,  treaty  of,  183. 

Ijautrcc,  commands  the 
French  in  lxnnbardy,  47. 
Takes  Genoa,  50.  Besieges 
Naples,  51.     Death,  ib. 

La  Valette,  436. 

La  Vendee,  ri>ing  in,  539, 
541,  543. 

Law,  John,  292.  His  finan- 
.i.l  schemes,  293,  294. 
Failure,  2i>5. 


763 

Letourneur. 

I  Laybach,  congress  of,    645, 

I      650. 

League,  the  Catholic,  formed 
in  France  123.  Submits 
to  Henry  IV.,  126. 

Lebrun,  570,  685. 

Leczinska,  Marie,  married 
to  Louis  XV.,  302,  311, 
316.     Death  of,  433. 

Leczinski,  Stanislaus,  made 
king  of  Poland,  274,  276. 
Driven  from  Poland,  277, 
283.  Elected  king  iu  1733, 
316.  Driven  again  from 
Poland,  ib.  Receives  Lor- 
raine, 319.  l«eath  of, 
433. 

Ledru-Rollin,  6-2,  685. 
Candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, 710.    Exile  of,  711. 

Legislative  Assembly,  the, 
619-529. 

Lehwald,  marshal,  412.  413. 

Ielpzig,  battle  of  (1813), 
624. 

I^emburg,  battle  of,  205. 

Leo  X.,  pope,  42.  Concludes 
concordat  with  Francis  I., 
43.  Allies  himself  with 
CharKs  V.,  47.  Excom- 
municate* Luther,  66. 
Ieath,47. 

Leo  XII.,  643. 

Leoben,  preliminaries  of, 
559. 

I/eopold  I.,  emperor,  elec- 
tion of,  170.  First  war 
with  tbe  Turks,  203,  294. 
Persecutes  Hungarian 
Protestants,  206.  Flies 
to  Linx,  208.  Annexes 
Transylvarda,  213.  Con- 
cludes treaty  of  Carlowitx, 
214.  Claim  to  the  Spanish 
succession,  245.  Death  of, 
253. 

II.,  emperor,  464,  465. 

Concludes  treaty  of  Reich- 
enbacb,  466.  Attitude  to- 
wards Poland,  467.  Atti- 
tude towards  France,  51 H, 
519,  522.  Death  of,  46*. 
522. 

Leopold,  of  tarraine,  re- 
stored to  his  duchy  at 
Ryswick,  244. 

Leopold  of  Saxc-Coburg, 
refuses  the  crown  of 
Greece,  657.  King  of  the 
Belgians,  666. 

Leopold  II ,  of  Tuscany,  691, 
692.  Quits  Tuscany,  696. 
Returns  to  Florence,  700. 
Flight  of,  720. 

Lepanto,  battle  of,  99,  201. 

Lenna,  the  duke  of,  niip>*»er 
in  Spain,  174.  Fail  of,  176. 

Le  Tellier,216,  217. 

,  Pere,  261,  2U1,  291. 

Letourneur,  553,  500. 


764 

Leuthen. 

Leuthen,  battle  of,  414. 

Lewis  of  Baden,  general  in 
the  imperial  service,  210, 
212,  213,  251,  252,  253. 

Lewis  I.,  of  Bavaria,  690. 

Lewis,  king  of  Hungary  and 
Bohemia,  killed  at  Mo- 
hacz,  52,  199. 

Lewis  Ferdinand  of  Prussia, 
593,  594. 

Levenhaupt,  Swedish  gene- 
ral, 274,  276,  277. 

Leyden,  siege  of,  110.  Uni- 
versity of,  ib. 

Leyden,  John  of,  81. 

Ley  va,  Antonio  da,  43.  De- 
feats the  French,  51. 

L'Hopital,  Michel,  116,  117. 
Supported  by  Catharine 
de  Medici,  119.  Dismissal 
of,  120. 

Liege,  risings  in,  23. 

Liegnitz,  the  duchy  of,  325. 
Battle  of,  424. 

Ligny,  battle  of,  632. 

Limerick,pacification  of,241. 

Lisbon,  treaty  of,  179,  180. 

Lisle,  Itouget  de,  525. 

Lithuania,  united  to  Poland, 
185. 

Loano,  battle  of,  555. 

Lobau,  island  of,  608. 

Lobkowitz,  minister  of 
Leopold  [.,  206. 

Lobkowitz,  Austrian  gene- 
ral, 350,  352,  360,  367, 
375. 

Lobositz,  battle  of,  406. 

Lodi,  treaty  of,  7.  Battle 
of,  556. 

Lola  Montez,  690. 

Lonato,  battle  of,  557. 

London,  treaty  of  (1827), 
655.    Do/ (1840),  678,  742. 

Longjumeau,  treaty  of,  119. 

Longneville,  duchess  of, 
sifter  of  the  Great  Conde, 
1C5,  166. 

Lope  da  Vega,  176. 

Lorges,  marshal  de,  240. 

Lorraine  conquered  by 
Charles  the  Bold,  23.  He- 
covered  by  Rene  II.,  24. 
Restored  to  Charle9  III., 
171.  Seized  by  France, 
222.  Restored  to  Leopold 
by  treaty  of  Ryswick, 
244.  Ceded  to  Stanislaus 
Leczinski,  319.  Reverts 
to  France,  433. 

Lorraine,  cardinal  of,  at  the 
council  of  Trent,  97. 
Minister  in  France,  115. 

Louis  XL,  of  France,  22. 
Relations  with  Charles 
the  Bold,  23-4.  Death, 
24. 

XII.,  of  France,  38. 

Conquers  Milan,  39. 
Divides      Naples      with 


INDEX. 


Spain,  ib.  Alliance  with  j 
the  Borgias,  ib.  Attacks  ] 
Venice,  41.  Driven  from 
Italy,  42.  Third  marriage  j 
and  death,  ib. 

Louis  XIII.,  of  France,  152. 
Assumes  the  government, 
153.  Relations  with 
Richelieu,  156, 158.  Death 
of,  161. 

XIV.,  of  France,  de- 
clared of  age,  167.  Ap- 
pears at  battle  of  Stenay, 
170.  Marries  Maria 
Theresa,  171.  Reiga  of, 
215-266. 

— —  XV.,  of  France,  ac- 
cession of,  288.  Comes  of 
age,  302.  Undertakes 
military  command,  361. 
Illness  at  Metz,  362. 
Government  of,  394.  j 
Colonial  quarrel  with  i 
England,  397.  Allied 
with  Austria,  402,  409, 
410.  Debauchery  of,  433. 
Death  of,  434. 

XVI.,  476,  452.  Sup- 
ports Turgot,  479.  Sum- 
mons States  General,  489. 
Relations  with  National 
Assembly,  493,  494,  495, 
498.  Goes  to  Paris,  506. 
Compact  with  Mirabeau, 
512.  Attempted  flight  of, 
614.  Accepts  the  consti- 
tution, 516,  519.  Rela- 
tions with  Legislative 
Assembly,  521,  522.  Im- 
prisoned in  the  Temple, 
526.  Trial  of,  536.  Exe- 
cuted, 537. 

XVII.,  551. 

XVIII.,  of  France,  627. 

Issues  Charter,  628.  Se- 
cond restoration  of,  633. 
Reign  of,  638-641.  Death 
of,  657  (see  Provence, 
count  of). 

Louis,  duke  of  Orleans,  hos- 
tility to  Anne  of  Beaujeu, 
25.  Claim  to  Milan,  36. 
Occupies  Novara,  37. 
Surrenders  Novara,  38 
(see  Louis  X1L). 

Louis  Philippe,  539.  Re- 
covers the  Orleans  pro- 
perty, 658.  Obtains  the 
crown,  661,  662.  Reign 
of,  672-680.  Flight  to 
England,  684. 

Louisa,  queen  of  Prussia, 
593. 

Louise  of  Savoy,  claims 
duchy  of  Bourbon,  48. 
Regent  in  France,  49. 
Negotiates  treaty  of  Cam- 
bray,  51. 

Louisiana,  sold  to  the  United 
States,  583. 


Maintenon. 

Louvel,  640. 

Louvois,  218,  222,  227,  230. 

The  dragonnades  of,  235. 

Induces    Louis   XIV.    to 

attack      Germany,      239. 

Death  or,  241. 
Lowendahl,  381,  382,  388. 
Loyola,  Ignatius,  wounded 

at  Pampeluna,  47.  Founds 

Order  of  the  Jesuits,  94. 

Canonised,  182. 
Ltibeck,  treaty  of,  141,  190. 
Lucchese-Palli,  count,  675. 
Lucchesini,  595. 
Luckner,  523,  527. 
Luther,  Martin,   birth   and 

education,    54.      Opposes 

sale    of  indulgences,    55. 

Burns  the  papal  bull,  57. 

Before  the  diet  of  Worms, 

ib.    Opposes  the  prophets 

of  Zwickau,  58.     Attitude 

towards  peasants'  revolt, 

61.     Marries   a  nun,  62. 

Death,  83. 
Lutter,  battle  of,  140. 
Lund,  battle  of,  197.    Treaty 

of,  i'&. 
Lundville,  treaty  of,  576. 
Liitzen,  battle  of,  145. 
Luxemburg,  given    to    the 

king  of  the  Netherlands, 

631. 
Luxemburg,  French  general, 

223,  224,  227,  240.     Death 

of,  242. 
LuynP8,  favourite  of  Louis 

XIII.,  153. 
Lyonne,  216,  217.    Death  of, 

222. 

M. 

Maanen,  Van,  664. 
Maciejowice,  battle  of,  471. 
Mack,    general,     539,    565. 

Capitulates  at  Ulm,  589. 
MacMahon,    marshal,    720, 

735.      President    of    tho 

French  Republic,  737. 
Mademoiselle,   daughter   of 

Gaston  of  Orleans,  168. 
Madrid,  treaty  of,  49.     Be- 
comes the  capital  of  Spain, 

101. 
Maestticht,  siege  of,  384. 
Magdeburg,     besieged     by 

Maurice   of   Saxony,   86. 

Besieged   by   Tilly,    143. 

Ceded    to    Brandenburg, 

150. 
Magenta,  battle  of,  720. 
Magnano,  battle  of,  565. 
Maine,   the    duke   of,    263, 

265,  290,  301. 
Mahmoud  II.,  649.  Destroys 

the      Janissaries,       654. 

Quarrels    with    Mehemet 

Ali,  741.     Death  of,  ib. 
Maintenon,  madame  de,  230. 

Married   to   Louis  XIV., 


Majesty. 

231.      Influence    of,    235, 
262,  290.     Death  of,  265. 

Majesty,  Letter  of,  in  Bo- 
hemia, 135,  136. 

Malagrida,  Father,  436. 

Malesherbcs,  477,  47 »,  536. 

Malmesbury,  lord,  550. 

Malmu,  truce  of,  703,  709. 

Malplaquet,  battle  of,  258. 

Malta,  the  knights  of,  199, 
200.  Captured  by  Bona- 
parte, 563.  Restored  to 
Knight*  of  St.  John,  678. 

Mamelukes,  31. 

Manin,  Daniele,  693,  701. 

Mansfeld,  Ernest  count  of, 
136.  137,  139.  Defeated 
by  Wallenstein,  140. 

Manteuffel,  701,  708,  728, 
729. 

Mantua,  succession  question 
in,  142,  156,  176,  1*3. 

Marat,  527,  530,  632,  638, 
640.    Murdered,  641. 

Marengo,  battle  of,  675. 

Margaret,  daughter  of  Maxi- 
milian I.,  betrothed  to 
Charles  VIII.,  24.  Repu- 
diated, 26.  Married  to 
John,  Infant  of  Spain,  28. 
Negotiates  treaty  of  Cam- 
bray,  61. 

Margaret,  natural  daughter 
of  Charles  V.,  marries 
Alessandro  de  M* 
Marries  Oltavio  Farnese, 
76.  Regent  in  the  Ne- 
therlands for  Philip  II., 
106.  Superseded  by  Alva, 
108. 

Maria  Anna  of  Austria, 
widow  of  Philip  IV..  re- 
gent In  Spain,  179,  1*0. 

Maria  Anna  of  Neuburg, 
wife  of  Charles  II.  of 
Spain,  246. 

Maria  da  Gloria.  671.  Queen 
of  Portugal,  672. 

Maria  Louisa,  married  to 
Napoleon  I.,  6 1 2.  Receive, 
the  ducby  of  Parma,  630. 
Kx  pel  led  and  restored,  671. 
Death  of,  692. 

Maria  Theresa,  daughter  of 
Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  mar- 
ried to  Louis  XIV.,  171. 

Maria  Theresa,  of  Austria, 
308.  Accession  of,  339. 
league  against,  345.  In 
Hungary.346.  Cedes  Silesia 
to  Fredfrick  II.,  351.  Per- 
sistent hostility  to  France, 
352.  Position  in  1743, 
357.  Concludes  treaty  of 
Worms  with  Sardinia,  359. 
Forced  to  make  treaty  of 
Dresden.  375.  Accepts 
peace  of  Aix-la-Cbapelle, 
385.  Policy  during  the 
peace,  393-398.    Alliance 


INDEX. 


with  France,  402,  and  with  i 
Russia,  403,  407.  Con- 
cludes peace  of  Huberts- 
burg,  429.  Subsequent 
rule,  438,  442,  448,  449, 
451.     Death  or,  452. 

Marie  Antoinette,  476,  487, 
505,  513,  524.  Death  or, 
455. 

Marie i) burg,  treaty  of,  193. 

Marignano,  battle  of,  43. 

Marillac,  marshal,  156.  Exe- 
cuted, 157. 

Marlborough,  the  duke  of, 
24«»,  251,  252.  Victories 
at  IUenh<-lm  and  Ra- 
niillies,  253.  Victories  at 
Oudcuardc  and  Malpla- 
quet, 257.  Dismissal  of, 
259. 

Marmont,  marshal,  567. 
Commands  In  tbe  Penin- 
sula, 614.  Surrenders 
Paris  to  the  allies,  626. 
Conduct  in  1830,660. 

Marsaglia,  battle  of,  24X 

Martrillaisr,  tbe,  506. 

Marsin,  262,  264. 

Martlgnac,  minister  of 
Charles  X.,  668,  669. 

Martinet,  218. 

Mariinexde  la  Rosa,  642, 679 

Martyr,  Peter,  93,  96. 

Mary  of  England,  90,  91. 

Mary  of  Hungary,  sister  of 
Charles  V.,  regent  in  the 
Netherlands.  76. 76. 

Mary  Stuart,  wife  ot  Francis 
11.,  116. 

Mary  Tudor,  sister  of  Henry 
VIII.,  married  to  Louis 
XII.  42. 

Masanlello,  revolt  of,  in 
Naples,   177.     Death    of, 

Massa,  the  prince  of,  178. 

Muscena,  marshal,  559,  564, 
666.  66",  574.  Commands 
in  tbe  Peninsular  war,  613, 
614. 

Matthias,  archduke  of  Aus- 
tria, in  tbe  Netherlands 
111.  Obtains  from  Radttf 
II.  administration  of  Haps- 
burg  territories,  135. 
Elected  emperor,  to.  Diffi- 
culties in  Bohemia.  Death 
137. 

Matthias  Corvinus,  king  of 
Hungary,  19.  Wars  with 
Bohemia  and  Austria,  to. 
Death,  20. 

Maupeou,  minister  of  Louis 
XV.,  433,  474.    Dismissal 
of,  477. 
I  Maurepas,  357.  360,  476,  477, 
479,  480,  485. 

Maurice   de  Saxe,  348,   360 
I     (tee  Saxe.  marshal). 

Maurice,  duke  of  Saxony,  83. 


765 

Medici. 
Obtains  the  electorate,  84. 
Protests  against  Interim, 
J-5.  Hostility  to  Charles 
V.,  86.  Concludes  treaty 
of  Pussau,  to.  Killed  at 
Sieverehausen,  88. 

Mavrocordato,  651,  652. 

Maxen,  capitulation  or,  422. 

Maximilian,  the  archduke, 
732. 

Maximilian  I.,  of  Bavaria, 
133.  Forms  the  Catholic 
League,  134.  Supports 
Ferdinand  II.,  137.  Re- 
ceives the  electorate  of  the 
Palatine  branch,  138.  Op- 
poses Wsllenstein,  142. 
Makes  peace  with  France, 
1 50.  Retains  Upper  Pala- 
tinate and  eUctoral  title, 
to. 

II.,  of  Bavaria,  690. 

Maximilian  I.,  emperor,  20. 
Marries  Mary  of  Bur- 
gundy, 13,  20,  24.  Fo- 
reign policy,  21.  Quarrels 
with  Charles  VIII.,  25. 
Joins  league  against 
France,  36.  Joins  I/anuo 
of  Cambray  and  Holy 
League,  41.  Invades 
France,  42. 

Maximilian  II.,  emperor, 
130,  131. 

Maximilian,  Joseph,  of  Bava- 
ria, 367.  Concludes  treaty 
of  Flissen,  368.  Death 
of,  451. 

Maximilian  Joseph,  king  of 
Bavaria,  624. 

Mayenne,  the  duke  of,  123. 
Head  of  the  league,  126. 
Submits  to  Henry  IV., 
126. 

Mazarin,  cardinal,  149. 
Succeeds  Richelieu,  160. 
Relations  with  Anne  of 
Austria,  161.  Conduct 
during  the  Fronde,  164- 
169.  Concludes  treaty  of 
the  Pyrenees,  171.  Death 
of,  172. 

Maxeppa,  276,  277. 

Mazzini,  692,  695. 

Meaux,  conspiracy  of,  1 19. 

Medici,  Alexandra  de,  mar- 
ries Charles  V.'s  daughter 
Margaret,  51.  Assassina- 
ted, 76. 

,  Catharine  de,  marries 

Henry  of  Orleans,  74. 
Character  of,  115.  Be- 
comes regent  of  France, 
117.  Religious  attitude  of, 
119,  120.  Her  share  in 
the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, 121.  Death  of, 
124. 

,    Cosimo     de     (pater 

patriee),  10. 


766 

Medici. 

Medici,  Cosimo  de,  the  first 
grand-duke  of  Tuscany, 
76,  91. 

■ ,  Francis  de,  grand  duke 

of  Tuscany,  127. 

,  Gaston  de,  grand  duke 

of  Tuscany,  180. 

,    Giovanni  de,   12,  42 

(see  Leo  X.). 

,  Giuliano  de,  11,  13. 

,  Giulio  de,  13,  47  (see 

Clement  VII.). 

,  Lorenzino  de,  76. 

,   Lorenzo    I.  de    (the 

Magnificent),  11,  12.  De- 
fends Ferrara,  14. 

,  Lorenzo  II.  de,  43. 

,  Mary  de,  married  to 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  127. 
Regency  of,  152,  153. 
Quarrels  with  Richelieu, 
156.     Exile  of,  156,  158. 

,  Piero  I.  de,  11. 

.  Piero  II.  de,  12, 13,  34. 

Driven  from  Florence,  35. 
Death  of,  39. 

Mehemet  Ali,  Pasha  of 
Egypt,  649.  Aids  the 
Turks  in  Greece,  653.  Ob- 
tains Syria,  677,  741. 
Forced  to  res-ign  Syria, 
678,  742.    Abdicates,  742. 

Melancthon,  56.  Draws  up 
Confession  of  Augsburg, 
63.  At  diet  of  Ratisbon, 
82. 

Melas,  Austrian  general, 
574,  575. 

Mendoza,  Spanish  envoy  in 
France,  125. 

Menou,  general,  552,  578. 

Menschikoff,  favourite  of 
Peter  the  Great,  275,  285, 
286. 

Menschikoff,  743,  744. 

Men  tana,  battle  of,  732. 

Menzel,  404. 

Methuen  treaty,  252. 

Metternicb,  609,  622.  At 
the  congress  of  Vienna, 
628,  629.  His  oppo.-ition 
to  reform,  637,  645,  651, 
669,  688.     Fall  of,  689. 

Metz,  seized  by  French,  87. 
Besieged  by  Charles  V., 
87. 

Mexico,  French  expedition 
to,  732. 

Midhat  Pasha,  750. 

Mignet,  537,  660. 

Miguel,  Dom,  647,  648. 
Usurps  the  throne  of  Por- 
tugal, 672. 

Milan,  under  the  Sforzas,  7. 
Conquered  by  Louis  XII., 
39.  Given  by  S\vi6s  to 
Maximilian  Sforza,  42. 
Conquered  by  Francis  I., 
43.  Given  to  Francesco 
Sforza,  47.      Annexed  by 


INDEX. 


Charles  V.,  74.  Passes  to 
Philip  II.,  90. 

Miltitz,  Carl  von,  55. 

Minden,  battle  of,  422 

Minorca,  restored  to  Spain, 
486. 

,  ceded  to  England,  260. 

Conquered  by  French,  400. 
Restored  to  England,  423. 

Mirabeau,  492,  494.  Charac- 
ter and  aims  of,  502,  503. 
Conduct  in  the  assembly, 
504,  506,  5(,9,  511.  Re- 
lations with  the  court,  512. 
Death  of,  513. 

Mississippi  Company,  the, 
293,  294.  295. 

Missolonghi,  siege  of,  C52, 
653. 

Mb'ckern,  battle  of,  621 . 

Mocenigo,  doge  of  Venice, 
202. 

Mohammed  If.,  repulsed; 
from  Belgrad,  19.  Cap- 
tures Constantinople,  29. 
Further  conquests  in 
Europe,  30.    Death,  31. 

III.,  201. 

Mohammed  IV.,  202.  De- 
posed, 211. 

Mohacz,  battle  of,  52,  199. 
Second  battle  of,  211. 

Mohileff,  interview  of  Joseph 
II.  and  Catharine  II.  at, 
4  56. 

M.-le,  M.,  674,  676,  677,  683, 
711. 

Moleville,  Bertrand  de,  519. 

Molina,  teaches  doctrines  of 
free-will,  181. 

Mollendorf,  Prussian  general, 
550,  551. 

Mollwitz,  battle  of,  343. 

Molike,  von,  730,  734. 

Moncontour,  battle  of,  120. 

Mons,  captured  by  Lewis  of 
Nassau,  110. 

Montalembert,  711. 

Montcalm,  425. 

Montecuculi,  Austrian  gene- 
ral, 203,  223,  224,226,227. 

Montemar,  Spanish  general, 
355, 356. 

Montespan,  Madame  de,  230. 

Montesquieu,  431. 

Mont  I'bery,  battle  of,  22. 

Montmorency,  constable  of, 
repulses  Charles  V.  from 
Provence,  75.  Degraded 
from  office,  76.  Conquers 
the  three  bishoprics,  87. 
Defeated  at  St.  Qnentin, 
91.  Religious  attitude,  116. 
Taken  prisoner  at  Dreux, 
118.  Killed  at  St.  Denis, 
119. 

Montpellier,  treaty  of,  153, 
154. 

Montpensier,  duke  of,  son 
of  Louis  Philippe,  680,  733. 


Napoleon. 

Monzon,  treaty  of,  139, 154. 

Mooker  Heath,  battle  0% 
110. 

Moore,  Sir  John,  607. 

Morat,  battle  of,  24. 

Moreau,  550,  557,  559,  562, 
566,  573,  574,  575.  Victory 
at  Hohenlinden,  576.  Re- 
lations with  Bonaparte, 
580,581,584.  Exiled,  585, 
Death  of,  623. 

Moriscoes,  expulsion  of,  from 
Spain,  175. 

Morny,  712. 

Morone,  cardinal,  97. 

Morosini,  Venetian  com- 
mander, 180,  204,  210. 

Mortemart,  duke  of,  661. 

Mounier,  493,  502. 

Mountain,  the,  531. 

Miihlberg,  battle  of,  84. 

Muncbengratz,  conference  at, 
669,  672. 

Munnich,  marshal,  320,  341, 
387,  388. 

MQnster,  the  anabaptists  in, 
81. 

Miinzer,  Thomas,  60. 

Murat,  Joachim,  567,  589. 
Receives  duchy  of  Berg, 
592 .  Receives  N  aples,  6 1 3. 
Joins  Napoleon  on  his 
return  from  Elba,  631. 
Expelled  from  Naples, 
6J2.     Death  of,  633. 

Murillo,  176. 

Mustafa  II.,  Turkish  sultan, 
213. 

III.,  suit m,  446,  449. 

IV.,  649. 

Mustapha,  Kara,  grand 
vizier,  207.  Besieges 
Vienna,  208,  209. 

N. 

Nakhimof,  admiral,  743. 

Nancy,  siege  of,  24. 

Nantes,  edict  of,  126.  Re- 
voked by  Louis  XIV.,  236. 

Naples,  claims  to  crown  of, 
33. 

Napoleon,  I.  (see  Bonaparte, 
Napoleon),  becomes  king 
of  Italy,  587.  Plans  in- 
vasion of  England,  588. 
Marches    into    Germany, 

589.  Crushes  the  hostile 
coalition     at    Austerlitz, 

590.  Forces  treaty  of 
Pressburg  upon  Austria, 

591.  Provides  crowns  for 
his  brothers,  592.  Or- 
ganises confederation  of 
the  Rhine,  ib.  Defeats 
Prussians  at  Jena,  594. 
Issues  Berlin  decrees,  595. 
Defeats  the  Ru.-siansat  Ey- 
lan,  596;  and  at  Friedland, 
597.    Concludes  trra  y  of 


Napoleon. 

Tilsit,  598.  Attacks  Portu- 
gal, 600.  Attacks  Spain, 
601.  Interview  with  Alex- 
ander I.  at  Erfurt,  606. 
Campaign  in  Spain,  607. 
Defeats  the  Austrian*  at 
Aspeni,  60»;  and  Wagram, 
609.  Concludes  treaty  of 
Vienna,  610.  Confiscates 
the  Papal  State*,  611. 
Annexes  Holland  and 
coast  of  North  Germany, 
611.  Marries  the  arch- 
duchess Maria  Louisa,  612. 
fuvades  Russia,  616.  Re- 
treat from  Mi  scow,  617. 
Campaigns  in  Germany, 
621,  623.  Defeated  at 
Leipzig,  624.  Abdicates, 
626.  Land*  in  Elba,  627. 
Returns  to  France,  631. 
Defeated  at  Waterloo,  632. 
Sent  to  St.  Helena,  633. 
Death    of,  633,  641. 

Napoleon,  Louis,  624,  671. 
At  Strasburg,  677.  At; 
Boulogne,  678.  Elected  to 
the  French  chamber,  6*6.  < 
Returns  to  France,  710.' 
President  of  the  Republic, 
710.  711.  Coup  d'etat, 
712.  Restores  the  empire, 
713  (we  Napoleon  HI  ). 

III.,  713.    Character  of,! 

714.-  Embarks  in  Mm 
Crimean  War.  743. 
Alliance  with  Sardinia, 
71*.  719.  Campaign  in 
Italy,  719.  (JotoMN 
peace  of  Villarranca,  720. 
Obtain*  Savoy  and  Rise, 
721.  Convention  about 
the  occupation  of  Boar, 
725.       Relations  with 

Austria  and  Prussia,  729. 
Resumes  the  occupation 
of  Kome,  732.  Mexican 
expedition,  733.  I 
quarrel  with  Prussia,  734. 
.surrenders  at  Sedan.  735., 
Death  of.  737. 

Narvaez,  6*0,  733. 

Narwa,  battle  of,  272. 

Nassau,  annexed  to  Prussia, 
730. 

,  Lewis  of,  108.    Makes 

war  on  Alva.  109.  Killed 
at  Mooker  Heath,  110. 

Navarino.  battle  of,  655. 

Navarre,  annexed  by 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic, 
42. 

Nicker,  478,  480,  481,  484. 
Resignation  of.  485.  He- 
call  of.  489,  491.  Conduct 
as  minister,  491, 493.  I  )is- 
missal  of,  496.  A  gam  re- 
called. 498.  Weakness  of. 
502.  504.  509.  Resigns 
and  leaves  France,  513. 


INDEX.  767 

Parkani. 

battle  of,  242.   Oltenitza,  battle  of,  743. 

Omar  Pasha,  743. 

Orange,  Phiiibert,  prince  of, 
50.  Besieged  in  Naples, 
51. 

,  William  of  (the  Silent), 

106.  Become*  a  Calvinist, 
109.  Acknowledged  as 
stadt holder    by    northern 

Provinces,  110.  Concludes 
acification  of  Ghent,  111. 
Concludes  Union  of 
Utrecht,  112.  Assassi- 
nated. 10. 

,   William  III.  of  (tee 

William  IIL). 
Orders  in  Council,  the,  596. 
Orleans,  Philip  of  (Philippe 
Egalite),    491,    494,    495. 
Conduct  on  the  5  th  of  Oc- 
tober, 565,  606.       Exiled, 
606.      Return     of,     513. 
Elected  to  the  Convention, 
630.      Votes    for     king's 
!     death,  537.    Death  of.  545. 
Policy  of.  654.     Attitude   Orleans.  Ixnils,  duke  of  (tee 
towards  Belgium,  665, 666.       Louis,   duke   of  Orleans, 
Suppresses  Polish   revolt,!     snd  Louis  XII.). 
668.        Assist*      Austria   Orloff,  Alexis,  446. 
against     Hungary,      699.  .  Ormond,  duke  of,  259. 

is    to    Germany,  'Orsini. 
796,  798.     Involved  in  the   Osnian  Pasha,  750. 
Crimean  War.  743.     Death   Osnabrock,  negotiations   at, 


Neerwindent 

Battle  of,  539 
Neipperg,  Austrian  general, 

321,  339,  343,  347.  3J8. 
Nelson,   admiral.  563.    565, 

566,577.   Killed  at  Trafal- 
gar, 589. 
Nemours,  duke  of,  son  of 

Louis  Philippe,  677,  678. 
Nesselrode.  628. 
Netherlands,      the,      under 

Philip     U..     104.     The 

Austrian,  309.     Kingdom 

of  the,  631. 
Neuss,  siege  of,  23. 
Neutrality,  the  Armed,  483. 

Revived.  576. 
Ney,  marshal,  618,  623. 
Nice,  truce  o',  75.    Attacked 

by  Turks.   77.     Annexed 

by  French  Republic,  633. 

Ceded    to   Napoleon   Hi., 

722. 
Nicolas  V..  pope,  9. 
Nicolas,    of     Rossis,     653. 


or,  744. 
Niedertcbonffld,  conv.  mi..n 

of.  357. 
Nikolsburg.  treaty  of.  730. 
Nile,  b.ttle  of  the.  563. 
Nimwegen.  treaty  ot  229. 
Nivi  rnois,  duke  of,  402. 
Noailles,  cardinal,  291. 

,  the  duke  of,  292,  294. 

,  marshal,  356,  358,  362, 

365. 
Notdlingen,  battle  of.  147. 

:il  ba-tleol,  149. 
North,  lord,  482,  483,  486. 
Norway,  annexed  to  Sweden, 

621. 
Notables,  assembly  of,  488. 
Novara,  battle  of,  699. 
Novi,  battle  of,  666. 
Noyoo,  treaty  or,  44. 
Nuremberg,  peace  of  (1632), 

Nympbenburg,     treaty    of, 

345. 
Nystadt,  treaty  of,  284. 

O. 

Ochlno,  Bernardino,  93,  96. 
Odillon-Barrot.  676,  682,  683. 
Odysseus,  650. 
Olascb,  battle  of,  213. 
Oliva,  treaty  of.  195. 


150. 

Ostermann,  386,  387,  388. 

Ostend  Company,  3:9,  310, 
314, 

OtboL,  of  Greece,  657.  Rule 
of,  747.     Expelled,  74H. 

Otranto,  signed  by  the  Turks, 
12,  31.  Recovered  by 
Naples,  31.  Ceded  to 
Venice,  37.  Acquired  by 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  41. 

Oudenarde,  battle  of,  257. 

Oiniitiot.  general,  700,  710. 

Oxenstiern,  Swedish  chan- 
cellor, 146,  148,  191. 


Pache,  538. 
Padllla,  Juan  de,  29. 
Palacky,  696. 

Paheologus,  Constantine,  29. 
Palais  Royal,  496. 
Palmerston,  lord,  682,  718. 
i'ampeluna,  siege  ot,  47. 
Pan  in,     Russian     minister, 

446,  456. 
Paoli,  Pascal,  433. 
Papacy,  decline  of,  2.    Loses 

the  temporal  power,  738. 
Pardo,    convention    of   the, 

314. 
Paris,  count  of,  678,  713. 


Olivarez,  Spanish   minister,    Paris,  1  raaties  or :  (1763),  427; 

176.  (1H14),  627;  (1815),  «33; 

OlmQtz,  convention  of,  703,  |     (1856),  745. 

709.  •  ;  Parkani,  battle  of.  209. 


768 

Parliament. 

Parliament  of  Paris,  history 
of,  162.  Cancels  Louis 
XIlT.'s  will,  161.  Opposi- 
tion to  Mazarin,  168. 
Abolished  by  Maupeou, 
433,  474.  Restored  under 
Louis  XVI.,  477.  Quarrels 
with  the  government,  489. 

Parma,  acquired  by  Julius 
II.,  42.  Seized  by  Francis 
I.,  43.  Recovered  by  Leo 
X.,  47.  Given  by  Paul  V. 
to  the  Farnesi,  84.  Given 
to  Maria  Louisa,  630. 

Partition,  treaties  of,  246. 

Partitions  of  Poland,  448, 
469,  471. 

Pascal,  Blaise,  233,  234. 

Paskiewitsch,  656,  742.  Puts 
down  Polish  revolt,  668. 
In  Hungary,  699. 

Passarowilz,  treaty  of,  180, 
306. 

Patino,  Don  Joseph,  313. 

Patkul,  270,  273,  275. 

Paul  11.,  pope,  10. 

III.,  74.    Quarrels  with 

Cbaries  V.,  84.  Estab- 
lishes the  Inquisition  in 
Rome,  95.     Death  of,  86. 

IV.,  90.      Allied  with 

France  against  Spain,  91. 
Makes  peace,  ib.  Issues 
the  first  Index,  96.  His 
nepotism,  ib. 

V.,  181.    Quarrels  with 

Venice,  ib. 

Paul  I.,  of  Russia,  564,  573, 
575.  Revives  the  Armed 
Neutrality,  577.  A>sassi- 
nated,  ib. 

Paulette,  the,  127,  162,  163. 

Pavia,  battle  of,  49. 

Pazzi,  conspiracy  of  the,  11. 

Peasants'  revolt  in  Germany, 
60. 

Pedro  I.,  emperor  of  Brazil, 
643,  671.    Death  of,  672. 

II.,  of  Brazil,  672. 

Pepe,  general,  644,  645,  694. 

Perez,  Antonio,  103. 

Perier,  Caslmir,  660,  661, 
674. 

Perronne,  treaty  of,  23. 

Pescara,  general  of  Charles 
V.,  48.  Victory  at  Pavia, 
49. 

Peter  the  Great,  of  Russia, 
199.  Conquers  Azof,  214, 
269.  His  character  and 
domestic  government,  268, 
269,  284,  285.  His  war 
with  Sweden,  272, 277,  284. 
Campaign  of  the  Pruth, 
279.     Death  of,  286. 

II.,  285, 286. 

III.,  427.    (OfHolst€in, 

407,  413,  415.) 

Peterborough,  earl  of,  254. 

Peterwardein,  battle  of,  305. 


INDEX. 


Petion,  502,  515.  Mayor  of 
Paris,  520,  524,  525.  Death 
of,  545. 

Philip,  the  archduke,  marries 
Joanna  of  Castile,  28. 
Death,  ib. 

Philip,  landgrave  of  Hesse, 
62.  Signs  Protest  of 
Speier,  63.  Imprisoned 
by  Charles  V.,  84.  Re- 
leased, 86. 

Philip,  of  Orleans,  263,  264. 
Commands  in  Italy,  254. 
Character,  289.  Regent 
in  France,  290-302.  Death 
of,  302. 

Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  married 
to  Mary  Tudor,  90.  Ob- 
tains the  crown  by  his 
father's  abdication,  ib. 
Marries  Elizabeth  of 
France,  92.  His  policy 
and  character,  102.  Sup- 
presses the  liberties  of 
Aragon,  103.  Relations 
with  his  son,  Don  Carlos, 

104.  Annexes    Portugal, 

105.  Oppresses  the  Nether- 
land*,  106.  Sends  Alva 
thither,  108.  Jealous  of 
Don  John  of  Austria,  111. 
Intervention  in  France, 
123,  126.    Death,  113. 

Philip  III.,  174.  Expels  the 
Moriscoes,  175.  Death  of, 
176. 

IV.,    176.     Death    of, 

179,  220. 

V,  of  Spain,  247,  254, 

255,f259.  Renounces  claim 
upon  France,  260,  289. 
Married  to  Elizabeth  of 
Parma,  296.  Under  the 
influence  of  Alberoni,  297. 
Abdicates,  310.  Resumes 
the  crown,  311.  Death  of, 
378. 

Philip,  Don,  son  of  Philip  V. 
of  Spain,  318, 360, 366,  375, 
379.  Receives  Parma,  385. 
Death  of,  437. 

Piacenza,  battle  of,  378. 

Pichegru,  544,  551,  555,  560, 
561,  584.     Death  of,  584. 

Pilnitz,  conference  of,  518. 

Piper,  count,  271,  276. 

Pima,  capitulation  of,  406. 

Pisa,  freed  by  Charles  VHL, 
37.  Siege  of,  37,  43.  Coun- 
cil of,  41. 

Pitt,  William  (Lord  Chat- 
ham), 408,  413,  425.  Re- 
signation of,  426.  Last 
speech  of,  482. 

.William,  538,  577,  585. 

Death  of,  590. 

Pius  J I ,  pope,  9.  Dies  at 
Ancona,  10. 

III.,  40. 

IV.,    97. 


Prague. 

third  session  of  Council  of 

Trent,  ib. 
Pius  V.,  99,  201. 
VI,  564. 

VIL,  585.    Imprisoned 

by  Napoleon,  611,620.  Set 
at  liberty,  625.  Recovers 
the  Papal  St.ite3,  630. 
Death  of,  643. 

IX.,    pope,    692,    693. 

Leaves  Rome,  695.  Re- 
turns, 716.  Excommuni- 
cates Victor  Emmanuel, 
721.  Fails  to  recover  Ro- 
magna,  723.  Holds  oecu- 
menical council,738.  Loses 
the  temporal  sovereignty, 
738. 

Plassy,  battle  of,  418. 

Plevna,  siege  of,  750. 

Plombieres,  interview  at,7l9. 

Podewils,  342,  351. 

Podiebrad,  George,  17.  King 
of  Bohemia,  19. 

Poischwitz,  armistice  of,  621. 

Poissy,  conference  of,  117. 

Poitiers,  edict  of,  122. 

Poland,  constitution  of,  440. 
First  partition  of,  448. 
Reformed  constitution  of, 
467.  Second  partition  of, 
469.  Revolt  of,  470.  Third 
partition  of,  471.  Rising 
of  (1830),  667,  668.  Rising 
in  (1863),  746. 

Polignac,  Jules  de,  659. 

Polish  succession,  war  of.  316- 
319,  333. 

Pombal,  marquis  de,  435. 
Expels  Jesuits  from  Por- 
tugal, 436.    Fall  of,  437. 

Pompadour,  Madame  de,  394, 
401,  409,  429,  436. 

Poniatowski,  Stanislaus,  442. 
Elected  king  of  Poland, 
443.  Partition  of  great 
part  of  his  kingdom,  448. 
Reforms  the  constitution, 
467.  Yields  to  Russian 
dictation,  468.  Accepts 
the  second  partition,  470. 
Compelled  to  abdicate, 
472. 

Pontchartrain,  241. 

Porcaro,  Stefano,  9. 

Porto-Carrero,  cardinal,  247. 

Port  Royal,  233.  Suppres- 
sion of,  262. 

Portugal,  annexed  to  Spain, 
105.    Revolt  of,  177. 

Potemkin,  favourite  of 
Catharine  II.,  456,  461, 
462.     Death,  466. 

Pozzo  di  Borgo,  659. 

Pragmatic  army,  the,  358. 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  the,  307, 
308,  315. 

Prague,  treaty  of  (1535),  148. 
Taken  by  French,  348. 
Restored  to  Austria,  358. 


INDEX. 

pressburg. 
Battle  of,  411.    Treaty  of  I  Reichstadt,  duke  of,  675. 
j  Reid,  treaty  of,  623. 


(1866),  730. 
Pressburg,  treaty  of,  590. 
Prim,  general,  733.  734. 
Pritchard,  arrest  of,  678. 
Protestants,  origin  of  name, 

63. 
Provence,  count  of,  513,  514, 

622,      627      (see      Louis 

XVIII) 


Renaissance,  the,  5 

J  Rene  I.  (le  Bon),  of  Anjou 

j     and  Provence,  8. 

1 II., of  Lorraine,  recovers 

his  duchy  from  Charles  the 
Bold,  25.  Claim  to  Naples, 

,     33. 


Repuin,  444. 


l'ru«fia,   duchy  of,   formed,    Requesens,  Don  Luis  de,  110. 

Ecclesias- 


63,  323.     Freed  from  Po-1 
lish  suzerainty,  195,  324. 

Pruth,  treaty  of  the,  279, 
305. 

Public  Safety,  Committee  or, 
640.  Undertakes  the  go- 
vernment of  France,  542, 
543. 

Public  Weal,  league  of,  22. 

Pultawa,  battle  of,  277. 

Puysieux,  marquis  de,  381, 
394.  ' 

Pyrenees,  treaty  of  the,  171,  | 


179. 


Q- 


Quadrilateral,  the,  693. 
Quadruple    Alliance  (1717), 

300.     1)0.  (1834),  672. 
Quasdanowich,        Austrian 

general,  657. 
Quebec,  foundation  of,  138. 

Taken    by    the     English, 

423. 
Qursnai,  433,  478. 
Quiroga.642. 


Radetxky.  marshal.  691, 693- 
Victory  at  Cuetoxxa,  694- 
Victory  at  Novara,  699. 

Radom,  confederation  of, 
444.    Instrument  of,  ib. 

Radxiejowski,  cardinal,  273, 
274. 

Radtiwill,  442.444. 

Raglan,  lord,  744. 

Ragocsky,  Francis,  206,  207. 

,  George,  of  Transylva- 
nia, 194,  203. 

Rami  Hies,  battle  of,  253. 

Ra-'pail,  685.  Candidate  for 
the  Presidency,  710. 

Rastadt,  treaty  of,  261.  Con- 
gress of,  563,  564,  565. 

Ratisbon,  diet  of,  82. 

Rattazxi,  721,  732. 

Itaucoux,  battle  of,  380. 

Ravi  UtaMMMlMft  i  Baoy 

IV..  138. 

Ravenna,  battle  of,  43. 

Rawka,  battle  of,  471. 

Rechberg,  Austrian  minis- 
ter, 737.     Dismissed,  738. 

Redschid  Pasha,  656.  743. 

Reichenbach,  treaties  of 
(1790),    466,    618;  (1813) 


769 
Savoy. 

523.  Dismissed,  524.  Re- 
stored,526.  Resigns  office, 
538.     Death  of,  545. 

Romagna.  conquered  by 
Ca*ar  Borgia,  40. 

Romanof,  Michael,  elected 
Cxar,  190. 

Romanzow,  446,  457. 

Rome,  sack  of,  50.  Becomes 
the  capital  of  Italy,  738. 

Romorantin,  edict  of,  116. 

Rossbach,  battle  of,  413. 

Rossi,  count,  695. 

Rostopchin,  count,  617. 

Ronher,  712. 

Roumania,  745,  750,  761. 

Roumelia,  Eastern,  751. 

Rousseau,  433. 

RousslUon,  ceded  to  Louis 
XL,  34.  Restored  by 
Charles VIII.. 35.  Hnally 
annexed  to  France,  171. 

Francesco    della, 
duke  or  Urblno,  43. 

Rovere,  Gluliano  della,  10 
(see  Julius  II.). 
His    Royer-Collsrd,  659. 

Rddiger.   Russian   general, 
|      666, 699. 
enters   Rudolf    11.,    emperor,    133. 
Family     relations,      136. 
Death,  ib. 

Rueil,  treaty  of,  165. 

Ruric,  bouse  of,  obtains 
Mipremscy  in  Russia,  186. 
Extinction  of  male  line 
of,  189. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  737. 

Ruvigny,  265. 
Triumphs   over   bis  ene-    Ruyter.  237. 
mles,  168.    Death  of,  149,   Ryswick,    tr 


Reservation,   the 

tical,  89,  130. 
Restitution,  edict  of,  142. 
Rethel,  battle  of,  166. 
Reunion,  chambers  of,  231. 
Re w  bell,  553,  560. 
Rhenscbild,  S*  edUh  general, 

374,  377. 
Rhine,  league  of  the,  171, 

Confederation  of  the,  693 

633. 
Rhodes,   captured    by    the 

Turks.  199 
Rhodes,  knights  of,  30,  31, 

199. 
Riario,   Qirolamo,   10 

share  in  the  Paxxi  conspi 

rscy,  11. 
Richelieu,    cardinal, 

the  ministry,  154.  Inter- 
vention   in     italv 

Besieges  1*  Rochelle,  139, 

155.  Conduct  in  Mantuan 
succession,  143,  156,  176. 
Opposition    to.    154,    156, 

156,  157.  Relations  with 
Sweden,  143,  146,  148. 
Administration     of,    155. 


169.     Domestic  policy  of,       314,  343. 

ib.    Foreign  policy  of,  160. , 

,  duke  of,  356,  399,  413.  I 

,  duke  of,  minister  of 

Louis  XVIII.,    639,    64o. 

641. 
Riego,  643. 
Rights  of  msn,  in   France, 

603.    In  Germany,  703. 
Rlpperda,  311,  313.    Fall  of, 

313. 
Rivoli,  battle  or,  533. 
Robespierre.  502.  515,  626, 


treaty    of,    184, 


8. 

Saalfeld,  battle  or,  694. 

SaarbrQck,    battle   of,    237. 
Rattle  of,  735. 

Sackville,  Lord  George,  433. 

Sadolet,  cardinal,  71,  93. 

Sadowa,  battle  of,  730. 

Salamanca,  battle  of,  614 

Sales,  St  Francis  de,  98. 

Salisbury,  lord,  750,  751. 
530.     Conduct  in  the  Con-   Saluces,  marquis  of,  75. 
veution,  533, 535.     Enters   Salviati,    Francesco,    arcb- 
the  Committee  of  Public       bishop  or  Pisa,  11. 
Safety,    543.    Suppresses  San  Juste,  Charles  V.'s  re- 


the   Hebertists 


supj. 
and 


Dan- 


tirement  at,  90. 


tonists,  546,  547.    Opposi- 1  San  Severino,  Robert  of,  14. 

tion  to,  648.  Death  of,  549.    ,  Galeaxzo  da,  34. 

Robinson,  Sir    Thomas,  345,   San  Stefano,  treaty  of,  750. 


34* 


346 

Rocroy,  battle  of.  149. 
Rodney,  admiral,  486. 
Roeskilde,  treaty  of,  195. 
Rohan,  cardinal  de,  487. 
Rolut.d,  Madame,  520,  539. 

Death  of,  545. 
,  M,  520.    Ministry  of, 


Santerre,  526,  540. 

Saratoga,  capitulation  of,  481. 

Sarner  Bund,  the,  670. 

Sarpi,  Fra  Paolo,  181. 

Savonarola,  43. 

Savoy,  occupied  by  the 
French,  74.  Retained  in 
spite  of  treaty  of  Crespy, 


770 


Saxe. 

78.  Restored  to  Emanuel 
Philibert,  92.  Under 
Charles  Emanuel  I.,  183. 
Becomes  more  and  more 
Italian,  183,  184.  An- 
nexed by  French  Republic, 
533.  Ceded  to  Napoleon 
III.,  722. 

Saxe,  marshal,  361,  366. 
Victory  at  Fontenoy,  369. 
Further  successes,  379, 
380,  382,  384. 

Scanderbeg,  resists  the 
Turks  in  Albania,  30. 
Deaih,  31. 

Scharnhorst,  604,  616,  619. 

Scheldt,  the,  closed  hy  treaty 
of  Westphalia,  309.  Open- 
ed by  the  French,  534. 

Scherer,  general,  555,  565. 

Schill,  colonel,  608. 

Scblesv.  ig-Holstein,  question 
of,  690.  C91,  703,  709. 
,  Revived,  726,  727.  An- 
nexed to  Prussia,  730. 

Schmalkalde,  league  of,  63. 
Refuses  aid  to  France,  77. 
Attacked  by  Charles  V., 
83. 

Schonbrunn,  treaty  of,  590 

Schouwaloff,  count,  751. 

Schulenburg,  count,  305. 

Schuwalow,  treaty,  423. 

Schwarzenbeig,  Felix,  697, 
70S. 

,  prince,  622.  (525. 

Schwerin,  marshal,  342,  343, 
364.    Death  of,  411. 

Sebastian,  ot  Portugal,  104. 

Sebastofol,  siege  of,  741. 

Seckendorf,  Austrian  gene- 
ral, 321,  330,  339.  In  the 
service  of  Bavaria,  361, 
365,366,  367. 

Sedan,  battle  of,  735. 

Seguier,  216. 

Seignelay,  239,  241. 

Selim  I.,  31.  Conquers 
Egypt,  ib. 

II.  (the  Sot),  201. 

III.,  463,  649. 

Seminara,  battle  of,  39. 

Seuef,  battle  of,  225. 

Senlis,  treaty  of,  25. 

September,  massacres  of, 
528 

Serrano,  marshal,  733,  734. 

Servetus,  execution  of,  72. 

Seven  Years'  War,  religious 
aspect  of,  410. 

Seville,  treaty  of,  314. 

Seymour,  Sir  Hamilton,  743. 

Sforza,  Ascanio,  10. 

■ ,    Francesco,    duke    of 

Milan,  7. 

,  Francesco  II.,  duke  of 

Milan,  47.  Hostility  to 
Charles  V.,  49.  Joins 
league  against  the  em- 
peror, 50.     Death,  74. 


INDEX. 


Sforza,  Galeazzo  Maria,  7. 

,     Gian     Galeazzo,     7. 

Marries  Isabella  of  Naples, 
34.     Death,  io. 

,     Lodovico,     becomes 

regent  of  Milan,  8.  Allied 
with  France,  34.  Sup- 
plants his  nephew,  ib. 
Joins  league  against 
Charles  VIII.,  36.  Ex- 
pelled from  Milan,  and 
death,  J9. 

,  Maximilian,  duke  of 

Milan,  42.     Abdicates,  43. 

Shouisky,  Vassily,  189. 

Sickingen,  Franz  von,  59. 

Siebener  -  Concordat,  the, 
670. 

Siena,  annexed  to  Florence, 
76,  91. 

Sieyes,  the  abbe,  492,  502, 
506,  553.  Becomes  a  Di- 
rector, 567.  Constitution 
of,  569.  Refuses  office  of 
consul,  570. 

Sigismund  III.,  of  Poland, 
129,  139.  Ix>ses  crown  of 
Sweden,  185.  Restores 
Roman  Catholicism  in 
Poland,  186,  188.  War 
with  Sweden,  190. 

Sigismund  of  Tyrol,  23. 

Sigi>mund  Augustus,  of  Po- 
land, 185,  186. 

Silesia,  Prussian  claims  to, 
325, 342.  Ceded  to  Prussia, 
351,  374. 

Silk  manufacture,  introduced 
into  France,  128. 

Simon.  Jules,  736. 

Simonetta,  Francesco,  7,  8. 

Simson,  president  of  the 
German  Parliament,  704. 

Sinzheim,  battle  of,  225. 

Sistowa,  treaty  of,  466,  518. 

Sixtus  IV.,  10.  Share  in  the 
Pazzi  conspiracy,  11.  At 
war  with  Florence,  12. 
Attack  on  Ferrara,  14. 
Institutes  inquisition  in 
Spain,  27.    Death,  14. 

V.,  99.  Financial  ad- 
ministration, ib.  Chi- 
merical schemes  of,  100. 

Smith,  Sir  Sydney,  567,  578. 

Sobieski,  James,  273. 

,  John,  king  of  Poland, 

198,  204,  205,  207.  Re- 
lieves Vienna,  209. 

Soderini,  Piero,  gonfalonier 
of  Florence  for  life,  43. 

Soissons,  congress  of,  314. 

Sokolli,  grand  vizier,  201. 

Solferino,  battle  of,  720. 

Solyman  I.(the  Magnificent), 
32,  199.  Allied  with 
France,  74,  75,  77.  Deaih 
of,  200. 

II.,  211. 

Soor,  battle  of,  372. 


Storch. 

Sonderbund,  war  of  the,  687. 

Sophia,  sister  of  Peter  the 
Great,  268,  269. 

Soubise,  412,  413,  418,  426. 

Soult,  marshal,  607,  609, 
613,  614,  625,  626.  Minis- 
ter of  Louis  Philippe,  674, 
675,  678. 

Southwold  Bay,  battle  of, 
222. 

Spain,  decline  of,  174. 

Spanish  Fury,  In  Antwerp, 
111. 

Spanish  marriages,  the,  680. 

Spanish  Succession,  war  of, 
244-261. 

Speier,  diet  of  (1526),  62. 
Do.  (1529),  63.  Protest 
of,  ib. 

Spinola,  Spanish  general, 
137,  176. 

St.  Andre,  marshal,  117. 
Killed  at  Dreux,  118. 

St.    Arnaud,   general,    712, 

|      744. 

St.  Bartholomew,  massacre 
of,  121. 

St.  Cyran,  the  abbot  of,  233 

St.  Germain,  treaty  of,  120. 

St.  Germain-en- Laye,  treaty 

i     of,  197. 

St.  Gothard,  battle  of,  203, 
219. 

St.  Helena,  Napoleon  I.  at, 
633,  641. 

St.  Just,  535,  542,  544,  546- 

!      549. 

St.    Petersburg,    foundation 

j  of,  276,  277.  Treaty  of 
(1755),  398,  403.    Conven- 

I      tion  of  (1757),  407. 

St.  Quentin,  battle  of,  91. 

St.  Simon,  the  duke  of,  291. 

Stadion,  count,  606,  607,  6u9 

Stael,  Madame  de,  572. 

Staffarda,  battle  of,  240. 

Stahremberg,  count,  Aus- 
trian    ambassador     to 

<      France,  400. 

,  Guido,  258,  259. 

,  Gundaker,  208. 

Stair,  Lord,  358. 

Stangebro,  battle  of,  188. 

States-General,  at  Tours, 
25.  At  Orleans,  117.  At 
I  Blois,  122,  124.  At  Paris, 
153.  At  Paris  (1789),  489, 
491.  Assume  name  of 
National  Assembly,  492. 

Stein,  Baron  vom,  458,  595. 
j  Reforms  of,  604,  605.  Dis- 
!  missal,  606.  Conduct 
during  the  war  of  libera- 
tion, 619,  623. 

Steinkirk.  battle  of,  242. 

Stenay,  battle  of,  170. 

Stettin,  treaty  of,  185. 

Stockach,  battle  of,  565. 

Stockholm,  massacre  of,  67. 

Storch,  Claus,  68. 


Stralsund. 

Stral^und,  siege  or,  141.  1 

Strasljurg.  ceded  to  France, ' 
244.  Restored  to  Germany, 
736. 

Strauss,  Dr.,  687. 

St \  rum,  count,  252. 

Suffren,  the  Bailli  de,  484. 

Suleiman  Pasha,  750. 

Sully,  duke  of,  127. 

Suwarow,  462, 471, 665-668 

Suzzara,  battle  of,  250. 

Swablin  Leagu 

Switzerland,  rise  of 
3.      Reformat  in    in, 
Separjted  from   the 
pire,   150.     Turned 


INDEX. 


HiU,  137.  Defeats  the 
Danes  at  Lutter,  140. 
Obtains  Wallenstein's 
army.  143.  Sacks  Magde- 
burg, to.  Defeated  at 
Breitenfeld,  144. 

Tibat,  treaty  of.  597.  568. 

Tirlemont.  battle  of,  666. 

Tokoli.  Emerich.  207,  208, 
210-213.    Death  of,  214. 

Tol.ntino,    treaty    of,    658. 
Battle  of,  632. 

Tolly,  Barclay  de,  617,  621. 
64. 1  Toplitz,  treaty  of,  623. 
Em-    Torcy,  257,  260. 

r«au,  battle  of.  424. 


771 

Victor. 

j     land,    256.'    Of  England 
I     and  Ireland.  277. 
i  Uukiar   Skelesst,  treaty  of. 
I      741. 

Urban    VIII.,    pope.     182. 

i      Allied    with    France,    ib. 

I     Annexes  U rhino,  ib. 

1  U rhino,  conquered  by  Caraar 

Borgia.  40.     Actju  red  by 

delta   Rovere  family,  42. 

I     Annexed  to  papal  states, 

l-j. 

Utrecht,    union     of,     112. 
|     Treaty  or,  260, 336. 
I  Used*,  the  duke  of,  176. 


Helvetic    Republic,    681.    Toms  Vedraa,  line*  of,  613. 
Acquisitions  at  the  peace,   Toivtenson,  Swedish  general,  j 


630,669.    Disturbances  in.  | 
670.     Religious   quarrels 
in.  6x7.    Receives  a  new 
constitution  (1848),  ib. 
Szalaukemen,  battle  of,  213. 


Talavera,  battle  of,  610. 

Tallard,  marshal,  252,  263. 

Talleyrand,  661,  692,    627.  I  Tr*nt,  council 


146,     148,     149.      AtUcks 

Denmark.  191. 
Toulouse,  battle  or,  626. 

,  count  of,  26 «,  266,  29C. 

Tour ville,  admiral,  240,  24 1. 
Trafalgar,  l-attl.-  of.  589. 
Traun,    marshal.  355,    369, 

360,366,370,371. 
Travendahl,  treaty  of.  272 
Trebbia,  battle  of  the.  666. 


of.    84,    87. 

of.  M  fJ« 


At  uie  congress  or  Vienna,       luree  sessions  or,  ss-ee. 
629.     Minister   of   LouU   Triple  Alliance  (166m),  220. 
XVIII..  633.    Dismissed.       Do.  (1717).  2*8. 
639.      Advice    to    Louis  Trivulcio.  French  governor 
in  Milan.  39. 

Trochu,  general.  736. 

Troppau,  cmtsmsM  of,  646. 

1  ruchee* a.  Gebbard,  133. 

TM-hernaya,  battle  of  the. 
718,  744. 

Tndela,  battle  or,  606. 

Tugendbund,  the,  606. 

Tunis,  Charles  V.'s  inter- 
vention in,  73. 

Turenne,  149,  160.  Con- 
duct during  the  Fronde, 
166-169.  Opposed  to 
Conde,  170.  Campaigns 
of,  220,  222,  224-226. 

Turgot,  477.  Reforms  of, 
478,  479.     Fall  of,  480. 

Turin,  battle  of,  264.  League 
or,  317. 

Tycno  Brahe,  186. 

Tyrol,    rising   in,  607,  609 


Philippe,  661. 

to  London,  666 
Tanuccl,  434. 
Targowtcz.  confederation  of, 

468. 
Tauruggen,    convention    of, 

619. 
Temesvar.  ceded  to  Austria, 

Ml 

V. in... 


m,    r.M-.ir 


611. 


Ten,  council  of,  in 
13. 

Tencin.  cardinal,  356. 

Terrai,  abbe,  433,  477. 

Terror,  reign  of,  545. 

Teschen,  treaty  of,  462,  483. 

Tetzel,  sells  indulgence.',  66. 

Teutonic  knights,  18. 

Tbeatlnes,  order  of,  94. 

Thermidorian  reaction.  55a 

Theot,  Catharine,  548. 

Thiers,  660,  675.  First 
ministry  of,  676.  Second 
ministry  of.  677,  678. 
Conduct  in  1848,  6-3. 
Under  Nsp  lecn.  711,  712. 

Conduct  in  1870.  735,  7:16.  i  Ulm,  capitulation  of,  589 
President  of  the   French   Ulrica     ' 
Republic,  737. 

Hi i..n ville.  Merlin  de.  520. 

rhugut,  Austrian  minister. 
469,  471.  651,  554,  564, 
565.     Fall  of,  576. 

Thurn,  count,  136. 

Ticino,  the,  boundary  be- 
tween Lombardy  &  Pied- 
mont, 628. 

Tilly,  victory  at  the  White 


Eleanor,    sister    of 

Charles  XII..  280.  Obtains 

Swedish  crown,  282.  Death 

or,  389. 

Ulrich  or  Wurtemberg,  ex- 

Clled.  80.     Restored   by 
ague   of  ScbmaltkaUe, 
81. 
Unigenitut,    the  bull,  262, 

301,  303. 
Union  of  England  and  Scot- 


V. 

Vaila,  battle  of.  41. 

Vakourt,  battle  of,  240. 

Valdez,  Juan,  93. 

Valliere.  Louise  de  la,  230. 

Valmy,  cannonade  of,  628. 

Valtelline,  the,  138,  139, 154, 
176. 

Vasty,  massacre  of.  118. 

Vasvar.  truce  of,  204.  206. 

Vauban.  224,  227,  256. 

Vaucellea,  truce  of,  90,  91 . 

Velasquez,  176. 

Vendome,  the  duke  of.  243, 
260.  252.  256.  257.  In 
Spain,  259. 

Venice,  ceded  to  Austria, 
562.  Restored  by  treaty 
of  iYessburg.  691.  (i  I ven 
back  to  Austria,  628, 
630.  Recovers  ita  inde- 
pendence, 693.  Taken  by 
the  Austrians,  700.  Ceded 
to  July,  731. 

Vercelli,  treaty  of,  38. 

Vergennes.   477.   483,   486. 

IValllof,    4--. 

Vergier,  J.  an  du,  233. 

VergnUud,  620,  626,  631, 
637.  641.     Death  of.  646. 

Verona,  congress  of,  646, 
661. 

Vers,  Etienne  de,  34. 

Versailles,  palace  of.  230. 
Treaty  of,  402.  Second 
treaty  of,  409.  Treaty  of 
(1783).  486. 

Vervina,  treaty  of,  126, 
1-1. 

Victor  Amadeus  I.,  of 
Savoy,  183, 184. 

II.,    ol     Sivoy.     184. 

Relations  with  Fr.nce, 
184,  248.  249.  Joins 
league  against  Louis 
XIV..  184.  240.  Obtains 
Pinerolo  and  Cassle,  184, 
243.  Obtains  Sicily,  184, 
261.  Exchanges  Sicily  for 
Sardinia,  184.  301. 

Ill .  of  Sardinia    516, 

533,555. 

Victor     Emmanuel    I.,   of 


772 

Victor. 

Sardinia,  630,  644.     Ab- 
dicates, 646. 

Victor  Emmanuel  II.,  of  Sar- 
dinia, 700.    Maintains  the 
constitution,    717.      War 
withAu8tria,719.  Accepts 
treaty  of  Villafranca,  721. 
Assumes  title  of  King  of 
Italy,      724.       Transfers  i 
court    to    Florence,    725.  i 
Alliance     -with     Prussia,  | 
72*.    731.      Obtains    Ve-  i 
netia,  731.    Enters  Rome, 
738.     Death  of,  ib. 

Vienna,  siege  of  (1529),  199. 
Second  siege  of,  208-9. 
Treaty  of  (1725),  311. 
Second  treaty  of  (1731), 
315.  Third  treaty  of  (1735), 
319.  Treaty  of  (1809),  610. 
Congress  of,  628-631. 

Villafranca,  treaty  of,  720. 

Villars,  marshal.  251,  252. 
257,  258,  260,  261.  Death 
of,  318. 

Villa  Viciosa,  battle  of,  179, 
220.    Second  battle  of,  259. 

Villele,  French  minister,  641. 
Dismissal  of,  658. 

Villeneuve,  admiral,  588. 

Villeroy,  marshal,  243,  250, 
253   290. 

Vimeira,  battle  of,  603. 

Vittoria,  battle  of,  625. 

Voltaire,  431,  434. 

W. 

Wade,  general,  361,  365. 

Wagram,  battle  of,  609. 

Walcheren,  expeditions  to, 
610. 

Waldstein.  Albert  von,  139 
{see  Wallenstein). 

Walewski,  718. 

Wallachia,  conquered  by  the 
Turks,  30.  United  to 
Moldavia,  745. 

Wallenstein.  139.  Defeats 
Mansfield,  140.  Defeats 
the  Danes,  140, 141.  Dis- 
missed from  his  command, 
143.  Conduct  during  his 
re  i  irement,  1 44 .  Resumes 
his  command,  145.  Defeat 
ed  at  Ltitzen,  ib.  His 
schemes,  146.  Assassina- 
tion of,  147. 

Wallis,  Austrian  general, 
32 1   339 . 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  336, 337, 
345. 

Wandewash,  battle  of,  419. 


INDEX. 


Warsaw,  grand  duchy  of,  598,  i 
610.    Ceded  to  Russia,  629.  | 

Wartburg,       Luther       im- 1 
prisoned  in,  57.     Meeting  ; 
of  German    students    at, 
638. 

Washington,  George,  397. 

Waterloo,  battle  of,  632. 

Wattignies,  battle  of,  544. 

Wehlau,  treaty  of,  194. 

Weissemburg,  battle  of,  735. 

Wellington,  the  duke  of  (Sir 
Arthur  Wellesley),  603, 
609,610,613,614,625.  At 
Waterloo,  632.     Embassy 

■  to  Ru-sia,  654.  Premier 
in  England,  659,  663,  672. 

Werela,  treaty  of,  463. 

Westeras,  diet  of,  69. 

Westminster,  convention  of, 
399,  402,  403. 

Westphalia,  treaty  of,  150, 
161,  191. 

Westphalia,  kingdom  of,  595. 
Given  to  Jerome  Bona- 
parte, 598.  Broken  up, 
624. 

Wettin,  house  of,  acquires 
Saxony,  16. 

Whitworth,  lord,  583. 

Wied,  Hermann  von  der, 
archbishop  of  Cologne,  82. 

William  of  Orange  (William 
HI.),  223. 225, 227.  Marries 
Mary  of  England,  228. 
Forms  League  of  Augsburg 
against  Louis  XIV.,  237. 
ObtainsEnglishcrown.239. 
Concludes  the  partition 
treaties,  246.  Forms  the 
Grand  Alliance,  247.  Death 
of,  248. 

William    IV.,   of   England, 

William  IV.,  of  Holland,  382. 
Death  of,  399. 

V.,  of  Hoi  and  460,  461, 

483. 

William  I.,  of  the  Nether- 
lands, 624,  663.  Conduct 
during  the  Belgian  revolt, 
664,  665,  666.  Acknow- 
ledges the  independence  of 
Belgium,  667. 

William  I.  of  Prussia.  725. 
Involved  in  French  war, 
734.  Becomes  German 
Emperor,  737. 

Wimpfen,  543. 

Windischgratz,  696,  697, 
698. 

Wisnowiecky,  Michael,  king 
of  Poland,  198,  204. 


Zwingli. 

Witt,  John  de,  219,  221. 
Murdered,  223. 

Wittelsbach,  House,  in  the 
Palatinate  and  Bavaria,  16. 

Wittenberg,  university  of,54. 

Wittgenstein,  Russian  ge- 
neral, 920,  621,  656. 

Wittstock,  battle  ot.  148. 

Wohlau,  battle  of.  274. 

Wolfe,  general.  419,  423. 

Wolfgang  William,  of  Neu- 
burg.  134. 

Wolsey,  cardinal.  47.  Alien- 
ated from  Charles  V.,  49. 

Worms,  diet  of  (1495),  20; 
(1521),  57.  Treatyof(i743), 
359. 

Worth,    fettle  of,  735. 

Wrangel,  Swedish  general, 
149. 

Wiirm-er,  Austrian  general, 
544,  555,  557. 

Wurtemberg.  becomes  a 
duchy,  16;  an  electorate, 
582  ;  a  kingdom,  591. 

Wflsterhausen,  treaty  of, 
312,330. 

X. 

Xanten,  truce  of,  134. 

Xavier,  Francis,  94.  Canon- 
ised, 182. 

Ximenes,  cardinal,  28.  Re- 
gent lor  Charles  I.,  29. 


York,  the  duke  of,  544,  550, 

551,  566. 
York,  general,  619. 
Yorktown,   capitulation    of, 

486. 

z. 

Zapolya,  John,  claims  crown 
of  Hungary,  52,  199. 

Zaporoguts,  the,  204. 

Zenta,  battle  of,  214. 

Znaim,  armistice  of,  609. 

Zollverein,  the,  669,  726. 

Zorndorf,  battle  of,  417. 

Zumalacarregui,  679. 

Zurawna,  treaty  of,  205. 

Zurich,  battle  of,  568.  Con- 
ference at,  720,  721. 

Zusmarshausen,  battle  of, 
150. 

Zweibrucken,  Charles  of,  451, 
458. 

Zwingli,  Ulrich,  birth  and 
education  of,  64.  Reform- 
ing activity,  65.  Death,  ib. 


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8.  Colvin.—  De  Qcixcby.  By  D.  Massoo.— Lamb.  By  A.  Alnger.— Bextlet.  By 
R  C  Jobb.— Diceexb.  By  A.  W.  Ward.—  Gbat.  By  E.  W.  Gosse.— Swift.  By  L. 
Stephen.— Sterxb.  By  H.  D.  TrailL  —  Macaclat.  By  J.  C.  Morison.— Fieloi mo. 
By  A.  Dobaon.— Siiebidax.  By  Mrs.  Oliphant— Adouox.  By  W.  J.  Courthope — 
Baoox.  By  R  W.  Church.—  Colebj  dob.  By  H.  D.  TrailL— Sib  Phi  up  Sidxby.  By 
J.  A.  Sy moods  —Keats.     By  S.  Colvin.     12mo,  Cloth,  75  cents  per  volume. 

Pojwlar  Edition.    36  volumes  in  12,  Cloth,  $12  00 ;  Half  Leather, 
$21  00. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  INQUISITION  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGE8. 
By  Hi. sky  Chaklks  Lea.  3  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and 
Gilt  Tops,  $3  00  per  vol. 

THE  MIKADO'S  EMPIRE.  Book  I.  History  of  Japan,  from  660 
B.C.  to  1872  a.d.  Book  II.  Personal  Experiences,  Observations, 
and  Studies  in  Japan,  from  1870  to  1874.  With  Two  Supplement- 
ary Chapters:  Japan  in  1883,  1886,  and  1890.  By  W.  E.  Ghiffis. 
Copiously  Illustrated.     8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $6  25. 

A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  COLONIES  IN  AMER- 
ICA. By  Henry  Cabot  Lodob.  With  Colored  Map.  8vo,  Half 
Leather,  $3  00. 


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THE  LAND  AND  THE  BOOK.  Biblical  Illustrations  drawn  from 
the  Manners  and  Customs,  the  Scenes  and  Scenery,  of  the  Holy 
Land.  By  William  M.  Thomson,  D.D.,  Forty-five  Years  a  Mis- 
sionary in  Syria  and  Palestine.  In  Three  Volumes.  Copiously  Il- 
lustrated. Square  8vo,  Ornamental  Cloth,  per  volume,  $6  00; 
Sheep,  $7  00;  Half  Morocco,  $8  50;  Full  Morocco,  Gilt  Edges, 
$10  00.      (Volumes  sold  separately.) 

Volume  I.  Southern  Palestine  and  Jerusalem. — Volume  II. 
Central  Palestine  and  Phoenicia. — Volume  III.  Lebanon,  Da- 
mascus, and  Beyond  Jordan. 

Also,  Handsome  Popular  Edition  in  Three  Vols.,  Cloth,  $9  00  per 
Set ;  Half  Leather,  $12  00.     {Sold  only  in  Sets.) 

HISTORY    OF    MEDIAEVAL    ART.     By  Dr.  Franz  von  Reber. 

Translated  and  Augmented  by  Joseph  Thacher  Clarke.     With  422 
Illustrations,  and  a  Glossary  of  Technical  Terms.    8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

HISTORY  OF  ANCIENT  ART.  By  Dr.  Franz  von  Reber.  Re- 
vised by  the  Author.  Translated  and  Augmented  by  Joseph  Thach- 
er Clarke.  With  310  Illustrations  and  a  Glossary  of  Technical 
Terms.     8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

THE  INVASION  OF  THE  CRIMEA:  its  Origin,  and  an  Account 
of  its  Progress  down  to  the  Death  of  Lord  Raglan.  By  Alexander 
William  Kinglake.  With  Maps  and  Plans.  Six  volumes,  12mo, 
Cloth,  $2  00  per  vol.  ;  Half  Calf,  $22  50  per  set. 

THE  TSAR  AND  HIS  PEOPLE ;  or,  Social  Life  in  Russia.  Pa- 
pers by  Theodore  Child,  Eugene  Melchior  de  Vogue,  Clar- 
ence Cook,  and  Vassili  Verestchagin.  Illustrated.  Square  8vo, 
Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Top,  $3  00. 

LIFE  OF  BISHOP  MATTHEW  SIMPSON,  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  By  George  R.  Crooks,  D.D.  Illustrated.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $3  75;  Gilt  Edges,  $4  25;  Half  Morocco,  $5  25.  (Sold  by 
Subscription.) 

SERMONS  BY  BISHOP  MATTHEW  SIMPSON,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Edited  by  George  R.  Crooks,  D.D.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $2  50. 

OUTLINES  OF  INTERNATIONAL  LAW,  with  an  Account  of  its 
Origin  and  Sources,  and  of  its  Historical  Development.  By  George 
B.  Davis,  U.S.A.     Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

CURIOSITIES  OF  THE  AMERICAN  STAGE.  By  Laurence 
Hutton.  With  Copious  and  Characteristic  Illustrations.  Crown 
8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Top,  $2  50. 

LITERARY  LANDMARKS  OF  EDINBURGH.  By  Laurence 
Hotton.     Illustrated.     Post  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  $1  00. 

STUDIES  IN  THE  WAGNERIAN  DRAMA.  By  Henry  E.  Krf.h- 
biel.     Post  8vo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 


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CYPRUS:  its  Ancient  Cities,  Tombs,  and  Temples.  A  Narrative  of 
Researches  and  Excavations  during  Ten  Years'  Residence  in  that 
Island.  By  L.  P.  di  Cesnola.  With  Portrait,  Maps,  and  400  Il- 
lustrations.    8vo,  Cloth,  Extra,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Top,  $7  50. 

THE  ANCIENT  CITIES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD :  Being  Voy- 
ages and  Explorations  in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  from  1857 
to  1882.  By  Desire  Charnay.  Translated  by  J.  Gonino  and 
Helen  S.  Conant.  Illustrations  and  Map.  Royal  8vo,  Ornamental 
Cloth,  Uncut  Edges,  Gilt  Top,  $6  00. 

A  HISTORY  OF  OUR  OWN  TIMES,  from  the  Accession  of  Queen 
Victoria  to  the  General  Election  of  1880.  By  Justin  M'Carthy, 
M.P.     2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  50;  Half  Calf,  $6  00. 

A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  OUR  OWN  TIMES,  from  the  Acces- 
sion of  Queen  Victoria  to  the  General  Election  of  1880.  By  Justin 
McCarthy,  MP.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  FOUR  GEORGES.  By  Justtn  M'Carthy, 
M.P.  In  Four  Volumes.  Vols.  I.  and  II.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $1  25 
each. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  By  Justin  H.  McCarthy.  In 
Two  Volumes.     Volume  I.  Post  8vo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  OF  1789,  as  viewed  in  the  Light  of 
Republican  Institutions.  By  John  S.  C.  Abbott.  Illustrated.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $3  50 ;  Sheep,  $4  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $5  75. 

THi:  HISTORY  OF  NAPOLEON  BONAPARTE.  By  John  S.  C. 
Abbott.  Maps,  Illustrations,  and  Portraits.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth, 
%1  00;  Sheep,  $8  00;  Half  Calf,  $11  50. 

NAPOLEON  AT  ST.  HELENA ;  or,  Anecdotes  and  Conversations 
of  the  Emperor  during  the  Years  of  his  Captivity.  Collected  from 
the  Memorials  of  Las  Casas,  O'Mcara,  Montholon,  Antommarchi, 
and  others.  By  John  S.  C.  Abbott.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$3  50  ;  Sheep,  $4  00  ;  Half  Calf,  $5  75. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  FREDERICK  THE  SECOND,  called  Fred- 
erick the  Great.  By  John  S.  C.  Abbott.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$3  50 ;  Sheep,  $4  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $5  75. 

STUDIES  OF  THE  GREEK  POETS.  By  John  Addinoton  Sym- 
onds.     2  vols.,  Square  16mo,  Cloth,  $3  50  ;  Half  Calf,  $7  00. 

A  HISTORY  OF  CLASSICAL  GREEK  LITERATURE.  By  J.  P. 
Mahafft.     2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  50. 

A  HISTORY  OF  LATIN  LITERATURE,  from  Ennius  to  Boethius. 
By  Geokgk  Augustus  Simcox,  M.A.     2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

TENNYSON'S  COMPLETE  POEMS.  The  Complete  Poetical  Works 
of  Alfred,  Lord  Tennyson.  With  an  Introductory  Sketch  by  Anne 
Thackerav  Ritchie.  With  Portraits  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Extra 
Cloth,  Bevelled,  GUt  Edges,  $2  50. 


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THE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH  AND  MAN.  By  J.  W.  Dawson, 
LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  Principal  and  Vice-Chancellor  of  McGill 
University,  Montreal.  With  Twenty  Illustrations.  New  and  Revised 
Edition.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORLD,  according  to  Revelation  and  Sci- 
ence.     By  J.  W.  Dawson,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.      12mo,  Cloth, 

$2  00. 

MODERN  SCIENCE  IN  BIBLE  LANDS.  By  Sir  J.  W.  Dawson, 
C.M.G.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.  Maps  and  Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth, 
$2  00. 

THE  STUDENT'S  SERIES.  Maps  and  Illustrations.  12mo,  Cloth  j 
France. — Gibbon. — Greece. — Rome  (by  Liddell). — Old  Tes- 
tament History.  —  New  Testament  History.  —  Strickland's 
Queens  of  England. — Ancient  History  of  the  East. — Hal- 
lam's  Middle  Ages. — Hallam's  Constitutional  History  of  Eng- 
land.— Lyell's  Elements  of  Geology. — Merivale's  General 
History  of  Rome. — Cox's  General  History  of  Greece. — Clas- 
sical Dictionary. — Skeats  Etymological  Dictionary. — Raw- 
linson's  Ancient  History.     $1  25  per  volume. 

Lewis's  History  of  Germany. — Ecclesiastical  History,  Two 
Vols. — Hume's  England. — Modern  Europe.     $1  50  per  volume. 
Westcott  and  Hort's  Greek  Testament,  $1  00. 

JESUS  CHRIST  IN  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT ;  or,  The  Great  Ar- 
gument. By  W.  H.  Thomson,  M.A.,  M.D.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth, 
$2  00. 

MODERN  ITALIAN  POETS.  (1770-1870.)  Essays  and  Versions. 
By  William  Dean  Howells.    With  Portraits.     12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

SYDNEY  SMITH.  A  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Times  of  the  Rev. 
Sydney  Smith.  By  Stuart  J.  Reid.  With  Steel-plate  Portrait  and 
Illustrations.     8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

THE  FALL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  Being  the  Story  of  the 
Fourth  Crusade.     By  Edwin  Pears,  LL.B.     8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

CARICATURE  AND  OTHER  COMIC  ART,  in  All  Times  and  Many 
Lands.  By  James  Parton.  203  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut 
Edges  and  Gilt  Top,  $5  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

GEORGE  ELIOT'S  LIFE.  Related  in  her  Letters  and  Journals. 
Arranged  and  Edited  by  her  Husband,  J.  W.  Cross.  Portraits 
and  Illustrations.  3  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  75;  Half  Calf,  $9  00. 
Popular  Edition :  Cloth,  $2  25  ;   Half  Binding,  $2  00. 

COLERIDGE'S  WORKS.  The  Complete  Works  of  Samuel  Taylor 
Coleridge.  With  an  Introductory  Essay  upon  his  Philosophical  and 
Theological  Opinions.  Edited  by  Prof.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd.  With 
Steel  Portrait,  and  an  Index.  7  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00  per  vol- 
ume ;  $12  00  per  set ;  Half  Calf,  $24  25. 


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THE  "FRIENDLY  EDITION "  of  Shakespeare's  Works.  Edited 
bv  W.  J.  Rolfe.  In  Twenty  Volumes.  Illustrated.  16mo,  Gilt 
Tops  and  Uncut  Edges.  Cloth,  $25  00 ;  Half  Leather,  $35  00 ; 
Half  Calf,  $50  00  per  Set. 

LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN,  Fifteenth  President  of  the  United 
States.  By  George  Ticknor  Curtis.  With  Two  Steel -Plate 
Portraits.     2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  Uncut  Edges  and  Gilt  Tops,  $6  00. 

CYCLOPEDIA  OF  BRITISH  AND  AMERICAN  POETRY.  Ed- 
ited by  Epeb  Sargent.  Royal  8vo,  Illuminated  Cloth,  Colored 
Edges,  $4  50;  Half  Leather,  $5  00. 

ADVENTURES  IN  THE  GREAT  FOREST  of  Equatorial  Africa 
and  the  Country  of  the  Dwarfs.  By  Paul  Du  Chaillu.  Abridged 
and  Popular  Edition.  With  Map  and  Illustrations.  Po6t  8ro, 
Cloth,  $1  75. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  ZAMBESL  Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the 
Zambesi  and  its  Tributaries,  and  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Lakes 
Shirwa  and  Nyassa,  1858  to  1864.  By  David  and  Charles  Liv- 
ingstone.    Illustrated.     8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep,  $5  50. 

THE  LAST  JOURNALS  OF  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  in  Central 
Africa,  from  18C5  to  his  Death.  Continued  by  a  Narrative  of  his 
Last  Moments,  obtained  from  his  Faithful  Servants  Chuma  and  Susi. 
By  Horace  Waller,  With  Portrait,  Maps,  and  Illustrations.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $5  00;  Sheep,  $6  00. 

HISTORY  OF  FRIEDRICII  II.,  called  Frederick  the  Great.  By 
Thomas  Carlylb.  Portraits,  Maps,  Plans,  etc.  6  vols.,  12mo, 
Cloth,  $7  00;  Sheep,  $9  90;  Half  Calf,  $18  00. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  :  A  History.  By  Thomas  Carltlb. 
2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  50;  Sheep,  $3  30;  Half  Calf,  $6  00. 

OLIVER  CROMWELL'S  LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES,  including 
the  Supplement  to  the  First  Edition.  With  Elucidations.  By 
Thomas  Carlylb.  2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  50;  Sheep,  $3  30; 
Half  Calf,  $6  00. 

PAST  AND  PRESENT,  CHARTISM,  AND  SARTOR  RESARTUS. 
By  Thomas  Carlylb.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

EARLY  KINGS  OF  NORWAY,  AND  THE  PORTRAITS  OF 
JOHN  KNOX.     By  Thomas  Carlyle.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

REMINISCENCES  BY  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  Edited  by  J.  A- 
Froude.  12mo,  Cloth,  with  Copious  Index,  and  with  Thirteen  Por- 
traits, 50  cents. 

BROUGHAM'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  Life  and  Times  of  Henry, 
Lord  Brougham.    Written  by  Himself.     3  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $6  00. 

MARCUS  AURELIUS  ANTONINUS.  By  Paul  Barron  Watson. 
Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 


10  Valuable  and  Interesting  Works. 

FROUDE'S  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  Part  t.  A  His- 
tory of  the  First  Forty  Years  of  Carlyle's  Life  (1795-1835).  By 
James  Anthony  Froude,  M.A.  With  Portraits  and  Illustrations. 
12mo,  Cloth,  $1  00.  Part  II.  A  History  of  Carlyle's  Life  in  Lon- 
don (1834-1881).  By  James  Anthony  Froudb.  Illustrated.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  00. 

LIFE    OF    CICERO.      By   Anthony  Trollopb.      2  vols.,   12mo, 

Cloth,  $3  00. 

FROM  EGYPT  TO  PALESTINE.  Through  Sinai,  the  Wilderness, 
and  the  South  Country.  Observations  of  a  Journey  made  with  Spe- 
cial Reference  to  the  History  of  the  Israelites.  By  S.  C.  Bartlett, 
D.D.     Maps  and  Illustrations.     8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  LOCKE.     By  H.  R.  Fox  Bourne.     2  vols., 

8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

THE  ATMOSPHERE.  Translated  from  the  French  of  Camillb 
Flammarion.  With  10  Chromo  -  Lithographs  and  86  Wood-cuts. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $6  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $8  25. 

A  TEXT -BOOK  OF  CHURCH  HISTORY.  By  Dr.  John  C.  L. 
Gieseler.  Revised  and  Edited  bv  Rev.  Henry  B.  Smith,  D.D. 
Vols.  I.,  II.,  III.,  and  IV.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  25  each:  Vol.  V.,  8vo, 
Cloth,  $3  00.  Complete  Sets,  5  vols.,  Sheep,  $14  50;  Half  Calf, 
$23  25. 

THE  HUGUENOTS:  their  Settlements,  Churches,  and  Industries  in 
England  and  Ireland.  By  Samuel  Smiles.  With  an  Appendix  re- 
lating to  the  Huguenots  in  America.     Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

THE  HUGUENOTS  IN  FRANCE  after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes ;  with  a  Visit  to  the  Country  of  the  Vaudois.  By  Sam- 
uel Smiles.     Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  STEPHENSON,  and  of  his  Son,  Robert 
Stephenson  ;  comprising,  also,  a  History  of  the  Invention  and  Intro- 
duction of  the  Railway  Locomotive.  By  Samuel  Smiles.  Illus- 
trated.    8vo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

THE  VOYAGE  OF  THE  CHALLENGER  The  Atlantic:  an 
Account  of  the  General  Results  of  the  Voyage  during  1873  and  the 
Early  Part  of  1870.  By  Sir  Wyville  Thomson,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S. 
Illustrated.     2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $12  00. 

THE  POETS  AND  POETRY  OF  SCOTLAND :  From  the  Earliest 
to  the  Present  Time.  Comprising  Characteristic  Selections  from  the 
Works  of  the  more  Noteworthy  Scottish  Poets,  with  Biographical 
and  Critical  Notices.  By  James  Grant  Wilson.  With  Portraits 
on  Steel.     2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $10  00  ;  Gilt  Edges,  $11  00. 

THE  HEART  OF  AFRICA.  Three  Years'  Travels  and  Adventures 
in  the  Unexplored  Regions  of  the  Centre  of  Africa — from  1868  to 
1871.  By  Georg  Schweinfurth.  Translated  by  Ellen  E.  Frew- 
er.     Illustrated.     2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $8  00. 


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